Lets talk about the teased Carbide3D Spindle Kit. I’m pretty sure I don’t “need” it, but will admit that I “want” it. So I’ve been looking at Carbide3D’s picture of the spindle on their HDM…
… it is taller than the standard router, and I am assuming that it can be positioned/clamped higher or lower (in the HDZ) depending on your available height and/or bit-clearance needs.
Here is my current setup, positioned at the top of the Z range. From the top of the current Carbide 3D router I’ve got roughly 7 inches of clearance before hitting my dust collection port/hose.
I’m assuming the other end of all the hoses and wires coming from the Carbide 3D Spindle kit is a water pump and a break-out box for the spindle electronics. I would want to mount this in my lower chamber (along with all the other electronics) but I don’t know if there is a length limit on the water hose. Really want to know what other people have done.
Seeking Advice:
Do you think the Carbide 3D Spindle kit would fit in my enclosure without modifying my current dust collection setup?
What’s your guess at the price range for the Carbide 3D Spindle kit?
Is the Carbide 3D Spindle a 65mm mount? I have the older style HDZ mount, don’t know if I would need the newer design and/or the 80mm mount.
I’m guessing this spindle is brushless, what are the (yearly?) maintenance items as compared to the stock router?
I’ll play. Just my thoughts based only on experience and nothing from C3D.
Do you think the Carbide 3D Spindle kit would fit in my enclosure without modifying my current dust collection setup?
I would guess you can make it work. The lines coming in should be flexible enough to make the bends.
What’s your guess at the price range for the Carbide 3D Spindle kit?
$999 to $1499. Avid has their Spindle kit for $1999 for comparison.
Is the Carbide 3D Spindle a 65mm mount? I have the older style HDZ mount, don’t know if I would need the newer design and/or the 80mm mount.
I believe it is 80mm. I’ve not seen a watercooled 2.2kw 60 mm spindle
I’m guessing this spindle is brushless, what are the (yearly?) maintenance items as compared to the stock router?
Should be a three phase induction motor. The good one (even Chinese) have 4 bearings that are specially clocked when installed to minimize runout. Maintenance will include cleaning the outside with a rag, checking for no leaks, changing coolant.
According to the preorder page, the 1.5kw spindle on the HDM is a 80mm mount. I am guessing they are going to use that in the rumored spindle kit, though I would prefer a 0.8kw one for a few bucks less (my SO3 XXL isn’t going to need more then 0.8kw). I recently snapped the belt on my belt-Z and used that as an excuse to upgrade to the HDZ with the hopes of a spindle upgrade in the future. I am even more space limited then you: only 2.25" of clearance over the stepper on the HDZ. Might need to get creative with coolant hose routing.
For another price point, PwnCNC has a spindle upgrade kit listed on their website now, it should fit the Shapeoko. For the 65mm water cooled version it’s $700 for 0.8kw or $775 for 1.5kw. It includes the VFD, 65mm spindle, collets, cabling, and a small pump:
Upgrading to a spindle unfortunately involves more that just mounting a spindle to your gantry. The main two issues you will face are integration of the speed control circuit which will require a separate daughter board and quality 10v power supply , and shielding / hardening from the EMI the spindle generates. If you notice, the HDM used optically coupled connections in a few key locations. That needs to be factored in to the price.
I have a spindle on my ShapeOko 3 and no daughter board or 10v supply or shielding. Is this something specific to the C3D spindle upgrade kit mentioned?
The basic AVID supplied kit, last I looked out of curiosity, included a Delta VFD and a Hiteco Spindle. I believe Hiteco is Italian, a subsidiary of SCM. I looked at them a bit before going with another western ATC manufacturer for one of my large machines.
All that is to say, it’s probably not Chinese stuff of relatively unknown origin. Can’t speak to the Avid stuff explicitly.
The HDM kit looks to be Chinese, don’t know anything about it.
The PwnCnC kit looks to be Chinese stuff, but the dude seems like a smart and nice guy, I’d imagine he did his due diligence.
Anyway, worth noting when making price comparisons. I spent round abouts 6k for a Western ATC spindle. Probably could have gotten 3 Chinese examples for the dollar.
As it turns out, our VFD (Delixi EM60) is the same exact VFD that comes with Shapeoko HDM. I was very happy to see C3D use the same company and model but not surprised. Delixi has a very good reputation when it comes to their equipment and features… you won’t be disappointed.
