FWIW, all the above being said, I am definitely moving to a 80mm spindle once the mount and the Journeyman x50 get here, because I value the ability to control the speed, bit options with the 1/2" shank and the improved accuracy it will provide. I laugh at the fact that I have to tape down a kind of guess of what the speed is… LOL…
Of course, I will most likely go with the Chinese version, even though the bearings/VFD are not as good as the German version, due to cost. A concession/trade-off I am willing to make at this point in my journey.
I agree, the Makita, as with any other in that class range, was not designed for extended cycle requirements to be expected from a CNC machine. Like you, I too will probably be driven toward a spindle when the router fails or becomes too problematic.
Still, it is odd a feature like the speed control dial doesn’t outlast wear parts such as bearings.
Everyone reading this using the Makita router should take precautions and tape your speed dial. It only takes it happening one time in the middle of a 10hr cut to ruin your day. Better safe than sorry.
Jenn et al - simply cut everything at a spindle speed of 1 and the dial doesn’t move!
I literally just had this happen to me during my last video shoot - cutting at 6 caused enough vibrations to lower the dial to 4.5. Totally unacceptable. I never had that problem with my original Makita on my SO2.
As you’ve probably noticed, I’m not about making excuses for multi million dollar corporations. I’ll leave the hoorays for the fan boys with pockets full of tape. Makita, get your S*** together !
A couple weeks before this thread started I actually had the opposite problem @cyberreefguru had while using an Amana RC-45711 90° Insert V-Bit. I was running at 3 on the speed dial when vibration cause it to climb up. I managed to quickly get over to it and found it was already at 5.5 and climbing faster and faster. I dialed it back to 3 and then had to hold it in position for the next 6 minutes while the V-carve finished.
This gave me the idea to engineer a more permanent and robust solution to the problem as I didn’t want to rely on duct tape and bubble gum on long carves, especially if leaving the shop, even for short periods of time.
Two weeks ago I challenged my 14 y/o son to design a robust packaged solution he could provide to anyone with this model of Makita router to lock the speed dial in place yet allowing it to be easily adjusted. He accepted my challenge and started designing, specifying materials, selecting vendors and working though building a complete business model. (with a little fatherly advice)
The Speed Stop will be going live in my Etsy shop tomorrow 7/10/21 along with a YouTube installation/demo video. I will post a separate thread with links when they go live.
Thank you @4KENTT and @Dustoff00. My son was very excited to see the first two orders come in and is learning what it truly takes to get an idea off the ground.
We spent the day today making the Etsy listing, a YouTube installation video along with another funny one showing all the things we do to keep that speed dial in check.
