Bosch 1617EVS collet gets hot

[Michael Simpson Virgina]

I just picked up a Bosch 1617EVS and noticed that the main shaft gets pretty hot. It has nothing to do with motor heat, its the bearings. I returned a PC router in the past for the same reason. Is this the state of things now that all router bearings are crap.

Should I return the router and try for another or just live with the bearings getting hot.

FYI none of my Festool routers have this problem. Even my old Bosch 1617EVS did not.

[Larry Edgerton]

If it is new, take it back.

If not, replace the bearing. Its not all that difficult to do. I am not a supermechanic by any means and I replace my own. I don't order from the manufacturer, I get the bearing at the bearing supply house and request the best quality that they can get in that size.

Larry

[Jamie Buxton]

The front bearing in a router is the part that always fails first. Every router I've ever owned has failed there -- a Makita, a Bosch, a series of DeWalts, and a Festool -- going back thirty years. It just seems to be the nature of the beast. On some routers, Larry's solution has worked for me. I stocked bearings for that Makita, and got to the point that I could change the bearing in less than a half hour. On others, that didn't work. I never did figure out how to replace the bearing on a DeWalt 621.

[Prashun Patel]

You should write Bosch about this. I had an issue with a refurbished 1617 (non EVS) a few years ago. The motor did not slide in the fixed base properly and the 1/2" collet had siezed. Even though I had owned it for about 2 years prior, they fixed it for free. It's been my experience that their tools are extremely reliable and that they stand behind them.

[Michael Simpson Virgina]

The collet has .01 runout. I had on replacing the collet so that was not that big a deal but I think I will take it back and get a replacement.

[Michael Simpson Virgina]

Took the unit back and got a new one. This one gets as hot as the last one but does not vibrate as much. The collet also has much less runout.

The only conclusion I can come to from this is that Bosch like Porter Cable has decided to use the cheapest junk bearings they can.

[david brum]

You know, I think that overheated bearings have more to do with misalignment than bearing quality. I recently replaced a DeWalt 618 router's main bearing for the 3rd time. The first replacement was under warranty. I bought a nice, US made bearing, installed it myself and it still overheated. I think that either the bearing housing is machined slightly undersized (squishing the bearing) or the surface where the bearing rests is not flat.

[Thomas Hotchkin]

Michael
If you have some time read about ball bearings on the web. Almost all router manufacturers are using sealed bearings to lessen the numbers of parts needed to build a router. Most low cost sealed ball bearings are not rated for the rpm of routers. The seal does generate heat and at 20K rpm it gets hot. My 25 year old 3 HP router came with shielded bearings, but even shielded bearing are not rated for long term use at router RPM. You could pop off the seals and replace the grease with one rate for your router's RPM which might help a little. Keep your router clean, air flow through the router motor is very important in removing as muck heat as possible. Tom