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Because my mill can effectively go to 3,000 RPM only, I felt that it would be enhanced by an addition of a high speed spindle. After getting some inspiration from a page about homemade high speed spindles , I have decided to make my own. I decided to make it from a Bosch 1617EVS variable speed router. The nice thing about those is a somewhat higher precision spindle, as well as a perfectly round body that was made to be clamped into various clamps -- just what I need.
I whipped up a G code program to make an adaptor from a 1x6x18" block ot T6061 aluminum. While the result that you see on the pictures, is exactly as I intended, things did NOT go well in several key areas. First of all, I got my tool table offsets wrong due to a wrong sign. Thusly, their cutting edges would not align with the surface, so I had to make adjustments on the fly. Secondly, making rounded corners on the right side, due to bad computations of where the part should sit in a vise, ended up cutting into the vise jaws. The amount of material taken out of jaws was tiny, but it wounded my pride. Nevertheless, I avoided major disasters and the part was made to the original spec.
It also turned out that I made a mistake in designing a "lip" on the quill hole, as this does not permit sufficient engagement of the body with the quill. Stated simply, it prevents the adaptor from going as high as it needs to, for full engagement. It would clamp to about 1/2" tall area, but I think that it should clamp to the entire thickness to avoid loosening due to vibration. I will remove this lip tomorrow.
