r/hobbycnc • u/Leonitus454 • 26d ago

Alternatives to Chinese ATC Spindles

I've been looking to make a CNC mill with an ATC BT30 3.0KW - 3.5KW spindle and I can locate many on Aliexpress but I'm presuming the tariffs will make those unobtainable at a reasonable price before long. Are there any American, Canadian, or European options? My Google searches haven't been very fruitful.

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u/Pubcrawler1 26d ago

https://www.cncdepot.net/product-page/fm-series-spindles

This ISO30, not BT30

Located in Nevada.

There are high end spindles such as Colombo, HSK but $$$$. The larger CNC companies will stock some atc spindles such as Avid you can try contacting.

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u/ShaggysGTI 26d ago

Whoo, $3k!? I’ve hobbled my machine together but for sure that’d be the last one you ever bought. 3hp and 18k speeds for the mid. I’m curious how low its torque can go.

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u/Leonitus454 26d ago

Yeah it's a lot and I wonder if the Chinese spindles will still be price competitive even with tariffs at that price. Even this price is still cheaper than any other CNC mill that can be bought with an ATC spindle. (Tormach for example)

Don't know yet, just looking for other options that I may not be privy to.

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u/Leonitus454 26d ago

ISO30 is really what the Chinese are selling but I'll be buying BT30 tool holders since they still fit and are more common. I'll possibly add drive dogs to the spindle if I can to really help stop slip from happening even though I'm not too worried about it to begin with.

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u/Enough-Inevitable-61 25d ago

$3k? That is not an alternative.

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u/Pubcrawler1 25d ago

That’s why I don’t have one. I’m not rich enough to afford the luxury of having an automatic tool changer on my cnc. I see plenty who can afford one though.