survey of robot milling: what size spindle/bits are you using?

    I have SprutCAM pretty well licked for carving foam with my Kuka KR30/2; it may be an older 'bot, but I'm very happy with the results so far...but now I have to figure out what kind of spindle to use if I want to use a ballnose bit that is 8" long and 1/2" in diameter. I tried using it on my Hitachi woodworking router, but after only 20 minutes the motor felt very, very, VERY hot, so I have to find a better, heavier-duty solution.

    My robot has a 30 kg payload limit. What kind of spindles are other people out there using for this type of work?i'd really like to get to an ER32 collet size so I can use 3/4 diameter bits.....but at this point I could live with a limit of ER20 (1/2")

    Thanks for any replies!

    HSD with ATC (ER11-20, ER32 and ER40), Elte (ER32) and one small but tough chinese spindle 2.2 KW with water cooling - ER20.
    I think the best solution for you would be the chinese one as it is light (about 5kg) and durable - did some MDF milling with it with no problem at all except some loose bolts :smiling_face: but that was easily fixed. Just be careful to buy the ER20 one, not the ER11 or ER16.
    Most of the time the water cooling is not needed as the spindle is not getting hot even after about 4-6 hrs work. And it is cheap :smiling_face:

    We are using a PDS spindel (DLC 90 Dyna - LOC) 5.5 kw and up to 24000 rpm. It is mounted on a KR150 robot and is mostly used for milling al kinds of plastics. At the moment we only use HSK-F40 tool holders with a ER25 lock.

    Since we mounted the motor we had a few crashes and so far surprisingly the motor hasn't even gotten a scratch. No problems with excess heath either. Even after a full day of work the motor feels just a bit above room temperature.

    Every problem has a solution, that isn't the problem. The problem is the solution.

    PushCorp is good, but pricey. And perhaps a bit heavy. But most of their spindle units include a pneumatic chuck that can be used to automate tool changes -- you can switch cutters with your robot program, assuming you have multiple tool holders and programmed rack positions for them. PushCorp also has a controllable-force pneumatic unit that can be mounted between the robot and spindle to allow controllable compliance -- useful for sanding and polishing operations.

    That said, PushCorp's electronics are a bit primitive, on the interface side. Everything is opto-isolated, which is good, but it's the only industrial hardware I've ever seen that used 5V TTL open-collector transistor outputs. After smoking one of the opto-isolators by wiring directly to a standard industrial 24VDC signal (the isolator did its job -- it burned out that channel, but left everything else in working order), I got hold of the internal wiring diagrams and ended up putting relays in between each of my digital signals and PushCorp's inputs/outputs. 5VDC ice cube relays turned out to be a bit hard to source...

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