Last night, I went to turn on the Dewalt 611 router in my M4. The LED lights came on, but the spindle won’t spin at all. From looking online, it seems like the issue is likely that the brushes need replacing. The router is only a couple months old, and though I’ve used it on a number of cuts with the M4, it doesn’t seem like it has had enough use for the brushes to already go out (I saw comments online that said the brushes usually last ~150-200 hours and running higher RPMs eats them up sooner). Anyone have the same issue pop up? It seems like changing the brushes is not hard to do, but I don’t want to have to take my machine all apart to make the fix unless I’m pretty sure that’s the problem.
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Have you tried rotating it slightly by hand? It’s possible that it just landed on a dead spot and if you get it rotating again by hand it might fix itself.
I haven’t really played too much with it yet. Was a bit late last night that it stopped on me, and I was trying to avoid doing anything at the time that had a reasonable chance of ending in injury. I’ll try that later today and see if it helps. In the meantime, I’ve ordered some new brushes (a pack of 4 is under $10 on Amazon), so, if rotating by hand doesn’t work, I should be able to get things back up and running when those arrive in a couple days.
If I have to replace the brushes, then I think I can get to them without taking the router out of the clamps. I believe that I can make the swap by removing only the fan and the board. I really hate when I have to remove (and later replace) all of the bolts mounting the router to the sled (e.g., the 6 bolts for each linear rod support), so, as long as I can avoid that, I won’t be too miffed.
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For sure turn it off (maybe even unplug it) then try to rotate the collet by hand, then turn it back on while not touching the spinny bit
Definitely unplug. As it is, every time that I work on something, new cuts and scrapes appear spontaneously without me even knowing when or where they came from. I’ll walk back inside and my wife will ask why I’m bleeding, and that’ll be the first I learn of it.
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Yes, it is very likely that your brushes are burnt out. The stock brushes in the DeWalts wear out very quickly. I got less than six weeks out of each of three new DeWalts before I figured out the brushes. I found some cheap on Amazon, and I turned my speed down, and that makes a huge difference. Running at 6 (full speed) will burn the brushes out in 50 hours or less. I run at 1, and if I need to turn it up, I really haven’t needed to go past 2.5 or 3.
I haven’t had to change my brushes in probably eight months now, but thanks for the reminder that I need to check them.
Changing the brushes isn’t hard, and I don’t have to remove the router to do it. Just pull the cap off, and they are right there. I keep a magnet tray close to catch those tiny screws.
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Thanks for the info! Given what I was reading in other forums and what you’re saying, I strongly suspect that’s the issue. Very good to hear from someone who has already had to do the same repair.
Great idea; those screws are very easy to lose. The worst is when I’ve finished a cut and suddenly find Maslow screws sitting on the workpiece with no idea where they came from.
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I checked the brushes, and they are very worn. I’m near 100% certain now that they are the problem. As @Jeremiad said, replacing the brushes seems very easy and fast. The replacement brushes should arrive tomorrow, and I can document and post how to do the repair in case others ever need to do the same (which seems quite likely).
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I’m kind of happy that Bezos’ company accidentally sent me two routers when I only ordered one from them.
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