To buy a new Dewalt 660/611 or use my Colt?

X-Carve Upgrades
1

I’m in the middle of building my x-carve and after what I’ve been reading, want to upgrade from the stock spindle.
I have a Bosch Colt on hand I could use or should I go with a Dewalt?
Is the performance difference between the two worth an extra cash layout?
Thanks

2

I prefer the Dewalt over the Bosch. Don’t get me wrong i love Bosch tools as well but from what i have read and what i have had, some runs of the Bosch were not that great due to collet issues, etc. But its really what you are comfortable with. But i really like my Dewalt on my x-carve.

3

I have the Dewalt 660 and have not had any problems. It’s probably about half the price of the 611, I think I paid $52 for mine. Some benefits I see with the 660 is that it is fairly light and comes with the 1/8" and 1/4" collet. I think you would be fine with your Bosch colt, it all depends if you want to keep that one as a standalone router, and will you need to buy an additional collet.

4

i have read that some bosch colt routers have runout issues. precisebits.com stopped selling collets for them because they were so unpredictable quality wise

that said, at the level most people use their machine i doubt its that big a concern. i like the dewalt 611 but if you already have a colt you might as well use it

5

If I was buying a router for the job, I’d get the DeWalt. But the Colt has been used with great success as a spindle for a long time, and you already have it. I’d say use what you’ve got.

I’m actually looking at buying a second DeWalt, mostly because it was my most-used router in the shop already, and it’s now in the X-Carve.

6

What an awesome forum!
3 hrs and I got all the info I wanted.
Thanks everyone!!!

I think I’ll use the stock spindle while the x-carve is settling then get a 660. I can leave the colt as a backup since it uses the same mount as the 660.

7

The Colt is great for hand routing/trimming. I love mine and still use it often–just not as a CNC spindle. It may not be precise enough for CNC routing due to manufacturing inconsistencies during its production lifetime. If you have one with no runout issues from the factory it will be fine. But there is a reason that most hobby CNC makers have changed to the DeWalt or Makita trim routers as their default spindle.