Sourcing Makita Router in the UK

1

Hello,

First-time poster, long-time lurker!

Am based in the UK and having trouble sourcing the recommended Makita Router. The RT0700 does not appear to be available anywhere. I have found this one to be though:

Makita RT0702CX4/2 710W 1/4" Electric Router Trimmer 240V e.g. https://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-rt0702cx4-2-710w-1-4-electric-router-trimmer-240v/120pv

Is this version compatible?? Perhaps I’ve missed a list of compatible routers somewhere?

Thank you for your help.

cjbl

2

Hey cjbl,

yes the RT0700C is no more available and was meanwhile replaced by the RT0702C. The reason is that after a power outage, the RT0700C restarted by itself if left switched on, which does not comply with safety regulations in the EU and many other regions of the world. The new RT0702C has an anti-restart safety function, which makes a hack necessary to be able to switch it on and off by a relay. I assume the 120 V version in the U.S., the RT0701C, will be replaced soon too.

Welcome to the forum!

PS: In Japan, where Makita originates, the hand routers meanwhile tend to have a DC motor and to run on batteries:

Makita_Hand_routers_Japan
Makita_Hand_routers_Japan1031×899 146 KB

1 Like
3

Hello @Aiph5u

Thank you for the response, the welcome, as well as additional trivia on Japanese Makita routers! :slightly_smiling_face:

I will go ahead and purchase this model then. Is hacking of the RT0702C necessary for the router to work correctly? Or does it simply mean that there would be some loss of functionality without this, but otherwise work perfectly fine? I.e. that the router would instead have to be switched on/off manually?

Thank you,

cjbl

4

Hey cjbl,

the RT0702C will work perfectly work when used as it is intended to, i.e. as a hand trim router. If you follow the links I provided, you will see that in order to let the router be switched on an off automatically by your g-code program, it needs to be switched on and off by a relay. This applies to both TOS and Elite Series Onefinity machines, on Elite, the relay is internal, on TOS, it needs to be connected externally (see link given above). This will not work anymore with the new Makita hand router model, so yes, without the hack, you will have to switch it on and off by hand prior to running the program. If you forget this, and hit “run” on the g-code program without having switched the router on, it is likely that your milling bit will break :slight_smile:.

You may however, in case you don’t have made the hack on the router, add a “M0 (msg, Switch router on now)” into the ‘program start’ and ‘tool change’ fields of the SETTINGS page on the controller, which will wait for your ok to proceed, or modify your postprocessor to insert this into your g-code.