Makita on Nomad?

Maybe a question for @WillAdams, who kinda seems to be the keeper of the lore in theses parts…

Anybody ever try modifying the Nomad to hold a Makita or similar? No plans to try (I like my Nomad just fine), but… just wondering.

I tried using a more powerful brushed spindle but the control system is very sensitive to EMI so I never got it to work even with shielding.

How about something like the Makita GD0800C 1/4-Inch Die Grinder
It has very good features:

Collet: 1/8" - 1/4"
No load speed: 7,000 - 28,000 rpm
Amps: (115V) 6.6
Overall length: 14-5/8"
Net weight: 3.5 lbs.

The only thing I see an issue with is the price.

That’s too bad, how about the motor/spindle for the new Bantam? I don’t know what it is but @Vince.Fab has done precise and heavy duty work with it. Maybe he can chime in.

Well I was wondering if the spindle was available commercially, I doubt they developed and produced their own.

Part of the interesting question here is how much power can the existing spindle handle versus how rigid it is being clamped up top versus how much power the motor can deliver. Which one is the actual weak spot?

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The Bantam uses a similar wattage motor but twice the rpm and probably a decent amount less tq due to the high rpm and design. Like…it has trouble will full depth wall finish contours. But it’s more of a portable prototype machine and that rpm offers up to 100ipm speeds. It’s a custom designed high balanced spindle motor btw.

Ide buy a nomad if it had about 3x the power with 30krpm. And if anyone at carbide wants to let me borrow one ide be happy to see what I can do lol.

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Im going to throw this out there…the guts for the brushless makita are noticeably smaller than the corded version.

One COULD design a low profile billet casing and remote mount all electronics. If I worked for Carbide 3D that’s what I would try.

Seriously, someone let me borrow a nomad

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I’m going to buy the new cordless brushless dewalt router for my workshop. When I do, I’m going to test it on my Nomad to see if I still have the same EMI issues.

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I was always curious about swapping the spindle for a Foredom configuration on the Nomad.

No EMI issues since power is located further away. Biggest concern is runout and power limitations of the flex shaft. Foredoms have more HP than current Nomad spindle so there’s at least that ceiling established. Also it would be easy to incorporate with a split sleeve adapter. Unsure repercussions of simply unplugging the stock spindle - with 3rd party software (Fusion/CNCjs/etc)