24V Spindle vs. 611 Router - Quantified

For those who want to quantify just how much faster it is to use the 611 (or any router), here are two identical pieces I cut with the same bit. The piece on the left was cut with the 24V spindle, the piece on the right was cut with the 611. The material is 1/2" MDF, the pocket is .125" deep.

I used Inventables 1/8" 2-straight flute flat end mill.

24V Spindle: 12,000 RPM, .024" DOC, 64 IPM. Total time: 105 minutes.
611 Router: Speed 1.5 (~17,100 RPM), .125" DOC, 250 IPM. Total time: 6 minutes (5.7% of the 24V time, or 17.5 times faster).

For the record, I would suggest a DOC slightly less than the final depth of the pocket, just to allow a cleanup pass of .010" or so, and a speed of 180 IPM. It would end up taking about 14 minutes, and would leave a cleaner bottom and slightly smoother side. I did that with a second piece, which reduced the 611 cut speed to only 7.5 times faster than the 24V spindle.

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Awesome comparison! Are the finishes similar?

I think the 611 finish is actually better, especially with the .010" cleanup. The deep pass around the outside has a much nicer finish, and the edges just seem a little sharper. The bottom of the pocket feels slightly more ā€œfiberyā€, but thatā€™s probably because the bit didnā€™t say on the material long enough to give it a little bit of a polish. It may also have been a different sheet of MDF, so itā€™s hard to assign a true cause for it.

Perfect, thanks for the info! 180 - 240 ipm is crazy! The fastest Iā€™ve gone so far is 2000mm/mm (~78ipm).

That is so incredibly encouraging. Iā€™ve been on the fence about when Iā€™m going to pull the trigger on the 611 and wow, I am sold.

Iā€™m currently running the original SO2 Altocraft (or whatever) Dremel knockoffā€¦

I actually had it up to 340 IPM doing feed/speed testing, but the edge quality was slightly lower than at 250 IPM. It was going fast enough that I actually had a faceshield on because I was afraid the bit would break. Plowed through it like butter. Dusty, dusty butter. :open_mouth:

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You better not to encourage newbies Robert. They will start racing on work piece. :smile:
To me, work quality and health of my machine is lot more important than time.
I go highest 120 ipm on MDF, 50 to 60 on very hard woods like OAK. And you know what, when you go slower, you donā€™t have to waste time for clean-up pass.
Of course Iā€™m not even talking about depth per pass, it depends of job complexity. M2c.

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Does Easel use the spindle type in calculating the ā€˜suggestedā€™ IPM and DOC, or is it just a straight lookup into a table of wood types? In other words, is the suggested DOC and IPM specifically for the 611 or is it a generic number?

My gut feeling is that itā€™s all based on the ideal settings for the original 24VDC spindle, I donā€™t remember having to pick a spindle type in Easel. Maybe @EricDobroveanu or one of the other awesome Easel coders can give a better answer.

Now, during machine setup, you pick the spindle to use in Easel, but I think your gut feeling is right in that the feeds and speeds are probably set for the lowest common denominator.

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