[Potatohead908]

I'm planning on getting a G0704 mill shortly. Pricing out all the parts needed to CNC. I am also looking at doing a belt drive conversion. My question is would a 1.25hp to 2.25hp router motor be a good choice for the spindle motor? I'm thinking the peak rpm that the router motor can make is a bit high but can be lowered by pulley ratio. You can find these motors for $100-$150. Not sure how it would or could be integrated with MACH 3. This is my first post and I am very new at any sort of mill or electronics. Thank you for your input.

[dracozny]

I'm planning on getting a G0704 mill shortly. Pricing out all the parts needed to CNC. I am also looking at doing a belt drive conversion. My question is would a 1.25hp to 2.25hp router motor be a good choice for the spindle motor? I'm thinking the peak rpm that the router motor can make is a bit high but can be lowered by pulley ratio. You can find these motors for $100-$150. Not sure how it would or could be integrated with MACH 3. This is my first post and I am very new at any sort of mill or electronics. Thank you for your input.

spindle control is usually done with a vfd interpreting the signals from your CNC computer.

[cgo]

The problem with that type of motor is theres no speed regulation, which is important for machining metals. Maybe you could use a flat belt to get enough reduction but you still need some kind of feedback speed control to keep the speed stable, something you would have to build or have made. The last problem is there one direction , so you would have to rewire the motor and add a relay control to switch directions, another custom part.
You are better off finding a dc motor+controller or 3 phase motor+vfd, both will regulate there speed alot better than the "universal" type motor can.

[Potatohead908]

Ok I can understand that. Not a can of worms I am ready to try and open. Thank you both so much. Great that I can get well explained answers to my questions here!

[hoss2006]

You can find a number of spindle motor upgrade options here.
Projects
Many will require controller upgrades and spindle bearing upgrades too if the rpm is to go above 4000.
Hoss

[arizonavideo]

I love my Hitachi M12 it has great speed control and is quiet. One good thing is the lower speed is 8000 when most others are 10k

It is rated at 2 1/4HP I think but that would be at 20,000 RPM. It is fairly loud at that speed and I doubt it life span would be that long. I run mine at 8 and 10k and it has lasted for years but it is still a brushed motor running at 10,000 RPM. It does not have reverse.

You can sometimes get them for $99.00 on sale it is still a fairly good power source and it is built better than the stock motors but if you ran at 60% of full speed for longer life it would only give you about 1.4 or so HP so not much of a move up. The larger routers might be a better choice but they are all closer to $200 and many don't have speed control and none have reverse.

I saw this one on ebay today.

Johnson Continuous Duty Motor Treadmill JM02 001 100VDC 3 2HP JM02001 Matrix | eBay

I'm keeping a eye out for a bigger one for the Weiss 30.

It might be a little big for the 704