Router trouble (DeWalt 625 / Trend T11 / CMT 1850)

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Thanks Disinterior, I have taken out the brushes. They both seem still quite long though. But I will bite the bullet and buy a couple from Mills and fit them and see if they do the trick. Otherwise it might still be a new router! I have attached photos
 

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I have just got round to fitting the new brushes. And to my great surprise my router is now working again. To be honest I am not at all sure what the fault was on the old brushes. If they were worn, they didn't seem to show it. But anyway, that has saved me the cost of a new 1/2inch router.

And great thanks to Miles tools as well - very fast service and great website. In fact I had forgotten I had used them in the past for other bits and pieces around 15 years ago! They still had my old previous orders listed!
 
Well I spoke too soon! I started doing some work again with the router fixed in my router table. All went well for about 15 minutes and then the motor just stuttered and slowed right down with complete stops and then a spluttering slow start and intermittent spins! So, I took the top off again and fiddled with the brushes but this has made no difference.

I don't really know where to look now in the machine. It must be something else.

So if anyone has any other clues it does look as though I am looking for a new 1/2inch router similar in capacity to the old CMT
 
Thanks Spectric, no I haven't looked at those details. Will try and have a look.

But to be honest I'm not sure to access the armature and commutator easily, as taking everything apart doesn't look easy - no obvious screws/bolts to undo!
 
If my next investigation of the innards of the CMT fails, which is very likely(!), then I am looking to buy a new 1/2inch router to fit into my router table.

I was wondering what suggestions everyone might have for me - budget max of £250.

I have had a quick look at various routers but it is not easy to find ones which will fit into a router table eg the Bosch 1400 hasn't holes apparently to screw into the table.

And the absence of switches to keep switched on when in the table seems an issue?

Perhaps this one might be best for me?

MAKITA RP1803 110v 1650w 1/2" Router​

which I have found at Toolstore for £237?

Thoughts welcome.
 
If my next investigation of the innards of the CMT fails, which is very likely(!), then I am looking to buy a new 1/2inch router to fit into my router table.

I was wondering what suggestions everyone might have for me - budget max of £250.

I have had a quick look at various routers but it is not easy to find ones which will fit into a router table eg the Bosch 1400 hasn't holes apparently to screw into the table.

And the absence of switches to keep switched on when in the table seems an issue?

Perhaps this one might be best for me?

MAKITA RP1803 110v 1650w 1/2" Router​

which I have found at Toolstore for £237?

Thoughts welcome.
Hi @brocher
Not sure if this will be helpful but giving it a go. I'll apologise now should I be mentioning things you already are aware of. I'm just a hobby woodworker and needed to make a router table. I had questions about how to mount a router, control on/off, height adjustment etc., etc. Similar to you if I've understood your comment above about "switched on in the table."

From YouTube videos it became clear that most plunge routers have to be adapted to fit under such tables. Example; the router base plate has to be removed and the router mounted to a table "insert" plate (hence why they dont already have holes to screw in to a table), an NVR switch to plug the router plug in to - with a cable tie (or similar) to hold the router switch in the ON position - so controlling power feed (ON/OFF) from the NVR. Also, because the plunge router is "locked" when used normally as a plunge router you need to make some adaptation to the springs and have some means of raising when inverted into the table.

Like I said, sincerest apologies if you are aware of the above. If not then I would suggest viewing some YT videos for mounting a router in a table... lots to view and decide how to proceed.
ATB.
 
No worries @accipiter - all advice is welcome. I have an old Trend table which doesn’t have the NVR switch. It’s in many respects now quite a basic table but has done the job for me for over 20 years!! I am going to have a better look at the CMT again this afternoon and decide whether it’s just best to bite the bullet and get the Makita.
 
Well, the next stage in my saga is as follows.

Following up on @Spectric 's suggestions, this evening I cleaned out the gaps in the commutator copper strips. But to be honest I couldn't see that there was anything there! I then fashioned crude sandpaper scrub and rotated the armature to scrub the commutator. I only did about a dozen rotations.

So I replaced the brushes, and put the router back together.

And then behold, switched on the router it burst into life and worked!

But I advent tested it in the table - that is for another day. But if that bit of crude cleaning does the job I will be very pleased. So fingers crossed - yet again.
 
Well yesterday, I tried out my router again in the table. Before I screwed it back in place I ran it separately to make sure it still worked, which it did.

So feeling +ve, I installed it and set about rebating some timber for a bench I am making for my daughter.

BUT - yet again, the router just slowed right down and refused to get up to normal routing speed. To be honest I am now out of time with the machine, and will bite the bullet and get a new one. Thanks to @johnnyb I will go for the Triton.

Then I can get back to doing some proper woodworking instead of machine worrying!

It is a shame though that I can't see what the problem has been. It must be something to do with the speed control part, but on checking availability and price, firstly I can it in stock, and also the price is very high for a part which I have no confidence in to solve the problem. Hey Ho!
 
just to give a good reason to replace rather than repair. 2 of my routers stopped working. the triton bearings went really noisy so I ordered some they arrived. stripped it down found out one bearing was different. anyway luckily it wasn't the dodgy( bottom) bearing. reassembled it....nothing! it worked before. the other was a much superior festool 2000. After messing around I found it was likely the brushes. sent off and they duly arrived four weeks later(from germany) stripped it to find they were the correct brush with the wrong connector. 1/2 hr with a soldering iron this one was fixed. I just replaced the triton with a good secondhand one. popped it8
 
Well, I went ahead and bought the Triton. It really is a brilliant router for the table. I had to do some fettling of the table plate to attach it. My table was an old Trend table with a square insert plate, so had to drill some new countersunk holes. I bought some 1/4inch UNC screws from Spalding Fasteners. It now works like a dream and the inbuilt raiser is absolutely just what I need - it's so easy to use. The one thing I did need to do was to make sure that when i have to fit and change the router cutter that the machine switch is definitely in safe mode! So thanks again @johnnyb
 
It now works like a dream and the inbuilt raiser is absolutely just what I need
Having had one of these for some time but now have it fitted to the Jessem prestige lift I can say that when using the Triton lift system you are better off initialy raising it using the knob and then the final adjustment using the winder above the table, this also helps the life of the nylon gears.

If you reach the point where you get fed up with crawling under the table to turn it on/off then you might consider the other changes I made to mine, this was removal of the switch interlock which allows you to leave this switch on all the time and then use a remote switch which is really essential if doing a cut where you need to hold the work static and turn of the router and wait till it stops before removing the workpiece. If doing this you do need to ensure you check the auto spindle lock has disengaged before turning it on, ie check the cutter turns. Since fitting it to the jessem lift I have also fitted a muscle chuck and removed the auto spindle lock which has given an extra 20mm of lift.
 
Having had one of these for some time but now have it fitted to the Jessem prestige lift
I recently fitted a metric Jessum Prestige lift and had an issue with the plate levelling screws. Plate tapped 6mm x 1mm and supplied set screws (grubscrews to us) being 1/4" x 28 UNF. I'd have needed to really butcher the plate to fit them. I simply replaced with 6mm grubscrews and all is well.
Did you have a similar problem by any chance?
Thanks, Steve
 
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