Still shaking my head over this one...
Was running some test cuts with a new Quadra-cut bit in the router table - (nice bit, btw, and a quieter than other 2 flute bits I've used). Noticed that I wasn't getting the full profile of the cutting edge. Turned out that the bearing on the bit was a little too large, holding the work off the bit by several thousandths.
Since I was using it in the router table, the bearing isn't really necessary, so I decided to take the bearing off. Was just about on the last turn of the screw when I fumbled the allen wrench. In a nano-second that wrench disappeared into the router motor. It dropped just perfectly so that there was no chance to grab it. It just, poof, was gone. It happened so fast that I questioned myself for a bit about whether that wrench actually fell in to the motor. But I couldn't find it in the dust box.
Took me a while but I was finally able to see just a little bit of the wrench sitting on the windings behind the fan. I tried a small magnetized screw driver, but couldn't pull the wrench up. At this point I'm thinking of all sorts of bad scenarios, like having to replace the motor, etc.
After taking a few minutes and a couple deep cleansing breaths, I thought of turning the whole plate/lift/motor assembly over and trying the magnetized screw driver using gravity to my advantage. I propped the motor assembly over the open tool well in my split top bench and got under the bench. Within about 10 seconds, I fished the wrench out with the magnetized screw driver. Just dropped right out.
I never would have previously considered the possibility of dropping that wrench into the motor. So, lesson learned. Keep the small tools away from the top of the router motor.