Carbide 3D's VFD Spindle Kit - Bit Compatibility & Upgrades

CNC Machines
1

Hi Everyone - New to CNC

I had a question about the VFD Spindle Kit from Carbide 3D

It states it uses a ER11 Collet which looks like it supports up to 1/4" Diameter shanks.
On the link above it shows that maximum cutter diameter is 1/4" as well.
Does that mean the flute cannot be bigger than 1/4"?

Here’s the bit in question: Essentials #301E 0.50" V-Bit Cutter - 90°
This bit has a 1/4" Shank, but has a 0.5" Flute.

Do I upgrade the Collet size, or am I constrained to these small bits only with this spindle?

Thank you!

2

What determines collet compatibility is the shank diameter — that tool has a 1/4" shank and will work w/ a 1/4" collet (included w/ a VFD or our other Shapeoko spindle options).

See:

ER-11 collets are available in up to 8mm from 3rd parties — I bought one from Maritool (because I found their site easy to navigate/understand):

and various other vendors offer them.

As noted above, all of our tooling has either a 1/4" or 1/8" shank (which is what determines collet compatibilty), so you can use any of our tooling w/ the VFD as it is, save for the McFly #603E:

(which would want the 8mm ER-11 collet linked above)

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3

Thank you for the quick reply!

Looks like even though it states:
“Maximum cutter diameter: 1/4” / 7mm"

I should be good as long as the tooling has a 1/4" or 1/8" shank for tools like this:

Edit: How does the overall length of the bit affect this spindle?

4

Yes, so long as it is balanced well and spins true and doesn’t over-tax the bearings and you can work up suitable feeds and speeds and toolpaths.

For dovetails see:

1 Like
5

Tool length is a trade-off (like most things)

see:

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