Router/Spindle choice for Makita laminate trimmer upgrade

I've got my diy cnc router working quite nicely now. Its cutting mdf & wood only.

Currently it has a Makita laminate trimmer mounted on it, which is a nice router but doesn't have variable speed. I'm also using 2 different collets on it with 1/4" & 6mm bits.

What are the most common choices for a variable speed router/spindle these days?

As always with these things I want decent quality at a low(ish) price if possible.

The makita has a 60mm diameter body & is nice and lightweight - ideally the replacement should be quite similar in size....I don't want to mount a full size router on it.

Thanks

Tom

Hi Tom

Have a look in this guy's shop he sells air cooled and water cooled spindles with matching VFD's with various power outputs.

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/linearmotionb...1&_from=&_ipg=

Also there is the Kress family of spindles, both of which forum members own and use.

Andy

Thanks for that Andy.

I think the water cooled ones are out of my price range - after a bit of googling I managed to find a couple of sources for the Kress routers...I think they may be the way forward....they do seem quite hard to come by though - a german source seems the best bet at the moment.

The trend T4 is 850W and variable speed. I have bought one but haven't tried it yet, though Lee seems to think they're okay (search for previous posts by Lee on the subject).

These guys are selling them cheaply at the moment...

http://www.dm-tools.co.uk/product.ph...on//sn/TRET4EK

...much cheaper than a Kress!

- Stuart

I did look at the trend a while back - not having seen one in the flesh I wasn't sure of the quality...but you can get a 6mm collet for it cheaply which is a good thing....I'd be interested in hearing more feedback on the trend.

Trend, humm the two i'v got are the later Ferm brand.

From what i know they are the same units just rebranded under the Trend Name. I havnt had any problems with mine, they seem well built, good cooling and yes i also got a smaller collet for mine. Trend also use the T4 i think it is in the cnc machines they sell so...

links: [ame="http://www.mycncuk.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2649#post2649"]Ferm[/ame]

:beer:

ah - now there's a thing....I have a Ferm FBF-6E mounted on my router table - I also got it cheap off the bay second hand. I find that mine bogs down a bit with larger bits on the router table....I don't know if this is down to the Ferm router, or if mine is a bit long in the tooth.

The T4 is 850W as opposed to 550W so it should bog down a lot less regardless. As a comparison, the 440W Makita that I have doesn't bog down like the Ferm does - so maybe my Ferm is a little bit tired....I probably ought to strip it down & look at the brushes etc.

I looked into the T4 more yesterday - it seems to come with 6mm, 1/4" & 8mm collets so that makes it even better value for money....then I would get a spare plunge mount for my ferm so I can easily swap it out from under the table & use it by hand - could be a win/win setup.

I've gone for the short term cheapy get me going fix at the moment - I've ordered a 6mm & 3mm collet for the Ferm....then Father Christmas will hopefully bring me a new T4 to mount on the cnc machine or the router table depending how I feel about it then....at least it means I can get on with playing with the machine in the short term.