I was trying to pocket a tray with a bowl bit and after about 10 minutes I hadn’t noticed that the metal shaft of the router was slightly hotter than the sun.
Sure enough there was a loud crack and a few flames shot out of the top.
Have now replaced but maybe someone has some suggestions for another make that is more robust.
Another reason not to leave the scene whilst CNCing!
PS I ran a 1” bowl bit with around 50% step over, router on setting 1, and taking 2mm of cut, speed at around 1000mm/min. Obviously way too aggressive. Material is oak.
At low speed those air cooled motors really can’t deal with much power, the air moved by the shaft driven fan is roughly proportional to the speed but the power at low speed can be quite a bit higher thanks to the way the motors are controlled.
I’d look at running the router quite a bit faster so that the cooling air flow can match the power dissipation in the windings.
As Liam noted, low speeds causes reduced cooling, there is a warning in the manual for the router as well. RT0701C Instruction Manual
And were talking about a poor little trim router that we like to put through hell with [oversized] bits and/or materials that cause more strain than it was designed for.
Your question about replacing the router: You can get a Dewalt 611 or equivalent is you run on 230V. You could get another Makita which most people love or a Carbide router. The Makita and Carbide are the same size 65MM and the Dewalt is I think is 69MM body. So it depends on your router mount. My Shapeoko is an 2017 and there is an adaptor that came with the machine for the Makita 65MM and I have a Dewalt 69MM in my router holder. Not sure what the newer models have for router mounts for size. Seems like a lot of people really like the Makita because of its low RPM.
You could go to the spindles but there are many threads for that on the forum.
What everyone is saying is correct, but 10 minutes is a little short. Take the router off, check that the brushes haven’t failed. To get that hot, that fast…you’re being agressive, but not crazy 10 minute to failure crazy.
From my limited experience, you may want to try and rough out the pocket with an end mill and perform your finish contouring with the bowl bit. I haven’t used my bowl bit with my Shapeoko yet but I can say that it seems like a good amount of engagement when I burn wood on my router table. This might be faster (with correct speeds and feeds) even if the end mill diameter is much smaller than the bowl bit.
