I see that carbide 3D offers a spindle. The compact router.
How does this stack up with the Mikita options or with the dewalt options?
Is it compatible with the dewalt router used by inventables? I modified one for my XCarve with the superPID to control speed and would love to keep that option with the pro kit.
The Carbide Compact Router is much the same as the Makita — the collets, brushes, bearings, &c. are compatible and interchangeable. Differences:
case colour — black vs. teal
control layout CCR has specific detents in-between the numeric speed settings, the Makita has a continuous dial
CCR has longer cord
Makita has accessories intended for hand use which are not included with the CCR (but would fit it)
CCR bundles precision 1/8" and 1/4" collets, while Makita only ships w/ a stock 1/4" collet (6mm in some locales)
Differences betwixt the Makita RT0701/0700 and DeWalt DWP611/D26200
Dewalt has finer-grained speed control, Makita lower and higher range of possible speeds (the lower speeds are especially useful on plastics and wood)
Dewalt has a longer collet clamping area and collet with a greater number of slots which affords multiple precision collet options (standard ones as well as the ER-style collets from Precise Bits), Makita has a single source for a large variety of sizes of precision collets (the Carbide 3D 1/8" and 1/4" precision collets for the Carbide Compact Router will fit) and an option for a 3/8" collet (larger than the 5/16" or 8mm the DeWalt collets top out at)
Dewalt has lights, the Makita does not
Dewalt has a plastic button on the Body, which limits Z plane positioning inside the mount, Makita has a more Robust Tool changing mechanism, with a cylinder push lock below the shaft, which will allow more mounting options in the Z plane
Dewalt has a longer body and can be mounted so as to reach lower
Makita bearings easier to change
Makita brush life longer and replacements less expensive and easier to change
Any of the 3 spindles have basically the same power. As for controlling Carbide Motion with another gcode sender, no you cannot. Carbide Motion is a gcode sender. It can control spindle speed as well as long as it is configured to do so and you have the necessary hardware. I believe you can wire up a SuperPID to the control board, I just don’t know the specifics.
The Carbide Compact Router and Makita RT0701/0700 are 65mm
The DeWalt DWP611/D26200 are 69mm diameter
As @nwallace noted, if you install a relay such as our BitRunner or other speed control hardware then G-Code will turn the spindle on/off, and possible adjust the speed as well.
The Makita or Dewalt are good routers. There are a few differences that may make a difference on which one you decide to get.
The Dewalt has a longer body and therefore brings the router bits closer to the spoil board compared to a Makita. Since the Shapeoko 4 and Pro are equipped with a Z-Plus this may be important to you. The Z-Plus when introduced on the Shapeoko 3 could not reach the factory base MDF and a supplemental spoil board was needed.
The Makita has a lower RPM rating than the Dewalt. So if you want to machine items at lower speed the Makita may be a better choice.
As others have pointed out the Makita is a 65MM diameter and the Dewalt is 69MM. Going forward I think C3d is going to offer the router mounts in 65MM but I could be wrong. The Shapeoko 3 had a 69MM mount and a reducing ring that made the 65MM Makita fit right in.
With the Z-Plus not sure if c3d recommends the 80MM heavy spindles or not but the HDZ is coming for the Shapeoko 4 and Pro models and the HDZ can certainly handle a heavy 80MM spindle.
Minor nitpick but the Carbide Compact Router, Makita and DeWalt are routers, not spindles. If you confuse the two, you’re likely to get confused when people talk about their watercooled spindles and VFDs
All the options were pretty thoroughly discussed in:
One further consideration is that there is a version of the Carbide Compact Router in testing which uses ER-11 collets — not sure when they’ll finally be in stock, but I’ve been testing one and it’s awesome:
I indulged myself w/ a Mafell FM 1000 WS, but the expense was hard to justify, and I only managed it as an indulgence for my birthday/Christmas and because I do a lot of test cuts as part of tech support to the point where some days it felt like I spent more time wrenching than cutting.
