I’m new here and have a question I’m hoping someone can answer. I was given a makermade router that looks like a Mikita but takes an er-11 collet. It has some nice features but I don’t think it has any torque. At the lowest setting, it doesn’t really spin. If you should be able to get it to spin touching it to anything will stop it.
Has anyone had this kind of problem with a Mikita trim router? I’ve been using a Dewalt dwp611 and it has worked like a champ other than its a bit too fast.
yes, there exists Makita counterfeits that have real ER collets, e.g. the Carbide router. Of course a real ER collet is a huge advantage over a router collet and avoids the lots of issues of router not holding the bit.
Unlike ER collets, which clamp the bit shaft over a longer length and therefore much reliably, the Makita collet just clamps the bit on the beginning of shaft (see length of conical part on picture, it is extremely short on Makita):
Makita collet
ER collet
This would be a good justification for both tightening the Makita collet more than a ER collet and for having to loosen the Makita when not in use (strong clamping force on a small conical surface would deform steel more and earlier than on a larger surface)
Here a cleaning tool with leather stripes for cleaning the collet seat.
But a hand trim router remains a hand trim router. It is a specific type of motor with some disadvantages especially with speed control and speed/torque ratio at certain speeds and even dangers during use. See here for differences between hand router and spindle.
I looked up the Makermade router, and as @Aiph5u mentioned, it appears to be a Makita clone with the advantage of utilizing ER-11 collets (generally much cheaper and more readily available than Makita collets). That said, it has an available RPM range of 10k to 33k RPM’s. If it’s barely spinning when you turn it on, I’m guessing either something is wrong with it, or (most likely) needs new brushes. You may get it to work just fine by replacing the brushes. I don’t recall the low-end RPM of the DeWalt router but that’s what I had when I first got my X-Carve several years ago and it screamed like a banshee, making it very unpleasant to work with. By contrast, the Makita and the Makita clones are much quieter. However they are not made for long-term running, so they are not an ideal solution for a CNC router. I’ve tried a few, and other than the original Makita I had (and sold) with my Onefinity, the others have been plagued with running very hot (to the extent that you can’t even touch the collet nut after running a few minutes). On my current machine, I have fit it with a brushless DC spindle motor.
I didn’t see replacement brushes on the Makermade website, but it’s a pretty safe bet they would use generic Makita brushes which are easily available on Amazon.
This is a brand-new router, and it’s the second time I’ve turned it on. If the issue is the brushes would the other brushes they included be any better? Could you stop a Mikita router on its lowest setting as easily?
I tried cutting some plywood with the other one and it jammed up a 1/8" cut at 30imp.
I’ve reinstalled the Dewalt, yes it spins to fast but it actually cuts wood. I plan on getting a Pwncnc spindle as soon as my finances allow.
The Tachometer I picked up from Harbor Freight says that the max speed is 32,000 rpm and the slowest is 50 rpm. I’m waiting to see what Makermade says about it. I might try opening one of the two units they sent me up to see if anything can be done.
50 RPM sounds way to slow to me, I would think the min RPM would be around 5000 or so, try setting it to 10,000 with your tach and see what it does.
Pat
I had it set to about 20k rpm and it jammed up with a 1/4" endmill doing a 1/8" cut at about 40ipm in plywood. I’m waiting to see what the company has to say
Yes, then I would say the speed control is no good, they should replace the router motor.
Sorry for your troubles.
Pat
1 Like
Aiph5u
(Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))
10
Hey Lance,
measuring the speed at idle load says nothing. You want to know how many RPMs you are milling the material at, not whirling the air. However, with this type of motor, the speed is slowed down by the mechanical load (which the speed electronics (should) try to prevent), so I would always measure at load.
Yes, something is definitely faulty then. Per the Makermade webpage for this router, the minimum RPM should be 10k. And no, you definitely could not stop (by hand) the Makita @ 10k RPM. Nor should you be able to stop this router. I doubt the replacement brushes you got with it will be any different, as something else is definitely wrong with this.
