Equipment:
- Porter Cable 690 mounted in a table saw extension router table
on a Woodpeckers insert
- Freud FRE-99-036 T & G bit
- Rockler coping sled

The 690 has no speed control and full speed seems too fast for
the Freud T & G tongue bit. ~2” diameter.

I’m looking for recommendations for a speed controller. Are the
$20-ish models good enough or should I be spending more?

Thanks

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DerbyDad03 <[email protected]> writes:

I’m looking for recommendations for a speed controller. Are the
$20-ish models good enough or should I be spending more?

The cheap model has worked for me for ages, but they're not very good at regulating speed once you've turned it down. The 690 is a universal
motor; you can feed it pretty much anything and it will turn as fast as
power allows. The $20 models just reduce power, so reduce speed. They
do *not* increase torque so you'll have to use multiple passes to
compensate.

I don't know of any speed controllers that can regulate the speed of a universal motor, but I haven't looked for any either. IMHO the design
of universal motors limits (or removes) any speed feedback, like BLDC or
AC motors provide. Perhaps monitoring average current can do something.

A better choice, of course, is a shaper that is designed to be geared
down for larger bits - then you get slower speed with *more* torque, not
less.

Heck, for $20 this shouldn't be a question. It's a cheap tool, buy it
for entertainment purposes, and if it happens to work, bonus! :-)

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On 8/29/2023 6:32 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:

Equipment:
- Porter Cable 690 mounted in a table saw extension router table
on a Woodpeckers insert
- Freud FRE-99-036 T & G bit
- Rockler coping sled

The 690 has no speed control and full speed seems too fast for
the Freud T & G tongue bit. ~2” diameter.

I’m looking for recommendations for a speed controller. Are the
$20-ish models good enough or should I be spending more?

Thanks

In a pinch those small speed controllers that you plug your router into.
But they suck compared to a built in speed controller with electronic
load feed back. And the add on units are any ones guess as to what
speed the router is actually spinning at with out a load, and under a
load quite a bit slower with larger bits.

Built in speed controllers typically will maintain the speed under a
load. The cheap add-on units do not.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 8/29/2023 11:17 AM, DJ Delorie wrote:

DerbyDad03 <[email protected]> writes:

I’m looking for recommendations for a speed controller. Are the
$20-ish models good enough or should I be spending more?

The cheap model has worked for me for ages, but they're not very good at regulating speed once you've turned it down. The 690 is a universal
motor; you can feed it pretty much anything and it will turn as fast as
power allows. The $20 models just reduce power, so reduce speed. They
do *not* increase torque so you'll have to use multiple passes to
compensate.

I don't know of any speed controllers that can regulate the speed of a universal motor, but I haven't looked for any either. IMHO the design
of universal motors limits (or removes) any speed feedback, like BLDC or
AC motors provide. Perhaps monitoring average current can do something.

Most any router with a universal motor and a speed control will
compensate for added load. My Makita and Milwaukee both do this. All
bets are off with separate speed controllers.

A better choice, of course, is a shaper that is designed to be geared
down for larger bits - then you get slower speed with *more* torque, not less.

Heck, for $20 this shouldn't be a question. It's a cheap tool, buy it
for entertainment purposes, and if it happens to work, bonus! :-)

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)