Really getting tired of spending ten minutes trying to get my router (1718EVS) to work everytime I need it.
The switch is junk. If I use it a table then try to freehand something, the switch gets all full of dust and just wont work.
Bosch told me they fixed the problem but as it turns out not so much.
Anyone have a solution to this other than switching to a Porter Cable?
Replies
somebody didn't fix that router...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Its actually my second. The first one burned out. When the switch went bad in the first one, they sent me a new one telling me that the new ones are sealed units.
It was the same damn switch that was already in the router.
I think its a great router when its in the table but it drives me nuts going freehand, everytime I have to turn it off I wonder how long it will take to turn back on this time.
Festool........... ya only gotta cry once
Rik
I really dont want to cry that hard though.:>)
pc
The only reason I didnt go PC originally was I thought the plunge base on the PC was choppy (action wise).
Doesnt matter, I dont use the plunge base.
Hindsight I guess.
I have an old 1715 (I think... 3 1/4 hp?) I use it upside down a lot, and sometimes the switch sticks... blowing air around the switch has always worked... well, except that time the switch died<G>Saw some tip where you take something like a milk jug side cut in a big circle. Fit it around the arbor, and it keeps a lot of dust from getting in the router when inverted??? Worth a try maybe... If dogs run free, then what must be,
Must be, and that is all.
True love can make a blade of grass
Stand up straight and tall.
In harmony with the cosmic sea,
True love needs no company,
It can cure the soul, it can make it whole,
If dogs run free.
blowing air around the switch has always worked... well, except that time the switch died<G>
Thats how I get my router to work now. The milk jug is not a bad idea, does it hurt the cooling of the motor though?
I've got the same router. Does anybody else have trouble getting it out of its base, and then back in after? I have to struggle with the unit all the time, and end up losing a lot of time, etc. I'd never buy one again...
S
It was just a big disk of plastic, not the whole jug... but mine draws air in from the top, so upside down, a whole jug might work? If dogs run free, then what must be,
Must be, and that is all.
True love can make a blade of grass
Stand up straight and tall.
In harmony with the cosmic sea,
True love needs no company,
It can cure the soul, it can make it whole,
If dogs run free.
What about jumping out the switch and replacing it with a switch on the cord?
"It is what it is."
PC
The problem with the bosch switch is that saw dust gets into it as others have noted.
The sawdust burns onto the contacts preventing them from making contact.
The fix is to take the switch apart, clean out the saw dust and clean the contacts. I've gotten the procedure down to about 5 minutes. I keep the appropriate sized torx screwdriver in the box with the router (you have to take the top of the router off to access the switch).
-Rich
I had that same router. The operative word is HAD. I got so sick of trying to adjust it, the switch sticking etc that one day when I was home and the switch stuck yet again, I took it off my table. put it in the garbage can and dragged it out to the curb. The trucks came by later that afternoon. I went out and bought a PC and have been delighted with it ever since.
It really swore me off any Bosch for a long while...still I don't consider their products. I also have a laminate trimmer of theirs that really is no good.
On the plus side, I will say that their jig saw and hammer drills have been some of my better tools. They are both almost 20 years old and both made in Switzerland. If either of those tools died tomorrow, I wouldn't cry because they served well, but I don't know if I would get another Bosch anything.
Can't really help you, other than to say I brought my Bosch 1617EVS to Fastenal here in town, for a switch replacement. I was having the same problem. They sent it out and it came back good as new. I have three Bosch routers, the 1617, an older 1613 plunge router, and their trim router (I forget the model) which came as part of a kit about ten years ago and I think it's a piece of junk.
If I had to get a new router today, I think I'd still look at Bosch. or maybe Hitachi.
Yeah, switch to Festool. You'll never look back. They make the Bosch and PC routers look like KitchenAid mixers with a bit collet.
Edited 6/4/2008 12:23 pm ET by rnsykes
Glad to see i'm not the only one this has happened to. Its really not a bad router except that it doesnt like to work.:>)