I can’t say what they cost in the US, but over here a CW3000 is £95 or so. It’s very similar to the DIY jobs, in that it has a 8-10 l tank and a bunch of fans to cool any water. There is no actual chiller in them just fans on a coil of pipe.
Mine came this week and I’m going to pull it apart because that’s what I do these. days. My thought is if it does the same thing as the DIY solution for a couple of quid more it’s probably worth it for most folks rather than faffing with various pipes etc. What is kinda cool is it has a thermometer built in and an alarm function.
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Griff
(Well crap, my hypometric precursor device is blown…)
22
Yeh that’s right, I wasn’t expecting any sensors in the one I bought but the ‘useless’ manual tells me there are multiple. I’m now waiting on some push fit connectors to jimmy rig onto this to test the little guy.
The CW-3000 is just a pump/radiator/fan and associated electrical bits, there is no actual “chiller” here. I don’t know how cool spindles have to be, so keeping the coolant at ambient air temperature may be fine. As was stated above, if you want an active chiller you’d need to upgrade to a CW-5000 or CW-5200. I use the CW-5000 with my CO2 laser, keeps the coolant between 19-21C even when shop ambient temp is up near the 40’s. If I was to use a CW-3000 in my environment I’d be replacing CO2 tubes often. If your spindle is happy at ambient temperature then I’m guessing the CW-3000 would be a really simple solution for water cooling.
Dan
2 Likes
Griff
(Well crap, my hypometric precursor device is blown…)
30
There’s that plus a lot less ugly then my DIY setup. Pressed for space at present so I’ll stick with what I’ve got. A good option for new installs though.
You aren’t adding the heat of a laser tube, just a little mechanical heat from the bearings. The radiator version should be fine. I’ve a 5000 model on my laser and it works fine…
WC spindles do well with a small amount of cooling. I’ve been running spindles for a number of years with various DIY cooling systems with smaller setups than this with good results. I don’t think the usual 24000 80mm spindle will have a problem with this.
Spindles/routers are at best 60% efficient - so at least 40% of the input power produces heat.
TEKNOMOTOR says:
"Thermal Protection is an important protection in motors. Motors can get heated due to overloading, high ambient temperature, variations in power quality, etc. Thermal overload can result in stator overheating, faulty operation and in some extreme cases even fire. Hence, all motors need to be fitted with protection against thermal overload. PTC THERMISTOR:
In some types of electrospindles it could be inserted a PTC thermistor in the stator windings to monitor temperature. Electrical resistance of the thermistor increases rapidly as it reaches trip temperature (normally 100°C or 130°C depending on the model).
The signal of the thermistor must be fed to a control device to stop the machine in order to protect the electrospindle from the effects of overheating.
Thermistor trip temperature depends on the model of electrospindle. For more information call Technical office – Teknomotor S.r.l.
BIMETALLIC THERMAL PROTECTION: In some types of electrospindles it could be inserted a bimetallic thermal protection in the stator windings.The electrical contacts are interrupted (OPENED) when the bimetallic disc reaches its preset temperature. The contacts will automatically reset once the electrospindle cools to a safe predefined level.
Unless specified otherwise, all Teknomotor electrospindles are designed to operate within the following ranges:
Altitude not above 1000 m above sea level
Maximum ambient air temperature not above 40°C
Minimum ambient air temperature not below 10°C"
So, properly designed spindles apparently can handle a pretty broad range of temperatures.
Well, if you can get by with a very small Chinese aquarium pump and a bucket of water, the cw3000 will be more than adequate and probably overkill. But if you want to spend $500 plus get a 5000 model. Just sayn.
The big thing here is a radiator (CW-3000) is never going to keep anything cooler than ambient air temperature. If a spindle doesn’t care that the water is at 40C and your shop is 40C then it should be a non-issue. CO2 lasers are from my research and manufacturers suggestions I’ve read most happy in the 20C +/- range, so for my shop which is in North Texas (hot summers can be 40C+) a radiator will never end well. As others mentioned, many spindles running with a bucket of water and an aquarium pump, so the CW-3000 would be a nice clean solution. Ebay sellers claim their CW-3000 clones are good for 60-80 watt lasers, but how many of those sellers are going to replace your expensive CO2 tube when it gives up its ghost? It isn’t just that CO2 lasers produce more heat than a spindle, it’s that the CW-3000 is never going to get to the proper temperature in the first place (unless your shop is a very constant 20C year round).
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