After a rather frustrating assembly experience (the installation manual is not awesome), I’ve gotten to the part where I’m mounting my 65mm VFD spindle. I was a little surprised to open the box of this $750 item and find no documentation – not even a single page directing me to an install manual on the C3D site. OK, I thought, I’m sure there is an installation video on YT. Yep, there is. It’s 3 years old. It doesn’t reflect the current product and the only mention of how to set the height of the spindle in the mount is the advice “it should stick out about as much as your old router.” Awesome. I don’t have an old router. I tracked down the installation manual on the C3D web site. It tells me to move the mounting bracket up to the “middle” set of holes. This didn’t surprise me as I already suspected the bracket needed to move up. Then it says the nose of the spindle should be 4-5 inches from mounting bracket for “most users”. Hmm. Using the middle mounting holes and setting that a 4.5" distance puts the spindle on the work surface for me – and that’s without a collet or tool.
What is the correct way to mount the 65mm VFD spindle? It seems to me I should be using the top pair of mounting holes if the nose of the spindle really needs to be “4-5 inches” from bracket. Perhaps I don’t know what the “nose” of the spindle is, or what the reference point for measuring that 4-5 inches is?
My suggestion is to just chuck up the shortest tool which you intend to use, then position the spindle so that that when at the lowest travel, the tip of the tool just barely touches the aluminum T-track.
An illustration of the VFD spindle mounted low enough that the collet nut is nearly able to reach the table with the Z-axis at the bottom of its travel.
Thank you. I’ll follow that guidance. Is there any downside to moving the mount up to the top set of holes? It looks weird to me to see so much of the spindle above the bracket.
The bottom of my spindle (spindle case) is approximately 2.5” below the bottom side of the spindle mount.
While it may seem the instructions are vague it really depends on what you plan on machining and the bit lengths you will use. The 2.5” should allow you to use the majority of the shorter bits available as Will pointed out.
Yes, it seems the spindle is mounted too high but its not an issue and in reality if you decide to raise the gantry in the future you have plenty of flexibility.
If you have questions ask them on here long before you get too frustrated. That’s what the forum is for.
A spindle sitting high in the bracket is going to be more rigid. (very slightly mind you)
Another thing to note is it’s adjustable. There is no single right answer. If you’re cutting tall jobs you may need to move the spindle up. For very thin stock right on the table, you may need to move it down for the shorter tools to reach.
Will’s advice… shortest tool you have can reach just below the spoilboard …is a great place to start.
Is that going to cause any issues? It’s been working just fine…