I am going to purchase the 30x30 LongMill and Iām not sure if it makes sense to buy the spindle kit instead of using the Makita router. Just wondering if anyone has used both or has any insight on what way I should go. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
It all depends on personal factors.
If you are anything like me, a lumberjack, getting a new tool, I would assume, I am going to run things into the ground. Actually I did, my first makita router lived for about a month before I had it belch out a cloud of smoke because something went wrong, went wrong fast and went wrong scary enough for me to not want to approuch the mill and press stop. I let it play out and learn my lesson the hard way.
Had I wrecked a spindle, I certainly would regretted it more. Now it was just a palm router downgraded to become a part donor for the new makita.
More power is more wreckage when things donāt go as planned. And things will go that route - for sure.
If you are not a lumber jack and/or have some milage doing cnc. Sure.
It is nice to have more power, more control, less noise (That makita is a barker), cleaner cuts, wider range of collets, to not have to think about turning on your spinning tool and to have that more professional look on your machine.
I love my little barker though. Itās a tough one, if you manage to not slam it collet deep into a slab of fine pine.
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I think if you are a beginner in CNCing it would be simplest to go with the Makita first. You can always upgrade later once you feel comfortable with the machine 
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@JHiggs2024 I have not used a spindle, but have had my Makita since the kickstarter days of the Long Mill. It has a lot of trouble-free hours on it. I have replaced the brushes once. As for noise levels, IMHO, itās not an issue at all. Once the bit is in the wood, between the sound level of the bit cutting, my dust collector running and my earmuffs on, I canāt hear the router at all.
There are some positive aspects to running a spindle for sure. However, I read many more posts about spindle issues than with Makita issues. I believe that @kellyz is offering you good advice.
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Thanks for all that insight, looks like Iāll start with the Makita and take it from there. Thanks again.
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Starting with the Router is a good idea. Later on, if you think you might want to upgrade to the spindle, consider thisā¦
The spindle lets you use bigger bits. The 1.5KW spindle allows me to use 3/8" bits instead of 1/4" like the Makita does. It makes surfacing my end-grain cutting boards go much faster.
Also, I use VCarve and when it generates the gcode files it includes the codes to start and stop the spindle automatically and what speed to set it to.
As someone else indicated, the Spindle is more quiet but then that is offset by the noise that is generated by the cutter in the wood and your Shop vac or dust collector 
.
Lastly, Sienci Labs have done an very good job with making it very easy to install and configure the Spindle and VFD. In fact, since I set mine up, they have now made it even easier to configure the firmware by including all those settings in a gCode file and having people just run it in gSender like a regular job. There is no need anymore to manually scroll through the list of setting to do the configuration.
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I just read your post. I just purchased the 1.5 KW spindle and am having a difficult time getting it to work. I ran their gcode for the configuration and followed the settings I the documentation. When I click on forward I get an error 14 alarm and also get a click to unlock message along with the message āerror 1 expecting command letterā. It runs for about 10 seconds and stops. I tried setting back to defaults and going through the same procedure, runthe gcode for the spindle and follow the gsender changes with the same result. Any idea what Iām doing wrong. What gcode file did you run when you setup your spindle. Any idea gratefully appreciated.
I didnāt run a script as Sienci hadnāt created it yet at the time I bought my spindle. I just followed the instructions on their installation page where they listed all the settings to change. I see that they removed that from the page now that they have provided the script.
I donāt know about the error 14 alarm but with regards to your āerror 1 expecting command letterā, I had that quite a while ago and it was a bug that was fixed in gSender 1.4.11. gSender has moved way past that version now so Iām guessing that itās being caused by something new that Iām unaware of.
Iām not all that versed in the technical aspects of the spindle and the VFD (because mine just worked and I didnāt have to look into it further) so the only suggestion I have would be to log a ticket with Sienciās support desk.
Thank you for the reply. I emailed Sienci but Iāll open a support ticket as you suggested. I was so excited, I just got my Longmill with the CLSMās, limit switches, and spindle. I was able to make 1 carve using a Makita until my spindle came in. I canāt do anything until I get the spindle issue resolved. I donāt want to go back to the Makita.
What exactly is happening(or not) with your spindle?
Is Gsender updated, and you followed the instructions on the whole setup?
The latest gsender, 1.5.7. When I click on Forward I immediately get an āError 14ā and āClick to unlockā. The spindle runs for about 10 seconds and stops.
I followed the steps given to me by Sienci. Run the 1,5 KW file, turn everything off then back on. Go into āConfigā enable spindle. Go to Carve/Spindle, make sure it has H100 listed (which it does). I also get an āError 1 - Expecting command letterā but I attribute that to the āClosed Look Stepper Motorā .json file I had to run for my āClosed Look Stepper Motorsā.
I ran this scenario multiple times. I even setup a new laptop and get the same results. Iām at a complete loss. I emailed Sienci, then replied telling me to do exactly what I had done and am still having the problem. I have not heard back from them. Iām at the point where Iāll pay someone to remote in and go through the process to either fix the problem or confirm that itās not me and that something is wrong with either the controller or spindle.