500W CNC Spindle Test

In-depth test of Chinese 500W CNC spindle as an alternative to the Dremel. I build another Dremel CNC just so that I can test this spindle and I have to say that it is better than Dremel, but for some people, Dremel is still the best solution in my opinion :)

Instagram: nikodembartnik
#diycnc #500wspindle #dremelCNC

[roryduncan]

For those saying he is spinning too slow, it comes down to surface speed and feed rate. Appropriate surface speed varies per material. Feed rate ensures that you actually produce a chip without "burnishing" the material.. This causes excess heat, and short tool life. High RPM means high feed rates. High feed rates means more torque for your steppers, more tool pressure, and therefore more stiffness required in the gantry and such. It is all a design tradeoff...


I like the video and I have always wondered about the air cooled spindles.. I have one of the chinese water cooled ones, and even at max RPM they are nearly silent.

[stephanguilloux]

Now that you have a pretty good CNC machine, you should try to start milling alluminium parts to replace the 3D-printed parts.
You should have better results, as aluminium should be a lot more stable (even with the dremel).

[danielaaroe]

Hi Nikodem,
On a side note. You should definetly use a dust mask when milling MDF. It releases som toxic fumes(urea-formaldehyde) and also a lot of fine dust/particles. Also you should consider a ventilation system to ventilate the toxic fumes. One option is to enclose it and use extraction on the enclosure. Preferably leading the fumes/particles outside.
Other than that, great video :)

Daniel

[AlanAIvarez]

Great video. I can't wait for you to make a bigger CNC with rugged construction like you mentioned at the tail end of the video. :)

[kfreed]

Part of the problem with the wood appears to be the Endmills being used. You may want to use a down cut end mill with wood and use a upcut for aluminum.

[widgget]

you want to use a down cut, or compression endmill on wood so you do not rip the edge upward. this will result in a much cleaner cut. i also find with MDF both of these end mills leave the perfect amount of dust packed into the cut to hold a 1/8" profile cut in place without any tabs or tape to secure the cutout portion. some woods might work well with a straight flute endmill also.

For Acrylic you want an upcut so that the material is pulled out of the cut otherwise is will melt back into the channel

metal, an upcut is normally desired as you want to remove the material from the cut to prevent binding issues.

Totally awesome job on the builds. One thing i was thinking is maybe you could come up with a sleeve that would go around the jacket, or even coil some copper tube around the body of the new spindle (CPU thermal paste too?) and use a small water pump to cool it like the industrial CNC units ;)

[d.i.d]

So next step up should be spindle with 43mm collar like Kress or last Mafell FM1000 :) Then you can use thicker cutters 8-10mm. Good luck! ;)

[marcotronic]

Thanks a lot for sharing your experiences with this spindle! I'm also about to build my own CNC machine with this 500W spindle. Good to know I have to envision something more stable than I originally thought. :)

[arsaeterna]

Your glasses are DOPE
european glasses are always so dope, spanish and italians like big thick frames, germans like those transparent frames
and this one is cool and thin, dope : )

[AndrewGillard]

No one's mentioned emissivity yet? :P

You can't just point an IR thermometer at a reflective surface (such as the aluminium clamp for your spindle) and expect to read anything close to an accurate temperature. In fact, with surfaces as reflective as aluminium, you're mostly going to be seeing the temperature of whatever's reflected in it! (eg yourself, the rest of the room, etc.)

Those thermometers only give accurate readings from totally matte black surfaces (but anything that isn't shiny will be fairly accurate).

Btw, you can get more powerful NEMA 17 stepper motors than the ones you're using there - you don't necessarily have to jump up to NEMA 23 :) E3D have a number of different NEMA 17 motors, including their "Super Whopper" motor. I don't know how easy it is to find those on AliExpress, though...

[MrNlce]

You should sell a kit of the Dremel CNC.
I'm sure people would buy it.
Great video. Keep up the good work.

[henning]

so nice that you build this! as I saw your Dremel CNC video I was so impressed and started to build my own! then I see the same spindle on banggood and buy it! I don't have all the parts for my CNC machine but in maybe 2 months my machine is ready to mill! Thanks for the Tipp to use Nema 23 Motors!

[teddly]

I've had experience with DIY CNC machines, I've picked up some broken leafblowers and repaired them to make an extraction hood. If it pleases you, you can also attach a heat sink and use it as a method of cooling the spindle

[ArcAiN]

For better results, and less "tear out" use down-cut spiral / rotary bits for wood.

For machining metals such as aluminum, it's better for hobbyists to use single flute end mills, this will allow you to run the spindle at higher speeds, and still maintain a decent chip load.

It's also a good idea to use coolant with hard metals, and lubricants / lubricating coolant with soft metals.
Soft metals such as aluminium will gum up in the flutes, and can "chip-weld" themselves to your end mill. This will eventually result in a broken end mill.

All that said.. I think what you're doing is pretty neat. Keep it up!

[garyprice]

Disable microsteps with the other lead screws. Also use a higher voltage with the steppers.

[wes]

😂 I love your enthusiasm and curiosity. “It’s beginning to sound like a new project. 🤔 Maybe!”

[xConundrumx]

Problem with this spindle is RPM is too low for my taste ... Especially for PCB engraving it just seems to fall short. Also the shaft can get bent a little too easy. One stalling bit and your motor shaft is bent making it useless. But with all that said they do have a niche for which they work quite ok. Trespa and wood engraving/machining ... works just fine.


I would consider using the new Mafell with quick toolchange handle. High speeds, 1000 watts, the toolchange thing works great, especially if you invest in a few extra toolholders which would speed up changing bits even more. You can use the toolchanger with adapter sleeves or with a toolholder (and collet) so that you don't have to even use any wrenches at all when changing bits during the milling process.

The only thing I regret about the mafell is that it doesn't have an ER20 toolholder mechanism (I think max thickness for the Bit is 8 mm, would be better if it could cope with ER20 and 12 mm bits).


Waiting myself on the follow up version that is rumored to be coming soon with the quick tool change and a 10v PWM input (as opposed to a dial knob on the current version). Also sounds like they will make the power cable detachable.

Edit: btw your heat problem is most likely due to the fact that you were running it at low speed. The fan for cooling is attached to the same shaft as the toolholder. So ... less cooling at lower speeds. You could use an independent fan (12v blower would work good too) and remove the original one on the shaft so that the fan always runs at max speed even if the spindle does not.

[ArmstrongMixture]

You can use dremelcnc to make aluminum parts for bigger 500w cnc, then use that to machine steel parts for even bigger cnc!

[beykana]

Hello, I also have such a motor (48V). It was working before, but yesterday, while scraping wood, the motor had a hard time and suddenly stopped. Now it doesn't work at all. I measured it with a multimeter. There is electricity (48V) at the output of the PWM driver and the positive and negative terminals of the motor are powered, but the motor does not move. What do you think might be causing the problem?

[paulameloot]

I am using this spindle on an MP-CNC (quite a bit bigger than the Dremel CNC) and I can really use the full potential of this spindle, which is quite good for the price ! It had a big tendency to overheat though, so building a water cooling sleeve is definitly a game changing upgrade ! If anyone is interested in the STL files of that water cooler to 3d print (specific to this very model of spindle), let me know I'll be happy to share it with you ;)