High Speed Spindle Mount

[singlepic id=123 w=360]

I’ve been working for the last week or so on a mount to hold an auxiliary high speed spindle on my mill.  I chose a Proxxon Micromot 50/EF tool, which is a fairly slim 12V handheld rotary tool (think Dremel).  I wanted something powerful enough to do high speed engraving, but probably not a lot more.  The tool spins at 20,000 RPM unloaded, which is literally 10X faster than what my X3 mill spindle spins at.  The general rule with cutting tools is that you need higher RPMs when the tool diameter shrinks, and the engraving cutters are ridiculously small.

I wanted to use the opportunity to try out some new techniques and make the part “the right way.”  I knew I wanted to try making a fixture for the part, and I wanted to pay extra attention to speeds and feeds and shoot for a nice finish on the part.  It took one attempt with taking cuts that were too aggressive to dial back and fine tune the feed and depth-of-cut (DOC).  The second attempt turned out much better, and I attained a nearly mirror finish on the vertical surfaces, along with a much happier sounding tool.  I used a mix of MDI (manual commanding of the machine, e.g. ‘go to X=1.0 Y=0.175’), manual drilling with the quill, a facing wizard program to face off the aluminum stock, and CAD/CAM to design and generate G-Code for the bracket.

I put together a video that shows many of the steps of the process for making the part, with a quick bit at the end showing the high speed spindle doing some engraving.

I still need to drill and tap for the clamp screw, but the fit was tight enough to run the engraving without it.

[youtube tFepQLxqtsI]

Here are several photos of the process, too.

[nggallery id=17]

Related Posts

Bike Light GoPro Mount Adapter

Here’s another quick and practical project that I knocked off in a couple evenings.  My new POC mountain bike helmet has a non-standard venting arrangement, which makes…

Bicycle Disc Brake Caliper Mount

[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”11″ sortorder=”140,141,134,135,136,137,138,139″ display=”basic_slideshow”]It’s no secret that I can get pretty wrapped up in projects.  Witness a “small” project that I took on for a friend,…

Camera Slider Track

I have long wanted to work on some motion-controlled camera rigs, for time lapse and moving video shot purposes.  The longest-brewing idea I have had is for…

More Microscope Hacking: Camera Output!

[singlepic id=405 w=600] Apparently hacking around with my microscope has turned into something of an obsession.  The other day, I wondered if I could easily add a…

Epic Builds: Articulated Stereo Microscope Arm

[singlepic id=391 w=640 h=480] I’ve wanted a stereo microscope in my home lab for ages.  In the last couple of years, it’s become an increasingly urgent need…

CNC Electronics Enclosure Work Commences…

Santa’s workshop was busy today.  I finally got some motivation and time to continue work that I started a year ago, but really, has been a nagging…

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Is possible you send the CAD file which you used to do the proxxon mount? the final result was amazing

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.