Bosch 1617 motor housing---grippy metal?

[Jameel Abraham]

No matter how many times I steel wool and clean the motor housing on my Bosch 1617 router it always ends up getting "grippy", and its a real pain to remove the motor or adjust it in its base. What kind of metal is this? Magnesium? It's like its always in a state of oxidation. I hate it!

Anybody else have this experience?

[Mike Henderson]

Yep, I had the same problem. What I did was put some lubrication (like WD-40) on the housing and it fixed it pretty well. I was afraid that the lub would attract dirt but it hasn't been too bad. And the lube doesn't seem to wear off - it still works well and I lubed it maybe a year ago.

Mike

[Joe Spear]

I think that's an old problem with the Bosch 1617, and several years ago they started making the housings with an aluminum alloy instead of the magnesium. I think they were even replacing the housings for people for a while. In the meantime, you could lubricate like Mike Henderson said.

[Don Bullock]

If I recall correctly (not positive – my memory isn’t what it used to be:rolleyes:;)) there were some of the Bosch routers sold with a titanium housing that corroded. Bosch offered replacement routers for those who complained about the problem. You might try giving them a call.

[JayStPeter]

Bosch just replaced the housing on mine not too long ago. All I had to pay was shipping to their facility. I believe mine was 5 years old at the time. They know the problem and will replace the housing with an Aluminum one that is significantly better.

[John Williamson]

Call Bosch. There is an issue with their case in that router. I took mine into the local service center and they replaced it for free.

[Jameel Abraham]

Thanks for the info guys. My router is on its way to Bosch for a free upgrade!