[jimglass]

Last week I needed to drill some .030 holes with my Deford lathe. Top speed on my lathe is only about 1200 RPM, much to slow for driling .030 holes.
I was able to program the lathe to Peck drill and I got the job done. When the job was done I was thinking a high speed spindle would be nice to have around the shop or better yet one that would mount on my lathe toolpost.

This is what I came up with stuff I already had around the shop:


I had that Albrecht chuck mounted to a 1/2" arbor. In the pic the arbor is mounted on R8 bearings. The gizmo doing the driving is actually a Foredom Handpiece #44. The Foredom Handpiece is a spindle driven by an AC motor by a 4' flex cable. I did not see a real good way of mounting the chuck directly to the foredom spindle and have it run concentric so I came up with this technique. The added bonus is I can still remove the Albrecht chuck and arbor and use it somewhere else. This setup is quite robust as well.

I can also remove the chuck and arbor and install a DA300 collet chuck for small hole grinding.

I used some R8 bearings I had on hand. They are not high speed bearings so I'm not sure how they will work out over time. I have no idea how often this high speed spindle will get used.
Close up of spindle

I made a video of the of the high speed spindle working and the lathe
pec drilling. I used high feed rates to make the video short as possible.

Click here to see it run

The Foredom Handpiece remained quite cool after a couple of runs but the Albrecht chuck was a little warm. Not sure if the heat came from the O-ring drive belt or the R8 bearings.

I ordered a couple of Johnson DC electric motors off Ebay yesterday. I would like to eliminate the AC motor and flex drive cable. My concern is cross-talk between the high speed AC motor and the stepper motors on the lathe. I have seen it happen before. The little Johnson DC motors with make the high speed
spindle setup more self contained. Johnson Electric Powerful Motor - 24VDC - 10000 RPM | eBay

Would a flat belt run cooler?

Where can I buy high speed bearings? Jim

[jimglass]

have now tested the S5KDD bearings and the Johnson 24VDC, 10,000RPM motor. The motor is very quiet. I was a little disappointed at first. I had to slow the feed rate and depth per step way down. It ran much much better after I got the Johnson motor running the right direction. I cannot believe I drilled holes with the drill running backwards but it did. With the motor running in the best direction I was able to kick up the feedrate and depth per peck. Feedrate was
1"/minute and depth per peck was set to .005"/pec.

Again, I sped up the feedrate to shorten the video.
See it run here



After playing with the high speed spindle for 30 minutes the Johnson motor was only luke warm and the bearings were not cold but not warm either. I think this setup is a keeper. However, the Johnson motor is only going to handle small drills 1/16 to 3/32 or smaller. I'll hang onto the Foredom spindle and flex drive cable for heavier loads.

This project is now done!!!!

I'm still looking for a source for high speed bearings. Thanks Jim

[hoss2006]

Very nice project, thanks for sharing.
A few sources I use for buying bearings online are VXB.com (cheap), Applied.com and Bearings Direct.com.
Google turns up many more.
Hoss

[mactec54]

jimglass

I go with Hoss on this one, these are the kind of things we all need to have, they do a great job, I have at least 5 spindles like this, that can do different jobs on a lathe or a mill

I was a little puzzeled as to why you ran the spindle, for this drilling op it sure is not needed

[wizard]

have now tested the S5KDD bearings and the Johnson 24VDC, 10,000RPM motor. The motor is very quiet. I was a little disappointed at first. I had to slow the feed rate and depth per step way down. It ran much much better after I got the Johnson motor running the right direction.

I'd laugh but I just did something similar trying to drill a hole with the bit rotating the wrong way.

I cannot believe I drilled holes with the drill running backwards but it did. With the motor running in the best direction I was able to kick up the feedrate and depth per peck. Feedrate was
1"/minute and depth per peck was set to .005"/pec.

Again, I sped up the feedrate to shorten the video.

I deleted the links but must say it looks like a very nice spindle.

After playing with the high speed spindle for 30 minutes the Johnson motor was only luke warm and the bearings were not cold but not warm either. I think this setup is a keeper. However, the Johnson motor is only going to handle small drills 1/16 to 3/32 or smaller. I'll hang onto the Foredom spindle and flex drive cable for heavier loads.

This project is now done!!!!

You never know, you may come across the ideal motor tomorrow.

I'm still looking for a source for high speed bearings. Thanks Jim

You can go online or you can try a local supplier. Here Kaman has a very knowledgable sales and support force. That probably varies with the city you are located in. In the case of this spindle though it does look finished.

[jimglass]

jimglass

I was a little puzzeled as to why you ran the spindle, for this drilling op it sure is not needed

Do you mean the lathe spindle or the high speed spindle? The lathe is a Denford CNC lathe and the spindle only runs around 1200 RPM. That is way to slow for an .030" drill. With the high speed spindle running at
10,000RPM and the lathe running at 1200RPM for a combined 11,200 RPM. Still to slow for an .030 drill.

Jim

[mactec54]

jimglass

Yes the lathe spindle having it run would not be helping one little bit the 10,000RPM is plenty for the drill by itself, 1"/min is a little slow 3/5"min is were you want to be at

[jimglass]

Ok, the CNC program starts and stops the lathe spindle. At first I had to drill the .030 holes with the lathe spindle running at 1200 RPM. I drilled
ten pieces that way (only .080 deep) then made the high speed spindle.

I used the same pec drill program to test run the high speed spindle.

I would like to see the high speed spindles you made. Got any pics and bearing numbers?? Jim

[mactec54]

jimglass
CNC program starts and stops the lathe spindle

This is easy to change just remove the M3 & S1200 & the spindle will not run

Yes you can see one of my spindle builds here, I use Barden & SkF precision bearings mostly depending on what a customer wants in there spindle build, cheap bearings can work if everything is built correctly

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/cnc_wo...dle_build.html