I’ve gone through about 5 makita RTO701C routers in 8 months, they keep almost catching on fire. No crazy feeds and speeds, simply surfacing guitar blanks.
I am now looking into getting the 1.5kw Pwncnc spindle kit, can anyone speak to how it is? Do they last longer than a makita? I would get the air cooled version as i’m only cutting wood. Also with their kit, would it plug and play with the longboard or would additional wires be needed?
@Chaosweaver With respect, if you have burned up 5 Makita routers in 8 months, you are either running them 24/7 or there is something off with your processes. I suggest that, if something doesn’t change, you will burn up air cooled spindles, too.
Ive figured out in the past hour that the surfacing bit has dulled, bogging down the router. I use the cnc probably 8 hours a day, ill have to keep an eye on the bit condition and utilize the planer more.
@Chaosweaver If you are using the surfacing bit on hardwood, for example, you may want to look at insert bits. They are pricey to start, but you can rotate the cutters when they get dull and get a lot of life out of them. Replacing them is quite inexpensive. I don’t know where you are located, but I can put you onto a US based source for inserts that brings them in at less than half the cost in Canada.
Sounds good, ill consider that. Located in NC
I just burned my Makita on Thursday I think and then burned my spare yesterday. The first one I was surfacing a hickory tray with a 1 1/2 bit. The second was carving the tray out, I noticed it was starting to spark inside a bit then right at the end of the cutout, it just stopped and started smoking. It was only 6hrs run time. I’m assuming it was the fact the only bit I had long enough was a 1/4" downcut. It wasn’t burning the wood but it was sounding like it was straining to keep up. I slowed the speed when it was pocketing but the profile was 1 1/2" deep and I’m sure the downcut was the bad chouce.
ive had several makita routers melt this year, i noticed that my surfacing bits dulled which put more strain on the router, however i heard a number of routets went out that were not well made, specifically units made during covid. Thankfully i bought my routers off amazon and they replace them each time.
So id keeo an eye on the surfacing bits, once they start to burn the wood, toss the bit. I now use $15 surfacing bits.
Keep fresh brushes on hand for your router. As the brushes wear the spring tension lightens up on them and they will begin to “float” over the armature. That’s when you’ll see a lot of sparking. This generates heat pretty quickly.
Welcome to the group Craig! Thanks for that tip. It makes perfect sense when described that way and brushes are cheaper than routers, that’s for sure.
Thanks for the welcome Michael. I’m patiently waiting for the 48 x 30 I ordered to get here so I can get started!
That’s awesome, don’t hesitate to ask questions if you have any and we would love to see your work when you are up and running. Here is a link to the resource pages for your machine in case you have not found them yet. You can learn a lot about your machine there and help to pass the waiting time.
Yeah the three makitas that melted were brand new, seemingly faulty as the original one from Sienci still works fine but the ones off amazon failed.
New PwnCNC spindle installed over Thanksgiving. Forgive the horrible video skills but: https://youtu.be/BhUIJ4UeG0k
The Makitas made during/after the “COVID shutdowns” used different bearings. They had to change suppliers due to lack of inventory and it seems that a large number of the models produced at that time were running interference bearings which caused higher bearing temps and (in my opinion) the higher temp versus the plastic case caused movement of the shaft and then tolerances were off which started the router to eat itself from the inside
