(And to you folks who just arrived, this is a reply to a sidebar discussion that began over in the "How many are out there?" thread; I moved here to avoid a complete hijack)
Randy -
Thanks for the feedback. I'll continue to draw the bracket with the router height setting gear and cam lock. I just hope it turns out worth the effort.
I planned to use the height adjustment as a convenience for setting both tool clearance and Z touch off, but what I really meant by that is per installation of the bracket/router or maybe per job, but not necessarily each tool change.
In other words, you pretty much have to measure the X, Y, and Z offsets to the second spindle each time you mount it (the main spindle housing is not keyed to allow repeatable positioning), so that's when I would use the cam lock to make sure that the primary spindle would clear all of the clamps, etc.
After that (as long as I leave the cam lock alone and don't remove the Dremel collet adapter), I can index off of the Dremel collet like we have discussed before (distance rings, chicken feet, etc).
As for the tool side load on the bearings, I'm assuming that the router was made to turn tools up to about 1.5" at least 1" from the collet. Even a 1/4" endmill is probably OK at about 2" past the router collet, but the only thing I'd use that for (at router speeds) is wood, and that's what it was made for. I think it will work just fine. If it doesn't last forever, the router only cost me about $90 in the first place.
I'll keep you posted on my progress.
Regards,
- Just Gary  |