Dave, something to be aware of on your Ridgid R24012 router, is the speed range of the thing. I think the manufacturer’s page indicates the range for RPM is 20,000 – 30,000. By comparison, both the Makita 700 series and the new Kobalt trim router, that sadly did not get picked by Kobalt as permanent, have their lower end speeds down around 10,000 RPM.
Most of our use of CNC machines such as the LowRider and MPCNC, is with our router operating between about 10,000 to 25,000 RPM. It would seem that the lower end of that range (10K to 20K) is missing from the Ridgid R24012.
If you are careful about your feeds and speeds, you may well be OK.
Why this all matters: If a CNC machine had infinite rigidity and its stepper motors had infinite magnetic grip strength, and the teethed gear pulleys had infinite grip on the belts, and the bit was impervious to deflecting (bending) under heavy load, you could select high feed rates and speed rates with heavy chip load, and go to town.
But since bit deflection is a thing, and there are reasonable limits to the above mentioned machine capabilities, the chip load will usually need to be a bit more reasonable and the feeds and speeds, while they can be quite nice and fast with a LowRider, do have reasonable limits. The ways to accommodate a more reasonable feed rate… include a reduced speed rate on the RPM of the router.
If you keep the RPM rate up, while slowing down the feed rate (of motion through the material), then instead of the bit getting its needed chance to bite off mouthfuls of the material, it will just be rubbing and creating friction. The bit can get very hot very fast, and this causes the metal to become soft, and the bit can get dull very fast. We often refer to this as a burnt bit or a toasted bit.
There is a wide variety of options on usable combinations of feeds and speeds, because you can adjust both numbers (feed rate of motion and RPM speed rate on the router) in tandem. Raising both can be good, lowering both can be good. There is a relation between the two numbers, and for any range X of one there is a corresponding sweet spot range Y on the other.
One of the best ways to understand this is to think about changing only one number, the feed rate, while leaving the router speed unchanged. Imagine this (but don’t really do it): set your Rigid router on its slowest speed. Position the spinning bit against the material, with no additional motion. In short order, your material will be on fire. All friction, and no cutting.
Then, let’s go to the other extreme. Leave your Rigid on 20K, but go with a very high feed rate, pushing too hard and too fast into the material. The bit won’t get hot, but your steppers in your CNC machine are going to start skipping steps, and the bit is going to bog down in the material. The bit may break off, or your CNC machine may be dragged to a screeching halt.
The sweet spot is somewhere in the middle between those two extremes. The slower your router can spin (and still stay cool enough) the more options you have on feeds and speeds.
The bit, when taking bites out of the material, is able to transfer heat into the chips being cut out, and when those chips fly up out of the flutes of the bit, they are carrying that heat away from the bit. Hope this explanation helps.
PS: the Kobalt I mentioned, that was not picked up, is now being “blown out” at clearance prices. Several of us have gotten them for $89 or $69 or $49, and one recent listing showed the $100 router being sold for only $24.92. Kobalt router - #606 by nate
Usually the online Lowes.com listings say “in store only” — and the store inventory is not properly reported online, and the stock in the store is often not located with the other routers, being either in a seasonal Kobalt display, or on top of the shelves, or in back. Sometimes you can find them by persistently getting help from kind employees.
My Lowes.com, when set to my current store, just recently lowered the price from $89 something to $54.97. 