So here we go again !! On my third C3D router. First one cane with it when I bought my 3xxl used . Second i purchased from C3D. It locked up in less than five uses . No more than 3 hrs run time . They sent a new one. It started making horrible noise lots of blue flames in side and a burning oder . In the middle of a consignment project . So after reading all the other post in this group . I went out and bought the makitia RT0701c . After a 17 min cut with 1/16 bit . When i went to change to the next bit . I couldn’t touch the collet nut it was so hot. Top of the router was cool no oder . Just bottom half was hot . So I guess my question to the group is . Should i return it try again with Makitia. 150 at Home Depot. Just buy another C3D . Or Spend another 80 get the right sized mount for the Dewalt. Spindle just isn’t in the budget right now .
3 C3D routers and a Makitia router. Have you checked your supply voltage while the router is running? When I purchased my S4 xxl I also got a spare C#D router. My machine is going on 4 years now and I have not even changed the brushes yet. I do check and lube my machine and I also use a shop vac to clean the router out too. I do run some long cuts and I also push my machine feeds somewhat fast at times.
If you are smoking routers as fast as you are I would start by checking voltages at all connection points and check your amp draws also.
Anthony
That is some pretty crazy bad experience with trim routers! I’ve been using the C3D router that came with my SProXXL for 2-3 years now. I’m not working it like a production shop, but there are times when I’ve run it for a few days in a row for 6-10 hours. A couple times I’ve thought that it might be getting ready to pack it in after having let it sit for quite some time. But then I’ve let it run slower to let it warm up & loosen up & so far it’s still gong strong!
I also have a Makita on my S3XXL which I’ve also put plenty of hours on & haven’t had problems with it in years. I keep backup Makita & C3D routers on hand as fallback.
It seems like in the last couple years that perhaps the quality of bearings used in the trim routers has gone down…or the quality control of the bearing manufacture. There’s always going to be some bad units, but the issue of people having multiple routers fail on them in succession seems way more recently.
I would second the advice about checking the voltage being supplied. If for whatever reason, the line voltage is not maintaining within 5% of 120V(so 114V) when the router is running, then the motor may be drawing excessive amounts of current under load which causes greater amounts of heat generated by the windings. This would be evidenced by the motor smoking/burning the lacquer coating on the winding conductors which would then be followed by a burnout of the windings induced by a short circuit condition.
The C3D router is a clone of the Makita. So to start with it will be inferior to the Makita. I bought a used SO3 XL and the C3D router had the bad bottom bearing. I bought a Makita and it ran well. I eventually sold the XL because I already had an SO3 XXL. My SO3XXL has a Dewalt and in going on 6 years have replaced the brushes once about a year ago and replaced 1 1/4" collet. The Dewalt is 69MM and the Makita/C3D is 66MM and the newer SO4 has the mount for a 66MM. The original SO3 had a 69MM with a reducer ring for a 66MM router. So I would suggest you try a Makita if your mount is 66MM but a Dewalt if you had a 69MM router mount. It is too expensive to upgrade a 66 to 69 but maybe also consider the C3D spindle that is 66MM. C3D makes great machines and their customer service is great. The C3D forum is also great but I would say that the one fly in the ointment is the C3D router. Some people have never had problems with their C3D router but here on the forum because it is a C3D product we see a lot of complaints. Usually bad bearings at the bottom or the router sparking. Cut your losses and get a Makita or a spindle.
Ok , i will start by checking my voltage at my plug in .
Thank you .
I talked to a friend that is running the makita on his 4xxl pro and he is experiencing the same heat with his . Being running it four about 6 months . I checked the new makitia by taking it out of the mount and just running it no bit just holding it in my hand it warmed up at the bottom almost instantly. He just assumed that they run hot . Have you or any one else experienced this with the Makitia ?
Not sure why you keep blowing through routers. We’ve had the SP5 for a year now and use it extensively for prototyping. The 65mm VFD spindle is well… freaking awesome. Our bit set is all compatible with +24k RPM. So… with rare exception we are cutting hardwoods at max rpm, and we max the feed rate once the carve begins. It performs very well with bit diameters from 1" down to "1/32. If ours blew out then I’d probably upgrade to the 80mm 220v.
My Makita’s collet nut would get hot, I’ve either gotten used to it, or it has finally worn in and running cooler.
One thought on the premature router failures is over-tightening the mount and distorting the housing.
Like @Steve.Mc in my experience certain routers will heat up at the shaft/nut/collet when first used (a couple of times), but then seem to “run-in” and afterwards don’t.
The reality of a trim router used as a trim router is they run for a few minutes at a time. On your CNC the trim router duty cycle is considerably longer. So even though trim routers work on a CNC they were never built for that. I have a Dewalt that has just been flawless but the modern C3D machines are built for the 66MM routers which are pretty much the C3D/Makita routers. They do sell 69MM router mounts but that would just be too much to change over from 66MM to 69MM. The C3D/Makita router can run at a slower speed than the Dewalt but for my uses that is not important.
The bottom line is there is a mean time between failure that the design engineers build their products to. The mean time between failure means some fail right out of the box and others never fail. So it is a dice throw no matter what router/spindle you pick. The C3D spindles have been reported having a few issues but C3D takes care of them. Since the C3D spindles have not been out as long as the C3D/Makita/Dewalt routers only time will tell about how they age. But you are running a router/spindle at 18,000 RPM for hours at a time so there are going to be failures. No one has yet created a router/spindle that lasts forever. Maybe you are the lucky one that never has problems or you are the unlucky one that 5 minutes after running fails. That is pretty much a fact of life.
I have an SO3 with HDZ and Dewalt router. If I were to order a new machine I would get the spindle. However my SO3 is a trooper and always done everything I have asked of it. Eventually I will have to upgrade but I dont think that time will be anytime soon. Others have different use cases over what I use mine for. So everyone must evaluate what they are going to use their Shapeoko for and buy accordingly.