Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Accurate spindle for light miller (was "Hiya. New to thread.")

Noticed the amount of threads relating to spindles on CNCzone and the
extraordinary lengths a lot of folks seem to go to. I don't think I'll be
going to those lengths on something that moves on draw slides :)
The maximum workpiece height is 75mm and the Z axis has 160mm of travel so may
need to move out of the way to change tools but it should be alright for most
jobs.
The hand drill is a very rough solution to a problem that shouldn't come up to
often. I was also thinking about the spindle from one of the small, cheap
Chinese pillar drills but they aren't much better than a hand drill and are a
bit too heavy. They probably could be rebuilt with good quality bearings
though and at around 45 euro it wouldn't be an expensive experiment.
For this thing a router will be ideal. At some stage it will be used to build
another small machine suitable for accurate steel work. I used to have an
emco unimat, the spindle from those or similar model lathes would be ideal,
not to heavy and a good range of speeds.
Felt a bit foolish when checking up on routers, even the cheapest "made form
recycled stuff" models had speed control :) I'll still be looking at how to
implement a speed control circuit to use 110 or 220v servos though. Chinese
hand drills are less than 10 euro here. In comparison the local electronics
suppliers wants 18 euro for an RS540 12v motor (and 10 for a cordless
screwdriver with the same motor plus a gearbox, batteries etc ??).
Steppers are, frankly, a pain in the neck, speed is exponentially proportional
to the amount of money thrown at them and a single error throws everything
out.
For the encoders I was thinking about pulling apart one of the cheap (bit of a
re-occurring theme this :) ) digital verniers to tap into the encoder. If the
tape and pickup for the linear encoder could be sourced then it would be a
much better option as the verniers are hard to find above 150mm.
Thanks for the help and suggestions, its making things much clearer.
cheers and happy Christmas.