Using my new Carbide compact router for the first time today and I recall seeing a couple of posts previously about high temps, mainly this one.
Also thought I saw something about a break-in period to set the bearings, I’m skeptical about the need for this, but thought I’d do it anyway as I’m in no hurry. Well, it gets really HOT! This is with no load and running at each setting for about 10 seconds starting at the slowest, up to the limit, and back again. The body wasn’t too bad, just warm, but I could touch the collet and shaft for less than a second. Let it cool off for 30 minutes and ran through the speeds again starting form the highest to the lowest and back pausing at each speed for about 10 seconds with the same result.
Is this normal for this router? I’m concerned that the lower bearing isn’t going to last long with temps like these.
Mine gets hot as well. Collet and bit get very hot. I just wear a glove to handle the bit etc. I expect there to be heat. I have not shot it with a temp gun but is there a temp I should be seeing to know if too hot?
Gloves shouldn’t be necessary. It may be that there’s a bit of a breaking-in period — check in at support@carbide3d.com and we’ll do our best to puzzle this out with you.
I experienced the same thing early on. Around that time I switched to using Fusion 360 and Gwizard for my tool paths and started taking bigger cuts. My tools came off the router slightly warm or nearly cool to the touch and the router shaft was no longer hot. I have been wondering if that was just due to the conservative paths in Carbide Create causing the tool to build heat (I haven’t run a job built in Carbide Create since I switched to Fusion) OR due to my new router breaking in. Either way, my hot router issue seems to have resolved itself. I haven’t seen any posts about tools building heat with the stock Carbide Create speeds and feeds, so I doubt that was the issue. I’d like to hear back when support helps you guys…I’m curious if there is a break-in on this router.
First things first, Carbide 3D Support is awesome!
There was definitely something amiss with the router. I ran it for a total of about 10 more minutes following the procedure as described above. Note: this was all running with no load. At that point it had developed a distinct vibration at any setting lower than 2.
Support immediately overnighted a new router after I discussed the issue with them. I ran this one for a few minutes and it also gets uncomfortably hot. I’m not sure that it’s as hot as the first as I didn’t measure temps. I’ve now got about 3 hours total and it still runs smooth albeit, uncomfortable to the touch at the collet/tool area.
What I have found that does make a difference is using dust collection with the bristles of the collector as close to the work surface as possible. I believe this draws more air through the router assisting in cooling. My best guess is that the fan is a little small for the amperage draw of the unit, but that’s only a guess.