Small toolpost live spindle

¼ inch milling/drilling/grinding spindle.
This is a universal medium duty spindle that has proved very useful over the years.
The body is alloy and is accurately machined to be square, parallel and bored central to the two mounting faces, this is important to allow for various set ups.
The spindle is tool steel and bored for Crawford spit collets simply because I had them in three sizes of imperial and two in metric, and can accommodate a drill chuck if needed.
Bearings are 28x12x8 rubber sealed.
Power is a 12volt DC motor from a golf cart and run through a cheap PWM speed controller, drive belt is from a sewing machine which was a temporary measure but has proved up to the task.
This will just about push a ¼ drill into steel without a pilot hole (not something I would normally do) but you have to find the limits don’t you.
It happily copes with end mills and a mini fly cutter with a ½ inch sweep and I have used it for grinding using mounted point wheels, this has been useful for truing worn chuck jaws etc.
The benefit of taking care in machining the main body is that with a dedicated spacer block it can be mounted either way up exactly on the lathe centre line.
This gets used a lot in my vertical milling attachment of which more later (pictured for now).
Attachment 13002Attachment 13003Attachment 13004Attachment 13005Attachment 13006Attachment 13007

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Thanks olderdan! We've added your Toolpost Spindle to our Lathe Accessories category,
as well as to your builder page: olderdan's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/toolpost-spindle"> <img src="/uploads/155341/toolpost-spindle.jpeg"/> </a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/toolpost-spindle">Toolpost Spindle</a> <span> by <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/builder/olderdan">olderdan</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/spindle'>spindle</a>, <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/motor'>motor</a>, <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/controller'>controller</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>
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Quote:

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Originally Posted by DIYer

<!-- BEGIN /var/www/html/homemadetools/protected/modules/zeus/views/tool/postUpdate.php -->
Thanks olderdan! We've added your Toolpost Spindle to our Lathe Accessories category,
as well as to your builder page: olderdan's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

<div id="blocks"> <div class="block b1 pngfix"> <div class="bimg"> <div> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/toolpost-spindle"> <img src="/uploads/155341/toolpost-spindle.jpeg"/> </a> </div> </div> <div class="head pngfix"></div> <div class="left pngfix"></div> <div class="right pngfix"></div> <div class="blockover b1 pngfix"> <div class="title"> <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/toolpost-spindle">Toolpost Spindle</a> <span> by <a href="http://www.homemadetools.net/builder/olderdan">olderdan</a></span> </div> <div class="tags">tags: <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/spindle'>spindle</a>, <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/motor'>motor</a>, <a href='http://www.homemadetools.net/tag/controller'>controller</a> </div> </div> </div> </div>
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great idea and well documented with drawings, congrates to you on your post.

Great work! Do you have CAD files for it that you are willing to share? I'd love to make one like yours.

Michael

A very good idea, especially for the belt tension, nice work !:thumbsup:

Anyone familiar with RPM and torque range of golf cart motors? Won't DC motors also run either direction?
I like this for both index milling and auxiliary spindle. Variable more attractive than a single speed
tool post grinder, hence question on rpm. Drive ratio will take care of the rest.

Thanks for the comments Michael.
The only CAD files are in Sketchup 3D, they are to scale and can be dimensioned by anyone using that programme.
I have been trying to post them but 3D files are large and so far outside the limit for uploads on the forum.
I will keep trying and add them to the original post if poss.
Regards
Alan

Thanks for the interest,
I cant provide much info on the motor other than its a 200 watt from a Bentley golf trolley, I am not too up on this but I think thats about .27 HP.
No labels on these Chinese made things but at least they are cheap, and yes reversible.
I have another one with is drive gearbox on my lead screw drive and the most current that has drawn under load is 1.5 amps
Regards
Alan

200 watt +/- .27 HP, cheap, and reversible; one drives gearbox on lead screw most current drawn under load is 1.5 amps.
Thank you olderdan, that info will find the answers. Hardinge HLV's have something like that on their leadscrew, but I recall less power. That will easily run endmills, and what I'm after.

Toi cung rat thich du an cua ban, nhung o cho toi tim mua dong co 2ooW cua xe day golf that la kho.Cam on ban da dang bai . Chuc ban luon vui ve hanh phuc.

Thanks Alan, Sketchup files would be great!

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Originally Posted by Toolmaker51

Anyone familiar with RPM and torque range of golf cart motors? Won't DC motors also run either direction?
I like this for both index milling and auxiliary spindle. Variable more attractive than a single speed
tool post grinder, hence question on rpm. Drive ratio will take care of the rest.

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A little late in chiming in on this but powered bag trolleys can range from .20 to .45 HP some are gear reduction others are low RPM high torque
Golf carts proper can range from 36v with 3.75 HP 3100 RPM to 48 V 12 HP with 1200 RPM high torque low RPM wound.
A while back I dismantled an old walk behind floor scrubber mainly for the 6 Trogen 105 6 v batteries but I kept the 3 motors and drive differential for future projects the 2 scrubber motors were gear reduction 4 HP 36V while the drive motor also had a electric brake as well I figured that one will become a milling spindle attachment for one of my Leblond lathes Probably the 26 x 60 with gap bed

Alan, nice one as usual.
My toolpost grinder should more accurately be called a toolpost spindle, as you call yours, because it has an MT2 taper which allows the fitting of many different working ends, grinding wheel, internal mounted grinding bobs, drill chuck, ER chuck etc.

Attachment 20994 Attachment 20995 Click pix for full size.

I use a 2 HP DC motor from a treadmill with my own controller for speed regulation.

Nice job Tony,
That was a year old post of mine and now superseded by my geared milling spindle but I still use it for some jobs.
Your version is a lot more substantial, BTW how do you guys get all those treadmill motors, cant find them in the UK I think they must all be powering rocking horses.
Merry Christmas.

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Originally Posted by olderdan

Nice job Tony,
Your version is a lot more substantial, BTW how do you guys get all those treadmill motors, cant find them in the UK I think they must all be powering rocking horses.
Merry Christmas.

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Alan,

I lived in the US for 3 years and over there they have two great institutions. Weekend yard sales and Craigs list. If you can't find something on one you'll find it on another. People buy treadmills with good intentions of exercising but soon get tired of it and decide that they need the space back.
I bought a treadmill whilst there for $10 or similar and when I left there was no way that I wasn't taking the motor. I also found a couple more motors before leaving. Many people use the controller from the treadmills but they have all sorts of built in safety features which make those controllers less suitable for use on machine tools. For example it is usual to have delays programmed in as well as slow start and slow stop features to avoid throwing you off the end of the treadmill. That is why I make my own controllers. My first use for one was as an ignition system tester.

Attachment 21008 Attachment 21009 Click pix for full size

The pic on the left also shows the treadmill controller, it was on this device that I discovered the peculiarities of these controllers. The delays made it a pain to set "exact" RPM.

Love to see a schematic and parts list for your controller Tony!

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Originally Posted by obt@charter.net

Love to see a schematic and parts list for your controller Tony!

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I'll try to remember to make and scan a sketch. I build simple circuits like that without drawing them first. There are several methods that you can use, the simplest and also most expensive being a Variac and rectifier. Pure electronic solutions are much cheaper and the simplest of those is a thyristor circuit followed by a full wave rectifier. A more elegant way would be using PWM (pulse width modulation), this can be done by generating the PWM signal with something like an Arduino followed by a MOSFET for the power switching.
I use the thyristor method just like light dimmers, although they don't need the following rectifier.

That's all way over my head Tony. Since I don't know a watt from an ohm I have a real problem following what you're saying. In the not so distant past I would have asked for a diagram and parts list referring to Radio Shack part numbers, although I did find they still have an online store with a couple of those parts you mentioned listed:)

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Originally Posted by obt@charter.net

That's all way over my head Tony. Since I don't know a watt from an ohm I have a real problem following what you're saying. In the not so distant past I would have asked for a diagram and parts list referring to Radio Shack part numbers, although I did find they still have an online store with a couple of those parts you mentioned listed:)

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I will make a separate post detailing very simply the different methods, but it might take a few days until I find the time.

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Originally Posted by mtwheatley

Thanks Alan, Sketchup files would be great!

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I know its a bit late in the day but I must have missed your request for the Sketchup files which you are welcome to if you still want them.
I would have to send them in zipped form to your email address as they are too large for the forum.
regards
Alan

If someone else wanted a copy of the files for the controller would we be able to get a copy?
Elwin Murley @ ironduke66@hotmail.com

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Originally Posted by Ironduke

If someone else wanted a copy of the files for the controller would we be able to get a copy?
Elwin Murley @ ironduke66@hotmail.com

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Of course. I will try to find time over this weekend to make a post detailing the 3 different methods that I mentioned previously.

That would be a real help for those of us who are not elec engineers. I can handle a schematic, but the thoughts of your design really help
rich
rich_soby@yahoo.com

Really would like more details about the motor controller. > "Power is a 12volt DC motor from a golf cart and run through a cheap PWM speed controller," Could you please share what you found, used, how connected etc. I have treadmill motor that I would like to control using PWM rather than using a potentiometer. Thanks so much. Nick