Water cooled spindle cooling

[Don Baer]

After the water softener install I spent yesterday cleaning up the shop and fabricating new end stops for the CNC to replace the ones came up missing. I was planning on another shop day but due to a re-laps with that bug that been going around I spent the day in front of the computer. I still have to decide what to do for the spindle and I do have the 4 hp water cooled unit that Carol bought but I felt that it was way to big for my needs and I didn't have 220 anywhere near where the machine is to live and I didn't want to add to the complexity of the build by having to design a water cooling system along with everything else. I looked at the shop and it is not a big deal for me to run a 220 Volt line to that side of the shop since I already have it in the shop. but if I do decide to do this it will effect my over all design for the electrics. I know that Leo has a water cooling system but it was provided by the manufacturer so I am sure it wont be of much help. I haven't seen anything here where anyone else has built a system I know some folks just use an aquarium pump in a bucket of water but I would like something that can mount on the machine and not look entirely like a Rube Goldberg. In my research I have determined that at full load (which I doubt the spindle will ever see) the system would have to dissipate about 600 watts but I seriously doubt it will see more than 1/3 of that. Anyhow I am thinking about something like this.

Robot Check

and a pump like this


some teflon tubing and maybe a small water tank and I would be in business.
This would only set me back about $70 which is no big deal.


So what thing the masses.

 

[Brent Dowell]

Mine is just a .8kw, and I'm using what you first described, lol, a clear plastic tote with an aquarium style pump. I really should put a flow indicator and temp monitor on mine, but I've never really worried about it heating, but it would be good to know.

 

[Robert Horky]

Here is what I did for mine. Radiator, fan, pump ... all mounted on the carriage






Hope this helps .. works like charm. I have run for many non-stop hours and the spindle remains cool to the touch.

 

[Don Baer]

that is great Robert, just what I was looking for. what size spindle are you running.

 

[Brent Dowell]

That is cool, pun intended.

 

[Robert Horky]

Don, running a 2hp model.

 

[Leo Voisine]

I built a coolant tank. It is in a drawer mounted in the front cabinet under my machine. It has a nice fitting cover. The pump wire and hosed are bored through the sides and sealed. Nothing can get in. The cover has a weather seal all around the top.

Along the lines of a coolant tank on industrial machines with baffles. Floating and settled sediment cannot get to the water pump. I made the tank out of plywood and fiberglassed. It holds 5 gallons of distilled water. The pump provided is a really nice Chinese pond pump. Nothing special about it. Maybe $20.00

I have had my machine for about 5 or so years and I have had the new tank for two years now. Sometimes I am running the spindle for several hours at a time.

I thought about a heat exchanger or fans or something like that, but, I just don't need it. After several hours of spindle turning at 16000 RPM and cutting, the water can get luke warm. Not warm enough for a bath or washing hands. Maybe 70-80 degrees. But that is the extreme. Normally, running for 1 hour or so there is barely any noticeable increase in temperature.

Hmmm - maybe it would be cool to have a temperature gage on the control panel. Gotta think about that.

 

[Darren Wright]

Interesting, I hadn't made it around to thinking about the cooling yet, but do like that radiator idea. I just figured I'd be running a bucket of coolant (rv antifreeze fluid probably) I for sure will be adding a temp sensor/display and at least an inline flow indicator.

 

[Ryan Mooney]

antifreeze fluid probably

Aka Propylene Glycol which has the nice properties of better thermal transfer and being anti-fungal/microbial as well as food safe. Check the % on the mix, beer systems usually run at about 50% PG/water mix, but for your purpose I might drop to 30-40% to reduce the viscosity as I believe you're putting it through a lot smaller/more convolute piping than most of the brewing systems have to deal with.

If you were feeling really fancy you could get one of the mini 1/3HP glycol beverage line systems and then also use it to chill a couple of mini conical fermenters for your beverage needs (technically my garage/shop is also the brewery.. but I really don't know where I'd squeeze in a conical setup).

 

[Don Baer]

so Robert, one of these for $22...


and one of these for $19...



some tubing and a few clamps and your good to go seems simple enough even for this old man.... look like the CNC will have the water cooled 4 HP spindle after all. It's small enough I can mount the whole thing to the back of the Z axis carriage run 12 volt to it and be good to go.