Colombo off ebay

[Art (Unregistered Guest)]

I'm new to the cnc world... I am trying to figure out what router to get, noise and cost are both factors. I found colombo spindles on ebay for very inexpensive. I know buy at your own risk on ebay, but are these missing any important parts? Will they work with the shopbot? The prices seem too good to be true...
Thanks

[Brady Watson]

Art,
You will need not only the spindle motor, but power and signal lines to go from the motor to a frequency inverter/motor drive. Last time I checked it was about $600 for the wiring alone for my machine. I am not sure the price for the high freq drive. You will also need a mounting plate for the Colombo, a 7.2:1 Z-axis gearbox and HD springs to handle the extra weight. Depending on what kind of spindle it is, you may need a 3-phase to 1-phase converter. I have 3-phase in the shop, so I didn't need one.

I bought mine with my Bot. The Colombo is 10X quieter than a Porter Cable router...and definately worth every penny because it doesn't bog like a PC router. It will use all of it's 5HP to maintain RPM within a certain range...and you can run (with discretion) it at lower speeds than a PC router.

-Brady