Anyone adapt a CNC spindle to a router lift?

[Denis Dhimarko]

Hi all, sorry if I am reviving an old subject.
I did exactly this with one of those Chinese water cooled spindles, mostly because I wanted to have a quiet router table since I was going to run it indoors. Eventually I wanted to build a CNC router and was going to put this set up on the CNC, but I like it so much I will just leave it on the table. What I found really useful is the control that you get with the rotation speed, that is simply great.

I have to say that it is not a cheap setup if you want to build it right. it really needs to have the complete wiring as if you were to set up a CNC router.
Dust was one of my issues as well, which I solved by using an enclosure with filtered fans; it was actually a lot of fun putting the enclosure and wiring together...

For a lift, I used the Jessem router lift because it was almost the exact size. With a thin aluminum sleeve it fit perfect. For controlling it, I set up a Normally Open and a Normally closed switch with a changeover selector to control the direction of the rotation. Designed and 3d printed a control panel to put all these together. Please note that the spindle can rotate on both directions, this is a serious safety issue, that can be disabled on the VFD (Which I have done for safety reasons).

If anyone is curious on the BOM for the build, here it is below (please note that this is just to set up the wiring and the lift and these costs are from a couple of years ago):

NO Switch, NC Switch, Changeover Slector	31.12
Flow indicator	15.21
Contactor ABB AF16-30-10-13	85
6mm hose fittings	9.59
Silicone tube	8.99
90 degree elbow fittings	8.49
Cable glands	10.59
Vfd remote cable	17.99
12mm fan x2	13.98
Fan covers	8.99
Phantec plug fitting	4.99
Wire terminals	13.73
20 awg cable	14.95
20 amp breaker	23.25
10 awg silicone cable	25.88
Din rail	7.99
Dinkle terminals	29.99
Wistex 16in enclosure	37.65
Emi filter	17.69
Ground bar	7.99
Meanwell DC transformer	26.6
Cooling pump	51.19
Aluminum radiator	42.99
Jessem lift	179
Router/vfd	312
1/4 collet	7.79
Total	1013.63

for water cooling, I have been using a PC cooling radiator, Reservoir/Pump, and pc cooling liquid. these motors will not run for such a long time that it will significantly heat up. but it is advised to run the cooling.
I have been running this in my basement for a while, but haven't run it since I moved my shop in the garage, since I don't have 220V there. That will be coming up..

I'd upload some pics but for some reason it is not letting me.

[Jay Moodley]

Thanks for posting Denis. I'm looking forward to seeing your pics.