@Atroz Yes, there is an actual fire risk; you’d think that was a joke. The last Makita I had go bad (the one that Makita said they were voiding the warranty on because of using it for an application [CNC] that it was not intended for) was glowing a very pretty blue in the inside. Kind of memorizing.
@Bern For me the ‘drop in replacement’ turned out to be a real hassle. I even stopped putting the router cable in its track on the dust collection boom because it was a waste of time to clip it off again in just a week or two. In regards to having backups being cheaper, hell, $230 for two routers is 20-35% of a packaged spindle from PwnCNC depending on which one you get. But in the end, it’d have to give you a better cut because you can control the speed so much more precisely. The ability to face a good sized hardwood board with a large Amana flat 2+2 would be awesome. Once you toy with the tram a little (OK, quite a bit…), you can get a perfectly flat surface that hardly needs sanding.
@Ziggy Let me look at your setup. I’ve been thinking of going with a PwnCNC 220V with liquid cooling but I’d have to run a 220V line which was sort of a future plan. Is your spindle up and working now? How was installation and how are your cuts?