Water cooled spindle

Has anyone determined that that anything more than 800 Watts of cutting power is of any use on even heavily upgraded Shapeokos?

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It seems most ppl go for the 2.2Kw because of the ER collet size (ER20), just don’t expect the Shapeoko to put that power to full use, You can find 1.5Kw with an ER16 which can get you up to 3/8" shank tooling.

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Since @ctdodge says he only mills wood, he has the option of using standard wood router bits with 1/4" shanks, like @Burly.

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Not to hijack but didn’t think we need another spindle thread, im also spindle shopping and likely going to order a g-penny 1.5KW, my question is there a significant benefit to going with a 220v one over 110v?
If i had to i could do some wiring and get 220 to where my CNC is but is it worth it, is there a major downside to just staying with 110?
My other question does anyone know how much louder the air cooled is vs water cooled? i suspect the cutting is the loud part anyway so is it worth the effort and extra money of doing a water cooled setup?

This is the spindle im leaning towards:

I have yet to see anyone complain about using an 110v 1PH input to 220v 3PH output VFD. That said, be sure to use a circuit that can support the full amperage draw (see below) and not sharing with other appliances/tools, otherwise you could trip a breaker or worse. While you might never see it actually pull that full amperage rating, when it comes to electricity I rather play it safe than be sorry.

Also, typical industrial VFD installation recommends a circuit breaker and/or fuse inline, i.e. my 2.2kW VFD recommends a 25 amp (Type B) breaker, and as I am piggybacking off my dryer line for 220v 1PH (not running simultaneously of course), it has a 40amp breaker in the panel. So I rather it trip at the shortest possible distance (in my VFD electrical enclosure next to the CNC), rather than what would happen if it didn’t till over 40amps.

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At full load (1500W output) that spindle should draw 220V * 7A * 1.732 = 2667VA from the VFD. Even if the VFD is 90% efficient, it would draw 2667VA / 0.9 = 2964VA from the service at full load. At 220V, that’s 2964VA / 220V = 13.5A (minimum 15A circuit). At 110V that’s 2964VA / 110V = 27A (minimum 30A circuit). A more reasonable 800W spindle would require about half as much.

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Thanks for correcting my naive calculations of not going off the spindle nameplate.

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Based on the likely VFD specs, it appears that the 110V versions have 110V motors.

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I am still in the process of installing my water cooled spindle, so don’t have real comparisons (and won’t against an air cooled spindle per se). I can say my screaming Makita is still louder than the cutting noises I induce into aluminum and can only imagine wood would be less. It does add complexity (and cost) into the system as you mention. Many have gotten by with simple cheap water fountain pumps and a bucket, but isn’t very elegant and adds a larger footprint vs PC cooling equipment. Some have seen failures with the pumps included in the spindle bundles, not sure how G-Penny holds up in quality of the pump.

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Ya i was looking into doing the water cooled and using PC cooling and price just started adding, up so then i was wondering how much louder air cooled really is.
I have a makita right now and i would be happy with anything that isn’t louder then the makita haha

Im sure a 800w would work fine but from what i have seen they come with ER11, i need something atleast ER16.

I got my supplies from Performance PCs which has 10% (all orders) and 15% (over $299 :sweat_smile:) coupons running at the moment. They have been pretty fast on shipment (next day) too. Still gonna cost more than a submerged pump and bucket though :laughing:

Other cooling options to consider.

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There is also Aquarium chillers, typically require an external pump unlike that industrial one that has an internal one.

Something I may have to evaluate when Summer hits :frowning:

I don’t have a water-cooled spindle to compare against, but my “1.5Kw” air-cooled spindle is plenty quiet as far as I am concerned. With the doors to my enclosure closed, the loudest thing happening is generally… the fan on the VFD. I’ve been quite happy with the spindle - I don’t think I would even notice if it was quieter than it already is.

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Thanks! Did you have a Makita or Dewalt before the spindle? If so how does it compare?

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I had a DeWalt. The noise comparison is… an order of magnitude? Night and day? Screaming bloody murder vs quiet purring? It is so substantially better that I don’t know how else to express it, and I don’t have the equipment to do a proper measurement.

In practical terms, it was the difference between actually wanting to use the machine and not. With the doors closed, I can hear it enough to know that it is running, but that’s about it.

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Thanks for the info, air cooled might be the way I go then since i am really not that worried about it being silent, just didn’t want anything louder then my makita!

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I’ve been leaning towards an air cooled spindle myself. I know it would be way less noisy than the router. Just don’t want to go the water cooled as I’d have to do a lot of changes and additions. RV coolant, hoses, pump, reservoir or chiller, more power for the chiller or pump. Air cooled is way less complicated. Still on the fence.

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Yeah, that was my thinking as well - along with the fact that the one I got was relatively lightweight and 65mm in diameter, so it works with the stock spindle mount + Makita adapter.

As far as I know, the benefits of a water-cooled spindle are a “sealed” environment (so no worries about chips getting into it) and a potentially lower-end on the RPMs (air-cooled means “cooled by the same spinny thing driving the cutter” so there’s a minimum safe RPM - mine is 7200, I think). Neither of those outweighed what I perceived to be the costs, but everybody’s got to make that determination for themselves.

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I’ll chip in here. I spent months playing with various cooling setups, I made DIY ones from PC parts etc.

I then bought a CW-3000 circulator - its not a chiller but does the same thing as a pc fan, coolant pump, tank etc.

Hands down I’d buy the CW-3000 again - it’s way less faff, possibly cheaper, more reliable, easier to setup and cleaner then anything else I came across.

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