problem with leigh d4r & dewalt 618

[Erik Christensen]

I ran into my 1st issue with the leigh d4r jig today.

I have made < 10 drawers with the leigh carbide dovetail bit I was using today. I was cutting a set of 3 5" drawers with half-blind dovetails in 3/4" baltic birch ply - the tails cut fine but on like the 4th side cutting the pins I noticed the router was catching on the fingers of the jig. It seems the brass template bushing had come loose. I was using a dewalt 618 router with a factory plastic base so I stopped the router, unplugged it and tightened the brass guide bushing - but while doing so noticed it was quite hot. Router bit turned with no catching on the bushing so I thought it was just me moving from one drawer to another - I have never cut dovetails in a production fashion so I assumed this was normal. A few cuts later same thing - but now i figure out why the brass bushing was not staying tight - it had gotten so hot it had melted the router base!

Not good - so now what do I do? Get a better router? Buy a new carbide bit every few drawers? I see baltic ply with dovetails all the time so it can't be that hard on tooling - so I must be an idiot again.

Oh great and wonderfull wood guru's SMC - please enlighten this very confused dovetail novice on the the errors of his ways.

[Jim Becker]

It's not the Dewalt 618 router model that is the problem--I use a DW618 for routing dovetails with my D4 all the time, in fact it's dedicated to the job as I use my Festool routers for other work--but it sounds like something is amiss with your particular machine. Something is causing that heat and it's not normal.

[roman fedyk]

Sounds like the bit may not be centered in the guide, so one side may be touching the guide and causing heat via friction. Does there appear to be any damage to the inside of the guide?

[Tom Hintz]

I have had a few guys that had similar problems and eventually discovered that when adjusting the bit height on the jig, they have brought the collet nut into contact with the backside of the guide bushing. That causes a bunch of heat very quickly.
If the router itself was generating that much heat you would be able to feel it on the housing, especially around where the shaft comes out of it. I had a bearing being to tighten up years ago on a router and there was no confusion about that. The motor housing got VERY hot, hot enough you could not touch it anywhere near the shaft.