Hi MPCNC Community.
I started the printing process for a MPCNC some hours ago after having looked at and considered one for more than 2 years now. I did not put my dreams to action so far, as I never had the time. Due to Covid-19 I have A LOT more time now. I mostly use Shaper Origin for my CNC-Cutting so far, but there are some projects coming up where I could use a traditional CNC to have it cut the things that are too repetitive and time consuming when doing them with Shaper Origin. While it is awesome to engrave something right onto the workpiece with Origin, it sucks at getting out 20 identical parts, itās too repetitive (for me at least )
What I wanted to ask: Is there someone in this Community that has a Shaper Origin as well and uses the spindle in the MPCNC? I would make sure I do not require both machines at the same time and Iām very satisfied with the overall quality of the spindle. Itās a 720W spindle designed and manufactured by Festool. Its speed is controllable from 10,000 to 26,000 RPM, and it is designed to maintain speed over load. Is there anything that would contraindicate the usage of it in a MPCNC? Designing and printing a Spindle Holder for it would not be a problem I guess.
The spindle speed setting is done directly on the spindle, in the picture you can see a small dial next to the on-off-switch where the speed is set by choosing a number between 1 (10.000) and 6 (26.000 RPM).
considering i could get a decent ATC 5hp spindle for $1500 i would say that is wayyy too pricey. The specs say the weight is 13.5 Ibs it is my understanding that is too heavy for mpcnc as the other recommended options are around 4ibs
I donāt see any reason that would not work at all. I will jump ahead of it and let you know I am assuming it will be much slower feedrates as compared to doing it by hand. Not really sure if the Shaper limits you in that regard but having the router hanging in the air is much less rigid than pushing it by hand on a solid surface. But it is 100% hands free so it makes up for it in the end I hope.
Good morning everyone and thank you for your answers. I will try to shed some light on this since I guess there is a small misunderstanding
While the price is correct, it is not only for the spindle (which would be incredibly overprized I guess) but the whole machine, that consists of a motion tracking device and stepper motors for x-y-z. The spindle is mounted into that machine and then corrected within a certain corrective range by 2 stepper motors (x-y) during cut to enable CNC-precision cuts on basically and surface you can get the tracking tape and the machine on and push it around. Itās kinda like playing hot wire So I can bring the machine to already completed parts of any size (for example whole 4x2 meter front boards of bar furniture) and any location (I work a lot on fair construction and trade shows) that I would never be able to fit within a MPCNC or any other stationary machine for that matter (at least not at <3.000 bucks) and have the customer point out what to put exactly where on-location. Butā¦ I donāt want to sell one to you, so: every tool has a general purpose and for what I need to do over the next few months the Shaper would not be the right choice and I can finally get my hands on one of these cool MPCNC machines
The spindle should be of decent quality from what I can tell and since I prefer not buying additional things when I already have something that works and gets the job done I think it might be worth a try.
The weight is for the whole machine, not only the spindle. Here you can see the spindle mounted into the whole appliance:
Yeah, that was one consideration I had as well. I usually have feed rates in finishing passes with the Shaper of around 250-400mm/min yet I am happy to take significantly slower feed rates trading it for the advantage of not moving the tool around by hand the same path for 20+ pieces. From what I read over the last weeks most MPCNC are run in wood between 3 up to 20mm/min depending on material and depth of cut. That sounds OK for me
I will go ahead and print a spindle holder for the spindle and get back here with an update once it is assembled. If it does not work I can still get another spindle and have to print one more part, which should not be a problem considering how much I have to print before
Thatās really an awesome tool, I so want to get one for myself one dayā¦ Too bad they are so expensive.
If only the software was open source Iād start building myself one right away.
Anyway, to answer your question, I donāt see any issue using this spindle, except that you donāt mention the weight. It canāt be too heavy if you donāt want to get in trouble.
Other than that, Iām fairly sure it will work just fine, and itās actually a nice spindle choice. So yeah, go for it.
I will put the spindle on a scale later and document the weight here. Max. weight recommendation is 4lbs, from āhand-weighingā it I think that should not be a problem. But data is better than estimates, Iāll be back with a weight.
Cool so it has some sort of speed feedback telling you to speed up or slow down. Dang that is slick. I suppose I really need to try one out at the next event I see them at.
Both these speeds you listed seem off to me. I do it in mm/s but converting I would say most run 480-900mm/min (8-15mm/s). Thinking maybe you are missing a zero on your Shaper specs, or that is full depth with a larger diameter endmill.
Either way, canāt wait to see what you think about full automation.
You have two options, you can push it as hard as you can and try to keep on the line and the machine corrects for x and y, which works fine most of the time, especially roughing passes. Depending on the material the limiting factor is just how sharp the bit is and how fast/strong you can push, although it is of course not advisable to use excessive force on a power tool to achieve things
And you can use it in āAuto Modeā where the machine moves the spindle along the line at a fixed forward feed rate you can set in the cut options (on screen) between 250 up to 900mm/min, which I use for finishing passes after roughing out everything and the job of the user is more or less pushing the machine around to enable it to move farther forward. You should really try it, it is amazing. I was at a training day when I bought mine and there were 2 hardcore-stationary-CNC-users that were blown away by some of the possibilities yet they both also kept their regular stationary machines
You are absolutely right, that is off and I confused the unit, itās seconds not minutes. Thank you. Even better, so speed might be the same or even better
So far they donāt, at the User Forum some have already requested to buy additional ones, also to ease up on tool change and to have a backup. They MIGHT do so in the future, but at the moment I think they are selling more than Festool can shell out or they just donāt want to. There were two people who broke their spindle and they got it replaced for a service fee where UPS brought a new one and the old one was taken back for inspection and repair.
So Iām gathering all parts and am basically ready to start printing as soon as the weekend comes. I just measured the spindle and it has a diameter of 70mm (69.90 to be exact). While Iām doing some research on how I can successfully mount it to be locked in place rigidly yet at the same time can be taken out without too much of an effort, I wondered whether I need to consider anything special when using a larger spindle āthan usualā (diameter-wise). I have looked at different designs and like the idea of some, yet I wondered if they have a thing they usually run into and I could modify that on the way to try my best at an improved solution.
For example this seems pretty beefed up, is it practical? I could adapt it to a 70mm spindle. But maybe the footprint is too much.
Iām thinking about a collet that is tightened by thumbscrews on both or even on just one side. I want to achieve to be able to extract it from the MPCNC to go back into its place of the Origin when it needs to without making too much of a hassle. It should be easy and effortlessly to do yet still stay tight in place during cuts if you get what I mean.
Hi Tim,
I never built it with the Shaper Spindle in the end. I got a dead cheap Makita Router from a business closure.
I also would NOT consider to use it anymore (personally), because a) I use the Shaper SO MUCH and b) would totally hate the day when Iām out with the Shaper and the spindle is back home
)
it I think that should not be a problem. But data is better than estimates, Iāll be back with a weight.