LowRider with spindle

All the builds I’ve seen so far of the lowrider, use dewalt routers. Also, only dewalt routers are recommended on the parts list. Can you use a spindle just like with the MPCNC? Either 500W or 800W chinese spindle.

 

Thanks

The LowRider is easier to adapt to different spindles. You’d just make your own version of the 611_plate.dxf, but with holes made for your spindle or router. The Dewalt is easy, because it has a base that mounts to a flat surface. For the chinese spindles, you might need to print a bracket or something to hold it to the plate. If you manage to follow the same mounting holes for the Y Rollers, then there will be very little stress about it. No one has done that though.

That being said, the LowRider’s strength is in cutting sheet goods, especially wood, so a woodworking router has a huge cost/benefit for us. The 611 is very nice, and I like it better than the 660. The 611 has plenty of power, builtin lights, an adjustable base (so you can quickly adjust the height of the bit), and you can pull it out and throw in a roundover bit to clean up the edges when you’re done. If I had it to do over again, I would buy the version with two bases, because I would really like to leave a base in a tiny router table.

Thanks Jeffeb3. I have been thinking of building the lowrider and just looking at the parts I’ll need. I’ve had a look around and I can’t find anyone in Australia that sells either of these models, and the only place I could find them on ebay is from the US, and I will try to avoid those shipping costs if I can help it.

I think you’d be better off finding a popular router that’s around 1HP that you can find a 1/8" collet. Something on the smaller side. The DeWalt’s main router is about 70mm in diameter, so something about that size is just about right. If you go way bigger, you might lose some cutting area because you’ll have to make that plate bigger.

There are a few that seem like they would work very easy. Just use my base dxf and don’t cut out the dewalt hole and you can easily cut your own hole, no precision needed. Like Heffe said if you find a wood router on the smaller side almost all of them have a removable thin plate base plate that makes mounting them super simple. I think there are a few bosch or makita builds floating around.

Right now the jury is still out on those import spindles. I have never used one so I can’t comment but they are not very cheap and no warranty.

What’s with the 1/8" collet? Why does it have to be 1/8? Can you not use 1/4"? I just don’t know the reason behind it

Larger diameter, larger load on the tool. You can use whatever you want but the larger the bit the more precise your gcode needs to be.

So for cutting out MDF 16mm thick, 1/8" collet is better?

If you’re cutting the parts out, then the 1/8" is better. If you’re cutting pockets and you know what you’re doing then the 1/4" is better sometimes. 1/8" is a good starting size. Smaller is too fragile in most materials and bigger is more strain and wasted material. There’s a reason most table saw blades are 1/8" kerf, it’s just easy to make it strong enough without wasting too much.

There is also a big difference between milling bits and drill bits or router bits. The 1/8" stuff is also cheaper than the 1/4" stuff.

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the 5oow Chinese spindles are only inexpensive if you buy them in bulk. We are talking about $30 for the actual motor wholesale. Of course if you only buy one by the time you add the power supply and shipping you are looking at $90 for the brushed version and over $100 for the brushless.
They have a top speed of 12000 rpm and they come in a brushed version 52mm and a brushless version which is 57mm (actually 55mm in the center). Brushless version has ability to have speed controlled remotely by software and other fancier features like remote/on/off. but requres geek degree.

the 52mm brushed version is often incorrectly sold as brushless. Easiest way to tell is the brushless version has 3 wires and is wider diameter.

They will cut wood fine, but not aluminum.

They are very quiet! and small and lighter than router. and you can buy them with a round clamp that could easily be put on a vertical post. I have drilled out the stock bolts that came with mine and replaced with hand knobs to easily adjust height. Have not mounted to a machine yet through.

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