DWP611 Brushes burnt

Hi, I have a XL running and was doing great, made an enclosure for it to reduce noise. Today, I did a successfully cut on some Birtch wood, then i noticed it making noises when it was done. Turned it off, checked it, turned it back on and sparks were going on in the motor.

Seems the brushes are already toast on one side of the motor. Unit is 2 weeks old, anyone else have had them go out so fast?

Are you sure they are bad? Did you pull them out and look at them?

Some sparks are normal.

You can also buy new brushes if they are actually bad.

These are large sparks on one of them, I removed them and its squared off now, and 2mm shorter than the other one. I found a 4 pack on order, Its to the point it will not move anymore.

Shane

If you have to have a problem, at least you have an interesting one. I believe there is a curse in Chinese culture: “May you live in interesting times”.

You might find this material interesting:

http://www.ingenieurparadies.de/sixcms/media.php/1466/071015brush%20wear.pdf

http://www.morganelectricalmaterials.com/sites/default/files/technicalhandbookglobalproof_0.pdf

http://www.gulfelectroquip.com/technical.php?technicalname=commutator

Perhaps you just got a defective brush at the factory - that would explain the progression - big sparks, early death, asymmetric wear.

Good luck.

Picture of both of them… I just got this thing from carbide about a month ago now… as you can see, one is definitely toast.

Yeah, that looks like a bad brush.

Nasty. :scream:
Since my DeWalt also recently came from Carbide, and may well be from the same batch as yours, I think I’ll have a look at my brushes. I’ve got a SuperPID to install on it anyway.

Interesting. My first thought was to ask if you are using dust collection inside your enclosure? The particle counts go WAY up when the system is enclosed if you aren’t sucking the dust out. The temperature goes up quite a bit too if you are taking heavy cuts. However, I don’t think that would explain one bad brush. Based on your photo, I think its safe to say you received a unit with a defective unit.

I’m just curios… if you measure the resistance between the connector and the face of the brushes, does one have a much higher resistance than the other one?

Is there any scenario, other than a defective brush, that could cause one brush to pull more current than the other one??

It is enclosed with a vacuum to the outside to reduce noise, but i would expect both the be burnt if that was the cause. I did have alot black dust in the unit when i blew it out, but that could have been the brush. Company just bought another router, ill fix this one for a backup…

As a CNC (and router, in general) newbie, what level of sparks are “normal”? I’m asking because I also have a DWP611 that I got from Carbide as part of a Shapeoko 3 kit and the router is sparking nearly constantly, less noticeable at lowest speed but quite sparky at high speed, visually very obvious from the outside though the sparks do not actually exit the casing.

Here’s a video of it running at half of max speed (3 on the dial):

The router is virtually brand new (I’ve had it for a few weeks now but it hasn’t seen much use) and seems to operate as expected (though I am seeing the USB disconnection issue), power seems good, no funny smells, but is this level of sparking excessive and a cause for concern?

Mine sparks like that at high speed and more when its under load.

Let me clear it up, mine was sparking and POPING, then stopped moving… lol

Did you go get some marshmallows? :wink:

I think @gmcbay has a normal router. I think yours has some serious issues. I’ll be interested to see if everything goes back to normal with a new brush. I’m guessing it will. I can’t think of anything other than a defective brush that would cause just one brush to burn.