What Spindle Are You Using?

I am using a Makita RT0701c and am very happy with it. I cut a saber tooth tiger skeleton puzzle out of 5.2mm plywood today at the lowest rpm (about 10000) at 2500 mm/min, depth of cut was 5.2mm and I used a 1/8 inch single flute endmill. It is very quiet for a router. The shop vac however is not. I have also used it for aluminum, hardwoods, and foam.

 

The router did fine with the few aluminum parts I have made. However, I have not used it much with aluminum. I do have a bunch of newer cutters I bought specifically for aluminum, but I just haven't come up with something I need to cut right now. I will be cutting some plates soon for an eggbot I am building. Maybe I will give it a shot tomorrow. I do like that the Makita minimum RPMs can get a little lower (10,000-30,000RPMs vs. other routers).

Here you go for the sabertooth pictures. A couple angles.

 

Thanks. I just edited my post to include the answer to your other question about aluminum.

 

Besides the lower RPMs, one of the reasons I went Makita is because they have a repair shop near my work. Basically, you can bring a tool in for repair and they will rebuild it for about $35 if it fails. I had a random orbital sander and needed a new pad. The pads were $25. They guy said for an extra ten, they would replace all the other damaged parts, as well.

I have had great luck with other Makita tools I own, as well. I have no experience with Bosch so I can't comment on them other than I thought I read somewhere it was now harder to get precision collets for them. Bosch Colt TIR Measurement

 

Here is a video of the Makita RT 701C milling 1/8 aluminum plates for my eggbot built. I could have just ordered the Nema 23 and 17 plates, but I had some leftover 1/8 " thick x 3" wide aluminum plate from my CNC build I needed to use up. Plus this was more fun. There was one goof. The motor mount slots on the Nema 17 plate were 3.1 mm wide. My cutter settings in Sketchucam were 3.175 so it would not cut the slots. I didn't notice until it was too late. I just put the plate back where it was mounted and lied to sketchucam and said the bit was 3 mm. It worked after that.

I used a fairly cheap 1/8" single flute end mill (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EQ1WG4C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) at 700 mm/min with ramping set at 10 degrees in Sketchucam. The Makita 701c was set to speed 3 on the dial (15000 rpms-ish). It worked very well. I squirted quite a bit of WD40 while it was cutting because I am out of cutting oil.


Cleaned up and sanded with 320 grit.

Right now either Amazon, or Home Depot is selling refurbished Makita's for $69.99 (I think). I got a precision set of collets from Elaire Corporation

 

I am working on the eggbot now. Still waiting for the EiBot board to get here. After milling those plates yesterday, I just need to assemble and wait for the board.

As for the Makita, the only downside I found was the lack of an Openbuilds mount for it. I had to order a 65 mm spindle mount from China and I tapped my own holes to mount it to my z-plate.

That wd40 drop is a good idea. I bet cutting oil could be subtituted, but the wd40 is a cheaper alternative.

 

That would probably work very well. I didn't have access to either a 3D printer to print one, or a router to cut one so I went for the Chinese made one.

 

I think the drip feeder/cooler is a great idea, but it didn't really need to be a WD40 can did it?
In fact a heat proof plastic container and plastic fittings would probably do the job just as well.
Would eliminate all the soldering. Might see about making something similar for myself.

 

I was thinking the same thing. I would have used plastic tubing and valves. Another thought I had, since I have multiple spoil boards I use depending on what I cut, was to make a smaller removable one just for aluminum cutting (2' X2' square, or smaller) which would incorporate flood cooling.

 

I bought the set (1/8,1/4, 5/16). However, the Makita comes with a 1/4 so I would get at least the 1/8" because you will most likely end up using some 1/8" inch shank cutters.

 

The Makita looks like a great choice! I like that it goes down to 10k RPM, great for cutting plastics or gummy aluminum, could not find the dia anywhere, now i know 65mm! thanks
also can be found for ~$90

 

I love the Makita. It is nice and quiet at 10,000 rpms which is the speed I use for engraving with v bits. I just bought a dust collector to replace my shop-vac. If I had known how much quieter they are than a shop vac, I would have done it years ago.

 

Must admit I have never heard how much noise a dust collector makes. Any chance of a comparison video?
Noise is something I have to take into consideration here.
Gray

 

I will do it ASAP and report it back here. I have no way of actually measuring it. It is just the cheap Harbor Freight model. I figured it would be tough to screw up a motor and a fan. I plan to permanently mount it outside the work area so 5 microns vs 2 microns didn't matter much to me.

Edit: Here it is. It does not be as noticeable on the video, but the higher pitch whining of the shop vac bothers me whereas the lower sounds of the dust collector don't. Maybe it is all in my head.


Most annoying video ever.

 

Thanks for going to the trouble of doing that video.
It might be quieter when you hook up the hose to something. However, it does have a more mellow sound than the annoying whining of a vac.
Food for thought.
Cheers
Gray

 

The upgrade was worth it for the increased suction. Now I just have to come up with a good way to hook it up to the CNC.