Router table heat build up.

[johnny means]

If your router is overheating, it's not because of airflow. You'd have to be trying to create that condition to make it happen.

[Dave Sabo]

If your router is overheating, it's not because of airflow. You'd have to be trying to create that condition to make it happen.

This is simply misguided advice and would be TOTALLY INCORRECT with my setups.

Put a router in a enclosed (mostly) box not much bigger than the router and run it for a few minutes. Then measure the air temp and report back to us. If the air used to cool the motor is not replaced it will become quite warm.

We can debate whether or not heat is an issue for router motors in another thread.

[johnny means]

This is simply misguided advice and would be TOTALLY INCORRECT with my setups.

Put a router in a enclosed (mostly) box not much bigger than the router and run it for a few minutes. Then measure the air temp and report back to us. If the air used to cool the motor is not replaced it will become quite warm.

We can debate whether or not heat is an issue for router motors in another thread.

Like this table? Getting warm is not overheating. It doesn't take that much air exchange to keep a healthy router within operating temperatures. You'd need to hit oven like temperatures within the enclosure before the circulating air ceased to have a cooling affect. A router should comfortably operate in the 200c range. I can't imagine a whole lot of conditions where the average user would insulate one well enough and run that long to exceed that.

[Edwin Santos]

This is simply misguided advice and would be TOTALLY INCORRECT with my setups.

Put a router in a enclosed (mostly) box not much bigger than the router and run it for a few minutes. Then measure the air temp and report back to us. If the air used to cool the motor is not replaced it will become quite warm.

We can debate whether or not heat is an issue for router motors in another thread.

Well as embarrassed as I should be to admit it, I committed this very sin. My router table had an enclosure for the router with an access door with no vents in it.
Things were fine until I got the bright idea to add dust collection to the back of the enclosure to supplement the existing dust collection at the fence on top.
Well my router bearings burned up a short time later.
What happened was the dust collection was creating a vacuum inside the router enclosure which in turn starved the router of airflow. Drilling a few holes in the access door to approximate the size of the dust port created enough make-up air to resolve the problem and the router with replaced bearings has been running fine ever since.

[Dave Sabo]

Like this table? Getting warm is not overheating. It doesn't take that much air exchange to keep a healthy router within operating temperatures. You'd need to hit oven like temperatures within the enclosure before the circulating air ceased to have a cooling affect. A router should comfortably operate in the 200c range. I can't imagine a whole lot of conditions where the average user would insulate one well enough and run that long to exceed that.

Johnny , what I’m saying is you can only speak for your setup.

Advising guys not to worry because your specific setup hasn’t cause you trouble is not sound advice. Especially when you don’t know what router they’re using or what their table setup or dust collection airflow is.

In the very next post after yours , Edwin had exactly the issue I said is possible to create if one is not mindful of all piece of the equation. It happens more than you’re aware.

p.s. which router makers claim their products will run in a sustained 200c environment ? That’s almost 400 degrees Fahrenheit !

[Roger Davis]

There is a product called the Milescraft 1501 Dust Router that uses a silicone cup that attaches to the bottom of the router table plate insert to capture dust at the router bit and attaches to a shop vacuum. This along with the Incra Clean Sweep magnetic metal insert rings will capture ninety percent of the dust. Since the airflow to the vacuum works in conjunction with the router’s internal motor fan that passes air through the motor to the router bit thus preventing sawdust being pulled through the router motor as would happen if the router is enclosed in a box.