I will agree with Gerald...go for the 3kW. That is what I am getting Uncle Ray. Check out world-etrade....$391 delivered to SA.

Funny strange lot these Chinese. Did payment for spindle via PayPal and on my conformation message turns out world-etrade is lovehappyshopping.

Thanks for the assurances, Kobus, does that price include the collets?

I have the same situation at the moment,Don`t know If I need to get the 2.2 kw water cooled or the 3 kw air cooled as the weight on the 3 kw unit is more than the 2.2 kw water cooled spindle.I don`t do more than 4 mm cut depth at a time and are happy with 40 mm/sec.Yes the plumbing to do the watercooled unit is a mission but what if you lose steps due to the weight of the 3 kw unit if you do carving with a lot of up and down movement.would the gas shock keep up with the weight and if you use a stronger gas spring would the motor be able to go against the forces of the shock.
My first shock packed up due to it being upside down (the wrong way )so I could only get one that was pressured stronger so I bought it and the motor couldn`t move the shock.I need to make the call this week as I would bring 2 in one for Brad and one for #23. I also Had a look at the 1.5 kw for my small machine.

I dont think the weight is that much of a factor as long as the gas spring is matched to the weight. You can get the spring made to your requirements, I had it done by my local spares shop - they orderd it from the factory for me - should be a piece of cake up in the big smoke. If the gas spring is correct the spindle and mounting plate will be "neutral" so the motor has very little work to do with regards to countring the forces of gravity - I suppose my 4:1 reduction also makes it easier.

Alan You have Mail

I use 3Kw water cooled.

My use is very much different, as I seldom cut less then 4mm...

I can't say much about the gas spring, as my ball screw makes it look effortless...

Plumbing isn't a big thing, I use pneumatic tubes for it, there are plenty space in the cable chain. As for the pump & reservoir, using off the shelf lubricant pump & tank works well for me.

BTW, in case you worry about forgot-to-turn-on-the-coolant-pump scenario, the spindle won't fry immediately... I had done cutting for over 1/2 hours without the coolant pump... Lucky me... :D

I have the pump already,one that I used to empty my pool once .strong enough to probably have 5 water cooled spindles on one line and to run a koi pond together:D

No Alan, he does not do collets anymore...other eBay shops have some good deals. Some only deliver to USA, but I have way's and means of getting it via somebody.

Alan, old LOVEHAPPYSHOPPING aka WORLD-eTRADE is at it again.
I found this 3kW for $391.00 incl int. delivery.
Attachment 12657

Even the 2nd page confirms FREE SHIPPING...

Attachment 12656

Today I get a message...please pay another £27.00 into his PayPal account as shipping to SA is very expensive....
You know what I told him cannot be repeated here....waiting to hear from him or eBay

I went through this dance a couple weeks back, will probably come back to you and say that maybe you shoudnt buy it at this stage :eek: - that was the answer I got when questioning the sudden increase in shipping to SA over that stated on E-Bay.

Doesn't E-Bay frown on mechants who advertise one price, then change it? What does his ratings say from people like you about this tactic?

If you push it to ship at the item price they will use a less quality, less fast, less secure shipping method, be carefull. I would ask for a refund

An extra $27 to ship a spindle to South Africa, compared to the shipping for 99% of his customers is quite reasonable.

I eventually gave in and paid the extra...not me but uncle Ray will foot the bill...just to get the thing. After all it is still cheap for a 3kW spindle. Will see how he reacts when I rate his service on eBay...maybe he will change his name again.;)

Cheap prices always win

With the machine running almost eight hours a day, every day at the moment, the little bosch 1400w router is taking a bit of strain - so just committed to getting a 3Kw air cooled spindle from Lovehappyshopping on E-bay, payment has been made so here's hoping it wont take long to get here.

Alan, what are you cutting at the moment? :)

Chairs, chairs and more chairs from 18mm pine ply, got an order for over 125 chairs, 5 chairs per sheet and just over 2 hours to cut each sheet.

We have to deal with some pretty poor quality boards here so there have been delays in the process as complete bundles have had to be returned to the supplier and then alternatives sourced from other suppliers - oh yes and the price has jumped about 20 - 25% in the last three months due to shortages of stock in the market. The quality is really bad, how I wish we could get decent affordable birch ply in SA. There is one importer I am aware of but he charges abour R800 per sheet for 18mm (equivalent to about $100)

Alan,
If you bought one with extra collets, lovehappyshopping may omit/forget them and try to get out of sending them to you. Use the comment 'Once I recieve the collets I'll leave positive feed back for you' and they may arrive.
I'm happy with 3kw air cooled splindle, sounds like a jet engine starting up - not as loud!.

Good Luck

Anthony

Anthony, thanks for that, will watch out for it.

Welcome to the Spindle club.... I am sure you will enjoy that beast.

Still waiting for the spindle to arrive, busy playing e-mail tennis with love-happyshopping: - Oh sorry free international shipping does not include SA, please pay another $70 - too bad thats what you advertised, send it! - its not our fault its the Ebay system.... etc etc
How can they be so unethical??

When you run it for the first time you will forget all about those unethical folks. ;)
Cheers
Tim #79

True Tim :)

Somebody tried to order from Deitech in South Africa? more choise of spindles, and claudia is allways verry helpfull. I orderd a spindle and a set of collets but it is shiped to taiwan, thats closer to hong kong.

They ship everywhere and are reliable, only they use DHL so the shipping charges might be somewhat expensive if ordering only a spindle (I ordered bulk from them motors, drives, spindle...)

Hi Alan

The Chinese exist on the smallest of margins.
I have found them to be reasonable to a point but once a transaction goes into loss making territory for them they will stonewall big time.
If you see what they are paid, well then it is not hard to understand why they panic at even the smallest of losses on a transaction.

Not sure what you have decided to do but this whole cnc thing gets expensive sometimes so maybe just amortize the extra cost against the other huge costs !!

My spindle from Love happy shopping has performed very well over time and is great on the machine.
I understand about getting taken for a few extra bucks or getting a bad product though.
Somewhere in my thread is a rant about "Eco Ply", sometimes it is not just the money... it's the principal :D

Regards
Ross

Thanks Ross, I have made them an offer on the shipping, waiting to hear back. As you say its the principle of the thing and we are so used to being ripped off just because of where we are that I tend to go into defensive mood when I suspect I am being taken advantage of. (case in point: OM steppers purchased in the States and shipped over at about R1800.00 each, local agents charge over R6000 per unit :eek:)

Alan, $70 is cheap for shipping out here....be careful that he is not going to use USPS....that is the US "Post Office" who wash their hands when they hand over to the SA Post Office. I lost a BOB + 4 Geckos like that.

Reached a deal at $35, sending it tomorrow with EMS and DHL so should be here by the end of the week at least. (EMS is a Chinese courier who obviously links up with DHL outside of China)

I said I was doing a mountain of chairs...:rolleyes:

Attachment 13520

Attachment 13521

Seems like you sit quite often while on the job:)

Those chairs look nice and sturdy. Maybe they will stack easier on their sides?

I sit quite often, but the staff have to jump around getting it all done...:D

Thanks Gerald, they are very sturdy, I can sit on them and rock on the back legs without any worries (100 and something kilos :eek:) These are pre-school size, I have also made primary school and adult size and the design works well (the only time I have had one break was when it was dropped and it landed on the point of one leg causing the lower section of leg to break off) When packing them on the truck for delivery we lay them on ther sides and nest the legs more to fit more on at a time.

I like those chairs.
Do you have to trim the finger joints with a small router after gluing?

Alan,
So I will ask the question - finger joint registration.
I don't see any fillet gap on the interior fillet. Did you really get that good of registration in the joint right off the table?

Nicely done.

Ken, yes the ply thickness varies so much that we have to trim the fingers after assembly, a bit of a PITA but once the guys get into a rhythm it goes quite quickly.

Sean, I wish it worked out that well :D, there is a small fillet on each inside corner but when in sanding the girls have to use quite a bit of stopping to fix the poor quality of the ply so the fillets get filled at the same time.

Attachment 13523
You may just be abe to see the fillets on this crop.

Work Horse !!! I love that pic of the MM and that pile of chairs !!! How many total sheets do you expect to cut and hoe many chairs per sheet do you get?

That order was for 125 chairs, I get five of those from a sheet so 25 sheets for the job. Cutting time is a shade under 2 hours per sheet (1400 watt router) but I am hoping that I can reduce that time considerably with the new 3Kw spindle.

Alan, may I ask …????
To what industry your client is in order to buy 125 of the same chair ?
Nice to see your doing good with only a router !
Looking forward to see your report on the 3Kw spindle
Robert ;)