whine coming from router

[russell johansen]

I have a dewalt 618 pk router. It is used in a router table. Last time I turned it on, I heard a loud ear piercing whine coming from it. Can someone give me an idea of where to start diagnosing the problem? thanks

[glenn bradley]

Ouch! At first I thought you were joking. . . you know; a router whining, who woulda thought . I'd unplug the router, remove the bit, make sure the collet area is clear, possibly blow out the vents around the collet area, tighten everything up, plug in and try again. If it isn't anything external (chunk-o-wood, etc.) rubbing and nothing has fallen inside the motor housing; I'd think bearings. Check your brushes too. If they're bad enough to scream, the router really shouldn't run but, I'd check anyway.

Good Luck.

[John Ricci]

It does sound like something may have managed to drop into the router body from the table. Compressed air is your friend here...blow out whatever is inside the casing and try it again. I read a tip somwhere about cutting a piece of screen material to cover the bottom of the body and holding it on with hot glue for table mounted routers. That should keep the crap out.

[Lee Schierer]

After blowing it out, rotate it by hand before turning on the power. You might dislodge the chip without doing any damage.

[Jamie Buxton]

The other possible failure is a failed ball bearing. Failure of the bearing at the collet end of the motor is pretty common. If you spin the moter by hand, a bad bearing feels like there's grit in there.