soft start/variable speed table setup

Hey there John...

Ya gotta start somewhere's eh?.. *S* I'm finally nearing the end of setting up my table so i kinda got a feel for where you are right now. I decided to "buy" my table top, just because I really didn't want to be bothered building one. If you read around this forum, Most of the folks here will tell ya to go ahead and make one yourself. There are some serious advantages to doing this, first and foremost is the fact you end up with exactly what you want. Second is that you get a world of real world experience Building a good table is pretty straight forward and there are plenty of plans available. A very good way to help develope your skills Third is the fact that if ya screw up, which we all do from time to time, your not out a ton of money. I hope you enjoyed researching your setup as much as I did mine. It was a learning curve I completely did not expect....AS for the big router with fixed speed. I think, (and I'm by not means an expert on this) that the industry is quickly moving away from that profile. As bits become bigger and heavier and the router itself becomes a increasingly versatile woodworking tool, having control over your speed is a huge advantage. Personally that was a feature I was dead set on having.
Just a quick update on my table... the two head scratchers I thought I had turned out to be very easy to take care. First was the Wonder Fence having a pitch inwards off of the tabletop surface. Here it turns out that Incra in all of their wisdom provide 6 clear plastic shims with the fence. ALWAYS be sure to check your packaging *L*.. Shims in turn are installed above or below the mounting screws that offset assembly to the backside fence. A couple shims and bang, she was dead on... The Jessem Mit-R-Slide took a bit more thinking.. but in the end, I found that if i mounted the right side bracket to the front of the old incra fence, then mount the left side bracket to the back side of the incra fence I'd have a secure spot to start from. From there, all it took were two short pieces of T-track. Attaching to both the bracket and the assembly. This also allows for a lil laterial adjustment of the rig. Ended up being incredibly rigid. Smoooooooooooth operation and square to the table for the full run.

Just waiting on the electrical components from Chas. Day now... life is good!!!! *S*

John,

In the 3hp class of single-speed routers, a couple of models are:
Porter-Cable 7519 (fixed base)
Porter-Cable 7538 (plunge base)
Delta Machinery|Porter-Cable

and
Hitachi M12SA2 (plunge base)
HITACHI Power Tools: Home

All three (amongst others) are good routers. Others may provide other manufacturers but this should give you a start.

Jim

OK.. got the electrical parts from Chas. Day Co. the other day. the install was incredibly easy. Nothing to it at all. Excellent job by the orginal JCBrewing describing what to do. But when it was all said and done. I got ISSUES..*L* should I have expected less *S*..

here's what happens, and Im hoping some EE out there might have a good answer. Once completely retrofitted the router will not run??? UNLESS I toggle the on/off switch several times. Each time I turn it on and then off, the shaft spins a little, then a little more with the next on/off cycle and so on, until after about 5-7 on/off cycle she comes up to speed and appears to run just fine. At this point, the speed control works great. No way to tell just how fast the router is going, but she sounds like she did prior to the retro fit. I did take and undo everything, reinstall the orginal module and wiring and she runs just fine.. no issues at all. I have as yet to put any kind of a load on the router either with the retro fit or OE. (by load I mean run anywood over it) I"ve ohmed out the speed control and i have a nice resistance swing from one end to the other...I'm thinking I have a bad module,,but who know.. anythoughts on the matter out there??? At this point I really don't want to hear I got a bad router...*L* ohhhhhhhhhhh hell no!!!! I guess if it were easy, it wouldn't have been this much fun so far....

Lance.. here is the wiring diagram for the module for a 5626-69,

http://www.milwaukeetool.com/CMS/Diagrams/58-01-0718.pdf

which is essentially what i've converted my 5625 to. Everything is identical. The Module I got from Chas Day. co. is to the best of my knowledge is what milwaukee uses. Of this, i'm 95% certain (amazing how much trouble 5% can cause though). Now today, she fired over in only 4 on/off cycles. which leads me to think there is a capacitor issue within the module itself. Which may correct itself over time. once she fired over, I let it sit and went to work on the DC for my cabinet. Came back several hours later and she fired right up. It now appears that the more I cycle it on/off and run it,, the better it gets...I'll see what happens tomorrow morning after she sits overnight.

Hey Bill,
I looked at the parts diagram you linked to and it does depict a handful of caps on the board. I have very little experience with that kind of circuit but would assume that the power is shunted between the caps on the board, basically controlling the inrush current that the motor "sees". A poor cap in that circuit would produce the symptoms you have stated.
Another thought that came to mind is: If the contact posts or spade connectors are dirty, oxidized, or loose. Any poor contact between the wires and the clips might interfere with a good electrical path. The solution to that would be to hit all the connectors with a deoxidizing solvent, Deoxit is one of the best and is sold at Radio Shack.
It sounds like the setup is coming around and maybe your initial electronic problems will sort themselves out. I guess exchanging the part might assure that no future problems crop up but waiting, though, might be the easiest solution. Good luck with the new control and keep us informed of how you like it.

Its all good babe, its all good, at least for now *S*... seems the more I ran the unit, it finally built up enough capacitance so that now, she runs just fine on the first try. I've been communicating with a trained Mil. tech on this and am awaiting his thoughts on the matter. I've got full speed control regardless of switch position at start up. Heading down the home stretch now.

The 'box' (for lack of a better word) that the router sits in is approx. 14" h x 12" w x 27" L. I didn't much like this, so i've decided to narrow it down a bit and recess the control panel (on/off switch, speed control and digital height gauge) and DC port in the back by a few inches. It actually looks better, keeps the controls out of harms way and allows me to run the 4" dust port down against the backof the cabinet. I've boxed in the digital gauge and will now use small magnets to locate in plain view when needed. Since the thing comes with a nice long pigtail this is easily accomplished...gotta love those little magnets...