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Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2025
I build, repair, and restore acoustic guitars. I'm at the point to where I want to cut my fretboards, and bridges on the cnc, as well as my necks and inlay. I design custom inlay for my work, as well as other luthiers. I've been running a 600w brushless spindle motor. It became clear that it was struggling running a 1/4" upcut bit while cutting out 2 ebony bridges. The ebony, which is extremely hard wood, also has minerals, which can deter any spindle. With looking forward to cutting out necks, it became clear that I needed a true workhorse for a spindle motor.I chose the G-PENNY 110v 1.5kw spindle for a variety of reasons. G-PENNY has a good reputation in the cnc community. Above all else, it IS as advertised. You'll get a true 2hp at the spindle shaft. It's also grounded on the inside; I opened the top and checked, so it's safe to run. Many aren't grounded.Long story short, you'll get a real 2 horsepower spindle that's up to the task of most spindles that are rated much higher. Read on for the explanation. I looked at a LOT of spindles before choosing the G-PENNY.If you look at the vast majority of spindle motors, they're rated at 6-8amps, for a 110v 1.5kw. This doesn't compute. To find out the real hp that you're getting at the spindle shaft, this is the equation (I promise you won't go blind):Rated amps x voltage x 1.73 = nn x 0.70 x 0.80 = N (real kw at the shaft)N/746 (kw per hp) = HP at the shaftThis 110v, 12amp, 1.5kw spindle, looks like this:12.0 x 110 x 1.73 = 2283.62283.6 x 0.7 x 0.8 = 1278.8161278.816/746 = 1.714 horsepower at the shaftAs you can see, there's no way a spindle rated at 6-8amps at 110v, is going to equal what's being passed off as 1.5kw (2hp). A little loss at the spindle can be expected. But unless your running 220v at those amerages, you aren't getting the power. This probably explains why so many cnc's have huge motors. This spindle has power to spare.I was very careful to do the break-in as specified by the manufacturer here on Amazon. It's tedious and akin to watching moss grow on rocks, but they do it for a reason. I kept an eye on how hot the spindle became and after 3 hours of continuous running, and it never got warmer than 78° F.I chose the Rattmotor 2.2kw, 110v, 20amp vfd to run the spindle. It's sold here on Amazon. The reason is because the Rattmotor vfd is the exact same vfd that's rebranded for G-PENNY. The model is H100c 2.2. I wanted a slightly larger VFD, which is why I didn't buy the G-PENNY set. But it's still well within running specs, for this spindle. It'll last longer and should never heat up. I'm very happy with the VFD as well. I tested the set rpms vs the real rpms, as tested by tachometer, at 5 running speeds, and the H100c 2.2 vfd runs the spindle 35-50 rpms less than the set value, which is as good as it gets as far as I'm concerned. I can program the tiny error out, but I figure it's a small safety margin for the spindle.The "R" in the photo is cut out of 1.5mm thick white abalone. It's an "acid" test for the spindle and machine. If there's any kind of runout greater than 0.001mm, this little letter, which is only 3/8" tall, won't cut properly. The spindle would turn it into dust. As you can see, it cut it out beautifully. I also tested it using my 1/4" bit in #2 ebony (lots of minerals). The spindle motor went through it like air. This is the same material that stopped the 600w spindle. In fact, the G-PENNY didn't even sound like it was cutting at all, a surprise. I'm sure it'll handle 3/8" bits.The rule of thumb is that it takes twice the torque to run each increase in bit size. It's logarithmic. So, to use a 1/4" bit takes 2x the torque of a 1/8" bit. A 3/8" bit takes 8x the torque to run, as an 1/8" bit (2 x 2 x 2).