Been a while since I updated this thread. I decided to upgrade my MPCNC to the latest parts. I have everything up to the gantry mounted. All I have left to do is mount the motors and check square one last time before re-wiring it all.
611 is a sweet router. It’s a bit bigger than the 660 though. I don’t think it’s any heavier, but it will be further from the Z axis, so make sure you get it perpendicular. I watch a lot of woodworkers on youtube, and they all grab it when they need to do some router work.
It’s a really great router. It’s a lot quieter than the 660. I like that the mounting surface is an actual cylinder, so designing a mount will be a lot easier.
You will probably have success with it. Give it a try and let us know how it goes and what you learned. If it totally sucks, then make a small low rider :). AFAIK, no one has tried to make a 24" version, which would probably kick ass.
I never tried mounting it on my MPCNC, just the Low Rider.
Its cord is currently zip tied to the vac hose, for cord mgmt. I am thinking I might try to install a connector near the router so I can easily remove it, and throw it into a router table. I saw a router table recently that was just a board, and it clamped into a workbench vise. I would love to take a piece off of the CNC table, chisel out the holding tabs, plane them flat, then add a roundover or chamfer in a small router table right there.
Okay, so I finished assembly this evening and hooked everything up for the big test. And low and behold, after flashing the latest firmware for the T8 leadscrew, it works great!
One item of note, however. When powered up the steppers emit a high pitched noise of some sort. When I unplug power, it stops.
Keep in mind, during this upgrade I did nothing to the RAMPS or stepper drivers themselves (they are original from when I bought the full package originally from Vicious). I have not touched the stepper voltage at all. X & Y are still set at 0.76 V and Z is 0.56 V.
I did, however, have to change the Arduino Mega out as I broke a piece of the original one off as I was removing it from the table during disassembly. I ordered a no-name brand from Amazon as a replacement.
.76 is probably too high, definitely if you are using my steppers. If you are wired in series just tune all axis to 0.7V while the steppers are energized. Usually the sound goes pretty quiet, still a little bit but barely noticeable.