Dewalt router bearings...

[David Rose]

Here are a couple of pics of the Dewalt 625 that needed bearings and the "story". The three parts came in today after a week's delay due to "misunderstanding" on the parts site. They were all correct. Yay! Interestingly the packages were marked with origin countries, so was the invoice. They didn't match at all. Nor did the names stamped on the bearings match either the invoice or the package. Wow! They must change suppliers rapidly. They were either French, USA, and German according to marks on the parts.

The bearings went back much easier than they came out. Then I came to the "pole piece", whatever that means. I think it is the sender for the speed control. It goes on the upper end of the armature shaft. One pic shows it resting on the shaft at an angle. I did *not* try to install it that way! But I did fail in the installation. I thought a small socket that barely fit over the shaft would be enough. It wasn't. The pic with the hose clamp shows it being held til super glue sets up. :( I am leary of firing it up with it glued, but I don't think it is likely to get into anything if it explodes at 30K. I will try it slowly and crank up the speed and see if it holds. I wouldn't even try this but need this thing going soon if possible. We'll see if Dewalt will give any installation tips from their web site. That is a lot to ask. If they give me any worthwhile hints, they will have my business locked in more solidly. Even then I will have to order another $.85 part with $5 shipping. Oh well... If anyone else has any tips to installing a thin phenolic (looking) piece to a splined shaft I would greatly appreciate hearing about it.

Sorry I didn't get picks all along the reassembly but at times things were tense and I forgot. If you have questions, I'll be glad to answer them to the best of my ability. And yes, turning the shaft by hand is much easier and smoother.

David

[Gene Collison]

[QUOTE=David Rose]Her Oh well... If anyone else has any tips to installing a thin phenolic (looking) piece to a splined shaft I would greatly appreciate hearing about it.

I'll bet the part is just pressed on and the serrated shaft provides the drive by putting matching serrations in the part. This means that it has to be pulled straight off maybe with a gear puller to prevent cracking and replaced in reverse order with the serrations lined up on the shaft. If it's cracked and needed to be glued, there's no doubt in my mind that I would replace it. There isn't any kind of adhesive that I'm aware of that will take much heat in the event that you get the router hot. And if it does let go from centrifugal force you could be in for some more parts. My .02

Gene

[David Rose]

Gene, you are right about the part needing to be replaced. I have no doubt. There are no splines in the piece that I can see or feel with a scribe. Maybe something like warming it in water would slightly soften it. Before I put the top cap on, I donned a welding helmet and fired it up. I gradually increased the speed to max. The piece is holding so far. When inverted in the table, this piece is at the very bottom. Unless it blows into the armature area failure should (might?) be harmless. And that end is much cooler being the intake end. But there is more... next post.

David


[QUOTE=David Rose]Her Oh well... If anyone else has any tips to installing a thin phenolic (looking) piece to a splined shaft I would greatly appreciate hearing about it.

I'll bet the part is just pressed on and the serrated shaft provides the drive by putting matching serrations in the part. This means that it has to be pulled straight off maybe with a gear puller to prevent cracking and replaced in reverse order with the serrations lined up on the shaft. If it's cracked and needed to be glued, there's no doubt in my mind that I would replace it. There isn't any kind of adhesive that I'm aware of that will take much heat in the event that you get the router hot. And if it does let go from centrifugal force you could be in for some more parts. My .02

Gene

[David Rose]

Nothing like this is ever simple for me. That's why I normally leave things like this to those who know them best. On first assembly, everything felt a little stiff when I turned the collet by hand. Nothing like before the bearing replacement, but stiffer by some than my 621.

I chucked a try bit just to have the collet on and something to grasp and turn and ran it on low for about a minute. The air coming out felt warm so I stuck the meat thermometer in the stream and got 120 degrees. That seems a little high. I shut it off and let it rest a minute and it felt slightly stuck! I broke it lose with the wrench and let it cool some. Running it on high for about another minute the collet and try bit were really warm. They were too warm to touch for more than about 3 seconds comfortably. I've never noticed that much heat unless I was removing a bit which had been working hard. Running it at different speeds for a minute or so and shutting it down it felt slightly stuck about three more times. After that it quit sticking and started feeling slightly more free. But by then the top end was getting really warm.

I tried to put the brushes back like they were, but I got a bit of sparking so I probably didn't if that might effect anything. The only other thing I can think is that maybe that "pole part" that is probably the trigger for the speed sensor might be causing grief some way.

Should there be any break in on a bearing installation? I know that positions might be slightly different and such, so maybe, but I didn't expect it. I've always gone right to work with new tools like routers and never allowed for any kind of seating.

I'll run it a few more times tomorrow and see if it stays this hot. Oh, and the airflow from the fan is excellent so I don't think that is effecting anything. I need to use this thing about 30 minutes to cut some rail samples to help determine a panel raising bit to order. Maybe it will hold up to that.

I'm open to any suggestions. I wish I was closer to a decent service center.

David

[Gene Collison]

Nothing like this is ever simple for me. That's why I normally leave things like this to those who know them best. On first assembly, everything felt a little stiff when I turned the collet by hand. Nothing like before the bearing replacement, but stiffer by some than my 621.



I'm open to any suggestions. I wish I was closer to a decent service center.

David

David, it has been my experience that new bearings and new routers sometimes do run hot in the bearing area. I believe it is caused by the friction from the seal on the bearing. Once the seal wears a little, the friction will go away and so will the heat. I think this is the stiffness you are feeling. I really think it will take care of itself, it sounds like the speed control magnet is going to hold too. New brushes or brush orientation will not cause overheating. Just run it some more........

Gene

[Jamie Buxton]

David --

That "pole piece" looks identical to one in my DW621. I too think it is a sender for the speed control. As far as I can tell, it is just a press fit on the motor shaft.

I learned about that part when the DW621 I was using in a router table suddenly ran full-speed no matter what I did with the controls. It turned out that the sender had slipped partly off the shaft, while the shaft was still spinning. It had come to rest on the plastic motor housing, and the friction had welded it in place! I carefully carved the housing off, put the sender back on the shaft with a little CA glue, and put the router back in service.

Jamie

[David Rose]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I am still more than a little concerned though. I went back out last night after the machine had cooled totally and did some more run testing. Still with no bit other than the try bit it ran for 10 minutes on medium with no appreciable heating. Yay! But on high after giving it a little more time to cool, it ran about 5 more minutes then started dropping in speed. When I shut it down, it was really tight again. It wasn't as hot as it had been so maybe it is just still tight. But this is exactly the same symtoms that caused me to replace the bearings. Heat is one thing, but binding up tight is another. They could be related but it wasn't that hot this time. I'll try to break it in with a few more runs like this.

David hoping I didn't misinstall the bearings

[Ken Garlock]

David, this just a guess, but are you sure you got the bearing seated properly? It seems to me that new parts should not run hotter than the old. Also, is there a top bearing and/or a bottom bearing, and did you get them in their respective places?
I am not accusing you of not assembling it correctly, but I have made like errors. I know that I could easily become mixed up, since I tend to not label parts as I take things apart, then wonder which went where :confused:

[David Rose]

Ken, thanks for guess. The bearings are vastly different in size so that would not be possible... even for me. :D However, since the inner and outer races both fit their respective places tightly, it might be possible to seat the inside on the shaft and the outside in the housing where the bearing could be in a bind. It didn't feel that way at all, but I don't know what the leeway is for this. I'll keep playing with it.

David


David, this just a guess, but are you sure you got the bearing seated properly? It seems to me that new parts should not run hotter than the old. Also, is there a top bearing and/or a bottom bearing, and did you get them in their respective places?
I am not accusing you of not assembling it correctly, but I have made like errors. I know that I could easily become mixed up, since I tend to not label parts as I take things apart, then wonder which went where :confused:

[Herb Blair]

I was in the Dewalt service center in Dallas over the weekend and asked what the repair charges for a DW625 would be. It was $150 Max.
You can buy a Hitachi M12V for that!
What was your total cost on the repair that you did, David?
Would you do it again?

[David Rose]

Hi Herb, I made a much needed trip to Woodcraft in Tulsa (plug plug, but no connection - just great guys there). Greg wasn't there to convince me to buy the Triton, but it would have been a task anyway. :) I did drop a chunk of change along with getting another DW625. So we didn't need you Greg. :p

My intent was/is to get a service center to work over the old one. I now suspect that I may have damaged the bearings when I installed them. If I can get anyone at a center to "talk to me", I'll probably put in another set myself.

The only gripe (other than the bearing fiasco) I have with the 625, the way I am setup, is that the collet does not extend quite far enough. By having two of them I can do some playing that I have wanted to do. I plan to attach the plunge support tubes (not the correct name) directly to a steel plate that will serve as a router plate and base. I will gain almost a full inch of depth. This will put the collet nut well through the table for "above table" bit changes. I just need to come up with a good plate to start the project.

David


I was in the Dewalt service center in Dallas over the weekend and asked what the repair charges for a DW625 would be. It was $150 Max.
You can buy a Hitachi M12V for that!
What was your total cost on the repair that you did, David?
Would you do it again?

[Greg Heppeard]

David,

Sorry I missed you, I do enjoy our visits when you're in town, even if I do try to convince you that DeWalt isn't the only tool available :rolleyes: I know, use what you know and are happy with. One of the guys told me that you were there and found one of our DeWalt routers had excessive run out. You'll be happy to hear that we took it off the shelf and are sending it back to DeWalt. I don't want defective product in the store at all (unless it's just waiting to be shipped back). Hey, tell you what...next time you're in town, I'll take ya to lunch at Kate's...I think you'll like it. :D

[David Rose]

Greg, if you haven't shipped the router back yet, it was the fit of the support columns to their respective bushings. You could wobble the router side to side (and probably back to back) on the columns enough to really mess up with something like a rail/stile set I think. Sure as the world if you set that one back on the shelf, the next guy would want one.

The runout was as close as I have ever seen on that tool! It was under a thou. I settled for the demo and it has almost .002" to .0025 runout which still isn't too bad. But I surely wanted that other one. Like they say "beggars can't be choosers". It was nice of the guys to let me measure the things in every way that I wanted to. I think I could have talked the guys into letting me switch base assemblies, but the error was in the bushings. :(

Next time I'll go to the back though in case folks start coming in. The customers who came in were genuine Grade A usda approved wood workers though so they were interested and didn't seem put off by my mess. In fact, one may end up with a 625! I love it when my customers sell my goods for me. Customers don't have the sales motive that other customers feel store workers do. Our business is like yours in that we are not high pressure sales people. So when a customer gets excited about something other customers often listen. I think I enjoy "selling" in stores that I like more than I do in my own business.

Uh, if you remember, a tool or two back was a DELTA planer. It still starts with a "D", but it ain't Dewalt. However, I might trade with ya for a yeller one. :D But the bandsaw that makes me really drool starts with "MM". :rolleyes:

You don't owe me lunch, but I would love to go with you. We haven't been to Kate's. I do business with you guys because I *enjoy* it! You guys try to make my experience enjoyable and satisfying (at the sale time and after) which is the number one rule of good salesmanship. Sadly, that is all but forgotten many places. That owner is blessed to have you there.

I hope it's not wrong for me to plug your store in this way. I could do it if you weren't here, so I think I should be OK though you are.

David


David,

Sorry I missed you, I do enjoy our visits when you're in town, even if I do try to convince you that DeWalt isn't the only tool available :rolleyes: I know, use what you know and are happy with. One of the guys told me that you were there and found one of our DeWalt routers had excessive run out. You'll be happy to hear that we took it off the shelf and are sending it back to DeWalt. I don't want defective product in the store at all (unless it's just waiting to be shipped back). Hey, tell you what...next time you're in town, I'll take ya to lunch at Kate's...I think you'll like it. :D