Destroyed my Porter Cable 690LR Tonight

[jimdad07]

I was making a slab surfacer tonight and burnt my only router up that was worth a crap. Last winter I built my mother-in-law a new kitchen. I was using a 1/4" strait bit to make the groove for the shaker panels to fit into the door and drawer frames with the router set up on my home-made router bench. One of my bits broke in half and I never found the cutting head until tonight...:rant:...I took the router off of the bench and turned it right side up to router out the spot for the router base to fit into on the surfacer, I ran the router for about a minute when pieces of the fan blade shot out of the router and one of my shop GFCI's tripped :censored::censored::censored:. Took it apart and found the culprit:

Some how that little cutting head has lasted almost a year in that router without killing it. What sucks the most is that a lot of my woodworking is shut down now without my router until I can save up for a new one, it is the work horse in my shop.

 

[Timberframed]

Bummer. I see just the motors for sale now and then. Good router.

 

[jimdad07]

Bummer. I see just the motors for sale now and then. Good router.

I was looking at a new armature for the motor and it costs $109.00 before shipping. Might just get a used one and use this one for a parts machine.

 

[820wards]

One of my bits broke in half and I never found the cutting head until tonight...:rant:...

Jim,

Your luck that piece didn't hit you.

jerry-

 

[TraditionalTool]

Those little 690s are not enough for that type of work, IMO. Aren't they only 1 3/4 HP? I'd say you need a slightly bigger router. What about the 3 HP Hitachi? Those are pretty cheap.

 

[Philbert]

Don't despair! (And don't throw out your 'dead' router!)

I had a similar situation with a PC router that self destructed after many years of use. I was heartbroken, but called the local PC factory repair service to get a quote on parts.

They told me about their fixed price repair service, where they totally rebuild the tool (parts and labor), whatever it needs, for a fixed price, usually about half of the MSRP.

This was a few years ago. Don't know if it is still in effect, but they also covered DeWalt and Black and Decker products in a similar manner.

Worth checking out.

Philbert

 

[Timberframed]

Those little 690s are not enough for that type of work, IMO. Aren't they only 1 3/4 HP? I'd say you need a slightly bigger router. What about the 3 HP Hitachi? Those are pretty cheap.

That's what I use (Hitachi) for it's got what it takes to cut the mustard on my big 600 +lb slabs. But for milling smaller pieces like a burl it would do. I have older Rockwell/Porter cable routers that have held up fine over the years. Just don't push'em too much.

 

[jimdad07]

A bigger one should be on my list, I just really like the feel and control of the smaller Porter Cable, and yes I was lucky it didn't come out and hit me. I had a 3/8" rabbitting bit come out on me once out of a cheap Craftsman router I had bought with some gift cards when I built the cabinets for my house. That bit tore off a finger nail and gouged the same finger to the bone. That time I had tightened the bit as tight as I could get it but it just wasn't enough. That router was dangerous because it didn't hold onto its bits very well.

 

[jimdad07]

Don't despair! (And don't throw out your 'dead' router!)

I had a similar situation with a PC router that self destructed after many years of use. I was heartbroken, but called the local PC factory repair service to get a quote on parts.

They told me about their fixed price repair service, where they totally rebuild the tool (parts and labor), whatever it needs, for a fixed price, usually about half of the MSRP.

This was a few years ago. Don't know if it is still in effect, but they also covered DeWalt and Black and Decker products in a similar manner.

Worth checking out. (End quote)

Thanks for the information. I have found where I can get a new armature for it along with the fan blade attatched to it, or there is a motor on ebay for half the price and looks like it hasn't seen much use.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

A bigger one should be on my list, I just really like the feel and control of the smaller Porter Cable, and yes I was lucky it didn't come out and hit me. I had a 3/8" rabbitting bit come out on me once out of a cheap Craftsman router I had bought with some gift cards when I built the cabinets for my house. That bit tore off a finger nail and gouged the same finger to the bone. That time I had tightened the bit as tight as I could get it but it just wasn't enough. That router was dangerous because it didn't hold onto its bits very well.

There's a reason why most woodworkers call them "Crapsman"! In the old days, i blew up 3 or 4 Crapsman routers.

My all time fav router is a PC "Speedmatic". It has survived a lot of years in router tables in my cabinet shop, and still works perfectly! Too bad they don't still make that router! It was expensive though.

Rob

 

[Timberframed]

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Speedmatics are a very powerfull and smooth machine. This one (on the left)is a 1968 model. They made a 220 volt unit but rare.

 

[TraditionalTool]

That's what I use (Hitachi) for it's got what it takes to cut the mustard on my big 600 +lb slabs. But for milling smaller pieces like a burl it would do. I have older Rockwell/Porter cable routers that have held up fine over the years. Just don't push'em too much.

Yeah, those are pretty capable routers. The PC 7518 seems to be one of the preferred routers for heavy work, but they cost quite a bit more than the Hitachi as I recall. There was some dolt from Canada with his dolt son that used the Hitachis (they were sponsored) on a TV show, the router workshop or some such non-sense...those dolts do everything with a router, drill holes, trim, cut boards, the router is always their solution.

I don't do much heavy work aside from the log work I do, and use a DeWalt 621 plunge router for most work.

Most people speak well of the Hitachis.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Speedmatics are a very powerfull and smooth machine. This one (on the left)is a 1968 model. They made a 220 volt unit but rare.

Like you, i have a lot of older tools, including a small pile of routers. I even still have 2 or 3 crapsmans BEST. lol They do work for very light work, like touching up jointer blades while the blades are still in the jointer. Also, leaving one set up for dovetails will work too.

Anyway, you have some nice tools, and decent tools are a joy to work with!

BTW, i bet the PC7518 is the most used router, in a router table.

Rob

 

[TraditionalTool]

They do work for very light work, like touching up jointer blades while the blades are still in the jointer.

Rob,

Do tell how this is done. Do you put a grinding wheel on it? Run it over a rail somehow?

 

[Timberframed]

I think I see what Rob is up to. Tables brought into plane. Cutterhead in fixed position where .004 or so of the knife is above the plane. Router with a dremel like stone run on slowest rpm. Router base acts like a guide working parallel to the cutterhead. I place a piece of wax paper on the table and hone with a stone by hand just to touch them up but I can see this operation doing the job with a small nick in the knife where a stone won't do. Worth a shot on a bad set of knives.

 

[jimdad07]

One of the places I do work at is a utility company that eliminated its maintenance crew when the last guy retired and the next to last guy became a supervisor. I had to work there today and I was telling the supervisor of facilities about my router blow up and he asked me if I needed a replacement. I said yeah, he came out with a Milwaukee 10amp and a Porter-Cable 6.8amp routers and said that they will never be used here again and I was welcome to take them. Talk about a heck of a deal. Another guy there says he has about a 100 acres of woods he wants some big hardwoods cut out down and removed to make shooting lanes for deer hunting, Merry frickin' Christmas.

 

[deerlakejens]

Great news, this proves there is a Santa Claus!

 

[mikeb1079]

sweet! cool vintage routers. they must like you.

 

[jimdad07]

sweet! cool vintage routers. they must like you.

I have done quite a bit of work for this guy and never charged my time, mostly because this customer of my company is very good to me as far as treatment and the guy never expects a polished turd to run like a brand new piece of equipment. He's one of those guys who has done the job and understands. It is very rare to find someone like that in a supervision position and that still will jump in and give a guy a hand when needed.