Getting a new spindle - New User

[Tao (Sebastien Dufresne)]

Hi,
I just got my hands on a Shapeoko 3 XL and I’m still trying to figure out which spindle to buy. I had in mind a Makita Router, but the Covid situation changes the location of where I’ll be putting it and noise becomes an important consideration. (building an enclosure will be one of my first steps)

I’ve been reading for days, and am about to purchase, but since I’m new to this, I could be making a beginner’s mistake.

Here’s my considerations:

• It has to work on 120V (I don’t have the option to change the wiring in any of my 3 possible locations)
• Noise is a major concern
• Quality is a concern, but I’m also on a “reasonable” budget
• I’ll be mostly working woods (soft and hard) and plastic

At this point, I’m looking at the usual 800W, water-cooled spindle, by Huanyang

Water Cooled Spindle Motor 110V 800W 24000RPM 400hz ER11 Collet HUANYANG CNC...

They’re all out of kits that comes bundles with a VFD, in Canada, and they’re out of HY01D511B, which is the default model they’re usually bundled with, so I’ll need to get a different VFD. (I also read a lot of hit and miss with the HY01D511B)

This thread was amazingly helpful, though most users seem to use 220V:

800 Watt Spindle Upgrade Review - 1st Impressions

I recently upgraded to the 800 Watt, water cooled, VFD Controlled spindle kit that’s readily available on Amazon or Ebay. It’s the Chinese Huanyang 1.5 Kw VFD with 800 W 110 Vac version. I chose to go with the 800 W which is within 10% of the HP of the Dewalt router that I had been running on the Shapeoko for the 2 years. The biggest reason I didn’t go larger was I didn’t want the hassle of upgrading my X axis carriage to handle the additional size & weight of a much bigger motor. I recently…

Someone was pointing to Marshall Wolf VFD and this seems to be a viable option for the specific spindle I’m looking for (I’m not sure how hp relates to the spindle W, yet, but it’s 3 phases, never had a VFD before, I’m still unfamiliar with what to look for):

VFD, 1hp, 115V, Single Phase, Compact High Perform

I also stumbled upon this one, from Huanyang, but since the spindle is 800W and the VFD 750W, it seems underpowered (unless I misunderstood how they relate to one another):

VFD 110V 0.75KW 1hp Variable Frequency Drive CNC VFD Motor Drive Inverter...

Would that 800W Huanyang and 1hp Marshall Wolf VFD be a good combination? Did I overlook some interesting options?

Thank you for your assistance.

[WillAdams (William Adams (Carbide 3D))]

The community has some notes on this at:

https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Spindle_Overview

and

https://wiki.shapeoko.com/index.php/Spindle_Options

(much of which predates the Shapeko 3, hence the inclusion of low-end rotary tools — hey, the original project price goal was $300)

If anyone has suggested updates, I’d be glad of them — FWIW, I broke down and bought a full set of the Elaire collets for the Makita (to go w/ the 1/4" and 1/8" precision collets from Carbide 3D), so currently rocking a Carbide Compact Router (with a Makita as backup) and now just need to get some cutting done.

[Tao (Sebastien Dufresne)]

Thank you @WillAdams , they’re great resources, I stumbled upon them in my research, my main concern is the match spindle / vfd, though, which I didn’t find much documentation about. I did see, on the second link you’ve shared, a link to:

https://www.automationtechnologiesinc.com/products-page/cnc-spindle/1-5kw-vfd-spindle-inverter-kl-vfd15-110vac-input-with-1-5kw-water-cooled-spindle/

But we’re getting into 80mm spindles territory and from most of what I’ve read, it seems to be on the fence whether or not that’ll require a change in the Z-Axis, which is one of the reasons I’m considering more the idea of the 800W, which still has a 65mm footprint, though a bit heavier.

None the less, thank you for the links you’ve shared, they’re quite insightful.

[wingrider62 (Jeff French)]

Just a follow up to the review I wrote on the 800W kit I installed. The unit has 2500 hours on it since that review. Not an issue with the Spindle & VFD. I’ve also ran 1 1/2 “ flattening bits with it and had plenty of HP. The limiting capacity to my machine is the belt drives on the shapeoko, they ultimately limit my speeds and feeds.

Also your comment on “most people using 220v” I’m an old controls guy and quite frankly at this HP your going to find most VFD manufacturers will make a standard board for their product and its just how its prewired, without going back and checking I believe this unit could be rewired for different voltage levels. Also at this size of HP your not going to see any difference in your electrical bill between using 110 or 220. So it really depends on what your shop is already wired for.

[Tao (Sebastien Dufresne)]

Thank you @wingrider62, your initial post and all the interactions that ensued, were incredibly useful to me. It’s great to ear your setup held well to time and use.