Router shaper quit at a bad time

[Brian Brown]

I suppose there's never a good time for a tool to quit. I have a Delta 43-505 router shaper that I don't use very much. It is probably my least used tool. Saturday I was using it to make some raised panel doors, and while I was routing the panels, the motor quit. I waited a minute or two, and it started right back up. After about a minute of working, it quit again, and refuses to start again. The motor bogged down for a couple of seconds just before it stopped, but otherwise sounded just fine. I checked the electrical connections, and tried to reset the onboard breaker. No good. I thought maybe the brushes have a problem, but so far haven't gotten far enough into it to find the brushes. I have officially exhausted my knowledge on the subject, and thought someone here might have an idea(s) of possible problems. Most of my tool problems have been simple, so before I strip it down and risk breaking something, do any of you have any thoughts of where I might start looking?

[Brian Peters]

Have you done the same operation on it before? Maybe taking too much off and overloading it? That's a pretty small little shaper to be doing raised panels on but with light passes shouldn't be too bad.

[Brian Brown]

Funny story (or not). Every other time I have done rail and stile doors with raised panels, I have been impatient and made the cuts in one pass. It worked just fine if I fed slow. This time, I did all my rails and stiles in multiple passes (a total of 4), and I was just starting the panels (a light cut) when it went. So to answer your question, Yes, I have done the same operation several times in the past without a problem. I am cutting alder. In the past, I have used mostly alder, but a little pine and poplar also. I turned the shaper over when it died, and felt the motor housing. It was warm but not hot. It also was not clogged with sawdust. Kind of a head scratcher.

[Doug Miller 303]

Brian,

If I was in your position I think I would be seriously tempted to take the motor apart to check for accumulated sawdust and/or dirt.

I once had an attic exhaust motor quit on a customer's house. I crawled up there, removed the motor, took it home, cleaned it up............and it worked great. (Oh, and it finally kicked the bucket permanently about five years later.)

If you are afraid of taking it apart, check your local yellow pages for "electric motor repair/rebuilding". I've had to go that route on numerous occasions also, and it was always a good thing.

Hope this helps,

Woody

[Josiah Bartlett]

I had a similar issue with an old Delta contractor's saw. I ended up fixing it by getting a Unisaw.

It may be that your cutter is getting dull, but if it does it with a sharp cutter then the motor probably needs some attention.

[Brian Brown]

Thank you to those who responded to my question. Fortunately it was somthing easy. So easy I nearly overlooked it. I thought first to check the circuit breaker... bypassed it, and the motor still didn't work. I was ready to tear the motor apart (shudder), because the bogging down just didn't seem like it could be caused by circuit breaker, start capcitator, relay or switch. Just before I started tearing it apart, that nagging voice said bypass the switch. I did, plugged it in, and what a great sound.....noise..... motor running noise. I pulled the switch, took it apart and dumped about 3 1/2 pounds of flour fine dust out. The contacts were burnt from arcing. I guess that is where the bogging down was coming from. 10 minutes later, it was up and running with a freshly cleaned switch. Lesson learned.... alway check the simplest possibilities first.

[ROY DICK]

Brain,

Glad to hear you got it goin' your way.

Roy

[Charles Lent]

Delta uses that same switch in their drill presses and other small tools that they have made over the past 8-10 years. I've had to replace the one in my router/shaper as well as the one in my drill press. The one in the drill press had a case fracture, so it was beyond re-conditioning.

The router/shaper switch is not sealed, so it quickly fills up with sawdust. You can get it apart and clean it if you are careful, but remove it completely from the router/shaper to do this. The top and bottom are held together with plastic clips and these can be carefully bent back to release the top and bottom halfs from each other. Make sure when you do this that you don't loose or mis-orient the loose internal pieces. Temporarily remove them, remembering their correct orientation, and then blow out the sawdust. Then re-assemble the switch making sure that the internal parts are positioned correctly. When clean and re-assembled, wrap some electrical tape around the switch body to seal the seam and your switch will last much longer before giving trouble again. I replaced mine and then took apart the old one. When I found the sawdust in it I cleaned it out, then put it back in my router/shaper. The new one is on the shelf waiting for the original to go bad again. With the tape seal on it, the next time that it goes bad it will likely be the contacts and I'll need the replacement switch.

Charley