so DeWalt launched what appears to be a sibling of the 611 but with a 20v (well 18) battery.
this sounds attractive to me, it will simplify the cabling of my 3xl…
does anyone know if it’ll just work as a drop in replacement in the shapoko?
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Yes, folks have been experimenting with the Makita equivalent for a while. Running out of battery could be catastrophic though, so wiring in a power supply directly would be a much better idea.
Really miss the concept of my GRiD laptop (guess I’m dating myself there) — it had a power supply the same size/shape as a battery, so one could remove the battery, slot in the power supply, and not have to manage two parts.
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I do understand some other’s needs to have the latest and greatest toys to show off, rather than their actual skilled work products, but if the new router it adds no functional improvement, I believe it would be just a case of simply adding just another new toy to one’s collection to show off. And as to wiring, it may actually make it a worse situation because then remembering to connect and disconnect the charging supply wiring is added to the mix, unless, of course, one does not actually “simplify the cabling” of their machine. And don’t you also lose the use of M3/M5 for auto start/stop? I see possibly more mistakes and ruined work pieces happening with battery powered router/spindle use. This is positively not meant to be a personal attack on anyone. Probably just my cynical 2 cents showing here.
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I’d like to get rid of the power cable if I can; it manages itself to get caught in homing cycles pretty regularly (and when it causes the limit switches to not engage that sometimes ends up not so nice) and is not great in how power is routed in my shop area (other side of the machine etc).
So this isn’t about toys really; I understand it’s paramount to keep the battery charged but most of the time I split projects in jobs less than 1 hour for reliability reasons anyway.
M3/M5 don’t work for my dewalt anyway since it has a discrete power switch so I wouldn’t be losing that.
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(also if you have a way to wire the 3xl board such that it can flip the dewalt on/off on m3/m5 I’m all ears… that’s a toy I’d be happy to add in terms of convenience)
In that case I would rather spend some time and money on cable management/ proper drag chains. I use some IGUS drag chains that keep all cables from router, stepper and limit switches.
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I think one advantage of the 18v routers is that they are brushless. I know people seem to go through brushes on their dewalts like nothing else.
I don’t think I’d trust running off the battery, I’d feel safer running off a power supply as some have done with the makita 18v.
I’m more than happy with my 1.5kw air cooled spindle, has been running for several years without issue, is far quieter than my makita, and has start/stop/speed control built in
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Save your money on the battery operated DeWalt. I’ve been using a converted brushless Makita for a while now, works fine. BUT, it has less power then the AC version and would be quite difficult to modify for remote on-off, speed control, two features I have finally convinced myself I’d like to incorporate in my setup.
Also, if planning to run on battery power alone you’d be limited to very small jobs since running out of juice while cutting would not be desirable.
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I have some experience with Dewalt 20v tools. The drill and driver come with the 2 amp hour battery and they will work all day a fully charged battery. I have a side grander and 6.5" circular saw and they eat batteries up. These tools use a brake when you let off the trigger and use more power to brake than they do to run. I have not seen the battery router yet but since a router is a relatively high amp tool I would think that the batteries would need to be larger to get a long run time. I bought several 5 amp hour batteries and they will run my side grinder and saw well but come at a cost.
Additionally the Lithium Ion batteries generally work until they do not. Meaning they will run almost at full speed but die suddenly. So if you are not baby sitting your Shapeoko disaster can strike. If you router runs out of power and the bit stops turning
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i would be worried about battery affecting F&S’s or indeed running out of Juice while plunged into stock. so can see the appeal but practically struggle to see the benefit myself
Jon
Benefit is brushless motor, also the electronics are more sophisticated so it raises the possibility that one can ether monitor or control the router w/ more information/control.
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