I aim to carve some large blocks of HDPE plastic, and am looking for tooling that can reach 7" or more. Are such tools available with a 1/2" shank?. Will the 4HP spindle accommodate an ER32 collet for employing 3/4" shank tools?
Nobody makes a 7" HDPE with flutes that long that you and I can afford. You will need to get an extension holder. The surface quality will reflect the ringing in the machine. The longer the tool the further the end of that tool moves with the vibrations in the machine.
Be sure your tool calculator does deflection if you use a monster shoulder.
Thanks for the reflection. What do you consider ‘not affordable’? What’s a “shoulder”?
Affordable in 7 inch length of cut for HDPE? Afford would be in the $2,000 range. Foam cutters can get pretty cheap in that size. Like $500.00 or so but don’t mistake them.
That would be also be called “stickout.” The area between the cutting flutes and the grip in the tool holder.
The longer it is the more deflection the tool will exhibit.
I know some folks on here do 3D carving and such with long reach. The actual cutting flutes are only like 1/2 inch or so but are 4 or 5 inches in length.
The longer the tool is the more expensive. The longer the flutes, the weaker it is.