Here's another newbie question.... it might sound stupid, but here it goes...

General CNC CNC Routers
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Here’s another newbie question… it might sound stupid, but here it goes…

So I currently have the quiet spindle that inventables offers as part of the upgrade kit, and it came with the speed controller as well as the enclosed power supply unit… But decided to go ahead and invest into a more powerful spindle to be able to cut faster, so I purchase the DeWalt 660… My question is: Is it possible to use the original Speed Controller and the Power Supply Unit with the DeWalt 660?? My intentions are to cut the cord from the quite spindle and the cord from the DW660 and keep on going like nothing ever happened… WOULD THIS BE A STUPID MOVE?? As you can see I don’t know much about electricity, voltage, amps, etc… All I know is that both run with 110V (120V).

Thanks in advance!!

Javier

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Ah, isn’t the quiet spindle DC at 48V… so no I don’t believe you can just cut the DW660 AC cord.

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hehe… see? good thing I have u guys… so I would have to just remove the quiet spindle and go straight to the power supply with the DW660? I wonder if theres a way of changing from DC to AC??

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Correct, that’s my understanding.
The DW660 to DC, not likely, AC and DC motors are wound differently.

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@Matt_Kasdorf
ah… ok, so I would have to use my quite spindle as a back up… I guess hehe

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I have the DeWalt and although it’s loud it’s really powerful. I trying to design a quick mount that will let me swap between the quiet spindle & the DeWalt. To answer your question: You cannot use the speed controller for the DeWalt. AC (DeWalt) and DC (spindle) motors are totally different and never interchangeable. Speed controlling AC motors is pretty expensive (Google: “VFD” and “SuperPID”) but AC motors are really powerful and efficient.

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Why did you choose the DW660 if you want variable speed? The toolless bit changes it allows?

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@Matt_Kasdorf
to be honest with you, just cuz I notice that it’s what most of the guys upgrade to, and because I notice a guy in youtube cutting G10 with it twice as fast as I was… :frowning:

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@Neal_Wallace
Hey Neal… I just tought that having the speed controller was neat, but i guess I’ll just have to be careful when powering the dw660… is the super PID hard to set up?

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I’d like to get a DW611, but its not readily available in Canada.

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Yeah, the SuperPID is definitely not plug n play as you’ll have to disassemble the DeWalt and add a speed sensor. And for the price I just decided to get a DC spindle. Now, there is a device I haven’t tried: Google “router speed control”. These devices are under $50 and they do work. The main problem is you lose a bit of power at slower speeds (which doesn’t happen with a VFD or SuperPID). This loss of power has thrown my cuts off a few times so I stopped using mine. I was cutting aluminum blocks though so YMMV.

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I have both the DW660 and the Quiet Spindle. If I want something to cut fast and not care about making noise, I will switch them out.
Good luck on any choice you make with the speed control for the DW660.

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@Neal_Wallace @Marc_Schaefermeyer mmm… I guess I’ll forget about the dw660 speed controller for now… Hehe I got my hands full for now… I just figured with my poor electrical knowledge, that I could just use the do speed controller with the dw660 since they were both running 110… Lol Thanks for all the info!! :slight_smile:

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As has been discussed on the Shapeoko forums, the single-speed cutting tools are cooled by a fan on the shaft — when slowed down, that fan slows down as well and the tool overheats. Also documented on the wiki: Shapeoko CNC Router, Rigid, Accurate, Reliable, and Affordable

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I use my D660 with a cheap router ‘controller’ from amazon. I use it between 7 and 8. It does not control RPM rather adjusts RMS voltage to spindel this inturn rasises and lowers RPM but does not regulate it to a constant RPM. http://www.amazon.com/MLCS-9400-Standard-Router-Control/dp/B001JHQ3G8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420642217&sr=8-1&keywords=router+controller

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Hmm… has anyone tried hacking up a battery operated router, such as the 18V (DC) Ryobi Trim Router?
Would just need to 3D print a battery connector, or mod one from a dead battery.

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@Neal_Wallace that DW660 quick mount sounds cool. Let me know how it goes or if it is easy enough for you to make 2 instead of 1, and maybe I can buy it from you! Right now I’m using the DW660 mount from improbable construct. They’re ok, but they don’t use those original aluminum blocks from the SO2. I think it would be have an easy to swap out mount for the DW660 that uses those aluminum blocks so that other things folks are designing for those blocks can also be swapped in easily… for example this: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1923304356/laser-ink

anyhow, if there’s something i can do to help your mount, just let me know.

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oh and @javierymirna , if you want to read more about controlling A/C voltages, here is a neat page that discusses adjusting a/c voltages for a fans, which is similar to what you would need for the DW660. Just have to make sure whatever you are doing is sufficient enough that it is safe and doesn’t catch fire or hurt someone. http://www.fancollectors.org/info/speed.htm

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@Frank_Graffagnino hey Frank! Thanks for the tip! :slight_smile: I’m trying to convince my self that I do not need a speed controller for the dw660… Hehe.

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I like to run at lower feed rates and so lowering the RPMs prevents wood burning.