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

DerbyDad03 <teamarrows@eznet.net> 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! :-)

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.

On 8/29/2023 11:17 AM, DJ Delorie wrote:
> DerbyDad03 <teamarrows@eznet.net> 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! :-)