Getting close to order. Ok thoughts or words of wisdom appreciated before I order.
Controller board, leaning towards Rambo.
“Rock solid. Better protected, better plug and play. handles mistakes better” The “rougher circles” comments gives me pause for inlays.
The Rambo comes with limit switches so I am good there?
Add an LCD - or could use laptop
Emergency Stop. Was planning on this. Does it just plug into either board?
Can someone explain the Z-Touchpad? I keep seeing this as recommended but can’t find a good explanation yet.
Leaning towards the Dewalt 660. Smallish vs 611 router, low cost, “A beast”, both collets, ?louder then spindle/less then router, air cooled. Will need to figure out a dust shoe.
What else do I want to consider beyond the kit I might want to throw in the cart?
Other considerations?
bits - good 2 flute mills(?)
build a table
enclosure/dust collection
board enclosure/housing
dewalt 660 dust shoe
laptop with software (Old linux I hope works)
??
It is just a strong switch, you have to decide how to wire it. I ended up just mounting my power strip where I can see it and I turn off the strip switch instead of using the emergency stop button.
The touch plate is a small spatula, 0.5mm thick. You attach one wire to the router bit (via a magnet) and one wire to the spatula. When the wires close the circuit, the machine knows it has reached zero. But that would make your zero 0.5mm over the top of the work, so you have to add some gcode to tell the machine it is actually 0.5mm over zero. Some other nice features in the homing script is to make it pause to give you time to add or remove the wires.
If you don’t have the touch plate, you just move the bit down (by jogging the machine, pressing the Z down button on the screen) until it just touches the surface of the workpiece. When it is where you want it, you can tell the machine, “This is zero”.
I’ll wait for someone else to answer this. I don’t think the MPCNC has an official dust shoe. I am sure there are some you can print.
The makita is more popular now, I think? I had good luck with my 660. There might be more choices for dust collection with the makita. But you can definitely make a lot of projects without it.
Definitely get a couple of bits. The flat endmill and the vbit would be my recommendations. I would order 2x. If you go looking for bits elsewhere, you will have a good frame of reference.
My 2 cents from mobile. Yes on display. It allows you to run without a computer and is great for debugging communication issues. Makita RT0700 series router for variable speed. Carbide 3D sells a great clone with both collets.
Agree 100% on the display. Got tired of my laptop have a layer of dust on it. Started using a thumb drive and plug it in to the display. Never went back. I use the 660. Only issues are with the brushes stick and don’t slide forward with wear. You’ll hear it start to slow down and see the telltale sparks. Pop the top off and push brushes forward, then continue.
I did the same thing with a power strip up front. Have only needed it a couple of times, but easy peasy solution.
Touch plate is a nice convenience. The only issues I’ve had with it is dirt build up on lead screw, which can throw off the accuracy. Clean the screw and nut periodically and issue goes away.
The 8 bit processor on the RAMBo doesn’t process the math for G02 or G03 arc commands as well, so that means thst you either need to ge very slowly for arcs, or disable arcs in the CAM and have it calculate out a bunch of very short strIghtines. The difference is generally not visible.
This doesnt generally happen with 3D printing, since mesh solids are always made up of batches of straight lines.
I’d have said that 3D printing never does this actually, but it is possible. Plugins like arc welder for Octoprint will try to put G02 and G03 commands back into files sliced from .STL or .3MF files which do not have actual curves.
In reality, if you disable arc commands in your CAM, you will probably never notice a differnce, and your inlays will also be just fine.
Thanks for the info I had no idea about 8bit and arc commands. I did play with arc welder on my printer before and it didn’t help much; this is likely why. I also have run operations with g02 and g03 lines when I had RAMPs, and never observed problems with stuttering. So depending on parameters of the cut, disabling arcs in CAM for RAMBO may not even be necessary.
Just to be clear: the ARC we’re talking about is the arc that is part of a circle, not the welding arc.
The computational load on the 8-bit can slow things down when arcs are enabled. If you disable the arcs, the “circles” will be made of polygons with some numbers of sides.
I nearly only use 2-flute for hardwood… For plywood I use those Sorotec Online-Shop - Werkzeuge, they are really great and leave a very, very clean cut compared to 1- or 2-flute endmills.
Wow, Thanks all! I did not get back until late last night.
Lots of Black Friday sales out there. I wonder if v1 will have any discounts tomorrow? Do I dare get a 3DP and have to learning projects?
I got the Carbide 3D on sale w/ free shipping $72 to my door today.
I specced the size in the calculator with the dewalt, I assume the change doesn’t matter that I changed except perhaps a bit of change in size of the carving area will happen (bigger or smaller) wont affect much.
Bits, from inlay experience I ill probably get some down-cuts (I think I have a 1/32? and 1/64"?). The argument is always up-cut vs down-cut. Up-cut supposedly ejects material better but leaves a rougher bottom, where down-cut leaves it flat but al these messy fibers/splinters. It practice neither seems very ideal IME but I think I have liked down-cut better for the flat bottom but it always depends on the application If I am just going to float in a ed of CA it probably doesn’t matter. I am no expert just mild experience so YMMV.
But I didn’t really know on the general purpose wood removal tasks eg. 2D/2.5D sign like cuts. Hardwoods and ply and maybe MDF. Thanks for the suggestions. That plywood bit looks great for all that glue.
Cheers Rick
FYI info for others benefit. Router/spindle research before I found the Black Friday sale in case others find it useful.
Why would I want slower speeds?
https://www.leapioncnc.com/Why-Should-Running-a-Variable-Speed-CNC-Router-At-Lower-Speeds-id49193377.html
High speeds increase vibration, get smoother cleaner cuts, less wear, safer, quieter
I went with the Carbide3d version. They are having a Black Friday sale ($68) and free shipping ~$72 w/ tax.
In case anyone else gets benefits from seeing options I list them below:
Dewalt 611 (Already HAVE)
(<5.5 Pounds (4.5 w/o base?)
While I LOVE this, probably keep for separate tasks and it weighs a bit more
rigid (HAVE) - <4 lbs (3 w/o base?)
(This?) https://www.amazon.com/Ridgid-R2401-Laminate-Trim-Router/dp/B001W0ZI7C
Currently mounted elsewhere but I dont use it "often", I could steal that then replace it later.
No idea on runout.
Dewalt 660 (Purchase) - <3.5 Pounds
(2.6 lbs w/o cord) https://forum.v1e.com/t/611-on-a-primo/21573/6
I think I can add a HF variable to it per the forums
https://forum.v1e.com/t/using-a-rheostat-to-control-dewalt-660-speed/5149
HF: https://www.harborfreight.com/router-variable-speed-control-dial-59386.html $18
Makita XXXXX (3.5 w/o base)
https://forum.v1e.com/t/611-on-a-primo/21573/5
Makita Clones
HF Bauer (Purchase): (can purchase locally easy)
https://www.harborfreight.com/1-14-hp-14-in-variable-speed-compact-router-58253.html
https://forum.v1e.com/t/bauer-makita-clone/15423
Carbide 3D (Purchase/Free shipping $68 Black Friday! today!)
(Weight unknown)
https://shop.carbide3d.com/collections/accessories/products/carbide-compact-router
Diameter: 65mm
RPM Range 12,000 - 30,000
****Cord Length: 12 ft.
Plug type: US, 120V
other comments found before I found the Carbide3D on sale:
" I think it’s probably fine for the DeWalt 660 or other lighter weight trim routers but DeWalt 611 or Makita 070x and clones are too heavy." - https://forum.v1e.com/t/time-to-upgrade-from-threaded-rod/13511/12
". And if you think the MPCNC isn’t for the 611, or harbor freight, or makita (all 1.25HP routers), then you’ve not been looking at the forums or thingiverse very much, to be honest"
Nope, Sales bug me out. I don’t like thinking these places could be selling their products X% cheaper and still be profitable. I try to make everyday Black Friday!
No, the makita style is awesome and the weight is offset by it being able to be mounted closer to the fulcrum. That comment was pre primo (6/2020)
Thanks for the help all. We have ordered. Tubing, Kit w/ Board (Rambo) & LCD check and some bits, Carbide3D Makita Cone Router. Friend printing parts.
I started to dig into the cards/firmware/arduino/connection etc a bit. I see I have barely scratched the surface but It is starting to make a touch of sense.
I’ve also started going through the getting started and install stuff in more detail and trying to understand the SW chain deeper. Since I am on Linux I may play with some alternatives to ESTLCAM. The docs say it is to generate GCode. FreeCAD reports to do CAM So I may have to draw outside the lines a little bit.
Given the above quote, The ESTLCAM docs say this, is this still recommended? (Removing ARCS) 3- 10/23/19 – Uncheck Arcs G02/G03
I would use the arcs, REpetier still works fine it just displays them wrong.
Some new control software we might change to is CNCjs, that is cross platform as well. Slick software just need to make sure some of the snags that used to be there are gone now.
For plywood I use those 
