What type of spindle for milling with a robot.

[Steve Eagles]

I am looking a getting a milling spindle for a robot. For the moment it would only be milling relatively soft material ie foam, plastic wood. The robot is for training and demonstration purposes. I have been looking at the SprutCAM software to go with this. Can anybody recommend what sort of spindle I would need on the end?

Thanks

[Johannes @ Robots in Architecture]

Hello,

There are no particular limits, for foam and wood we're happy with a 8kW spindle, ours is from HiTeco, many also use HSD. There are no huge differences in quality or price, I'd go with the company that seems more friendly/supportive in your country.
If the budget allows it go for a mount that allows automated tool changing like HSK or ISO. For the inverter I'd take a simple model, as the more complex ones have tons of functionality that you do not really need for milling (again, just my experience).
Finally, for cooling I usually take spindles with electric fans as there are less things that can go wrong. Water cooling is of course more silent, which may be something to consider for a demo robot.
Don't forget that in addition to the spindle (let's say 3000EUR) you need an inverter (700EUR), adapter plate to mount it on the robot, tool holders (150-300EUR each), as well as cables (can be expensive) and smaller stuff like pneumatic valves as most spindles also require pressured air for the tool changing. Ah, and you can easily spend a few hundred EUR on the holder that you need for mounting new tools in the actual tool holder.

Hope that helps a bit!
Best,
Johannes