My New Milwaukee 5625 Router! (yeah,... BABY!!!)

[tuck]

I know that there have already been other threads about this router, but I'm too lazy to search for and find the ones that convinced me to buy this Milwaukee when my old Porter-Cable 75182 recently (and finally) bit the dust with bearings and switch issues. My 75182 was a damn good router and didn't owe me a dime, and if it wasn't for some reviews I'd seen in here about the Milwaukee, I'd have purchased another one. But meanwhile...

The first thing that struck me about the Milwaukee is how much quieter it is that the P-C. I can actually hear myself think now and even talk on my shop phone without having to take it outside. It may not be as quiet as a spindle, but I don't have $5,000.00 for a spindle and nor do I need one for my particular applications.

The 2nd thing that I liked a lot was the variable speed function. It's more user friendly than the P-C and gives you greater control as it is "dialed" and not "switched". Sweet!

The 3rd thing was the ease of install. It fit perfectly into the carriage for me with no modifications necessary to speak of other than a cable clip and a short screw to hold the power cord out of the way where it comes out of the motor housing.

The 4th thing is that it has a 5 year warranty! Wow!

For anyone interested, here's where I found the best deal:

http://www.tools-plus.com/mlw5625-20.html

[MARK HOLM (Unregistered Guest)]

Are you saying that the new Milwaukee fit into the same mounting sleve that the PC was in?

[gerald_d]

Mark Tucker's SB is from the early days of a U-plate and 2 hose-clamps over the top. pic (http://www.mechmate.com/Forum/messages/53/213.jpg) Paco mentioned somewhere else that the Milwaukee is slightly smaller than the PC and that he put a sheet of something in the later sleeve to make up the difference.

[phil_o]

The noise level of routers is obviously a big issue when you run a router a long time. Is there a source that rates routers by noise level as well as other considerations? I haven't been able to find one.

[tuck]

I can't find one either, Phil, but take my word, The Milwaukee is at least 25% quiter than the P-C, and that made all the difference to me. However, it STILL depends on what you are cutting and perhaps how fast you're cutting it. I rout a lot of HDU foam and can set the variable speed to it's lowest (10,000 rpm) on the Milwaukee and I can barely hear it. This evening though, I had to cut up a sheet of 1/8" aluminum. I cranked up the speed to about 18,000 rpm and had at it. The Milwaukee sliced through it like a champ and with no complaints, but it naturally puts out higher decibles as the variable speed is increased. The REAL noise, however, came from the cutter slicing through the aluminum @ 1.25ips.

Long story short...I put in my ear plugs! :-)

[bill_l]

This is part of a post I did not too long ago:

The installation required removal of the adjustment screw and the addition of four 2 5/8" x 13" strips of standard .078 flashing around the router for mounting. The process took about 30 min and it was well worth it. Noise level is significantly lower.

Bill

[marshawk]

The brushes for it are available at http://www.toolpartsdirect.com. It took about 4 weeks to get them, so you may want to order them now and have them on hand.

One of the things that I like about the PC routers is that they are easy to maintain. It takes no more than 5 minutes to change the brushes with the router still installed on the 'Bot. It looks as if changing them on the MW will take a little more effort...but still worth doing myself rather than taking it to the local power tool repair place.

Cheers!

Chip

[hippo]

I just got one of the Milwaukee routers, and was surprised to find that is it too big to fit in my Alpha mounting bracket. The bracket included a black plastic insert that narrows the opening to 3.5" with the insert. Without the insert, the bare aluminum mount is too large to hold the Milwaukee.

Do I have a non-standard mount or something? The plastic insert is about 1/2" thick all the way around. What does the rest of the world have? In the pictures it looks significantly thinner.

-Dan

P.S. I never had a Porter Cable, I'm replacing a Makita, so I have nothing to compare it to.

[paco]

Hi Dan!

My black insert is about 1/8" wall thick. It was for the 7518 PC originaly.

Check with SB for the PC insert.

Maybe you could get away with some kind of flexible plastic such as 1/8" thick UHMW and make yourself an insert...

[evan]

The Milwaukee is not the same dia. as the PC so you need to make a new insert for the Milwaukee to fit in the bracket. I wraped a sheet of .125" thick neoprean and 26 gage (I think) aluminium to make up the difference. Hope this helps.

[hippo]

After talking with the shopbot guys, it turns out I do have a different mount because of my Makita past... They're sending me the Porter Cable mount, and I can shim to my hearts content after that.

I'll post the results when I get it installed.

[dingwall]

Our Milwaukee is starting to have starting and RPM irregularities. It failed to start once this morning and the RPM's don't seem as steady as they once were.

Could this be a brushes issue or possibly an RPM sensor issue.

[paco]

Sheldon,

since it is most probably still under warranty, you may want to let the local service center honor the warranty.

In case you feel like lookin' in, make sure you can see that the tachometer is where it should be and pushed down to the upper bearing (http://picasaweb.google.com/the.real.paco/MK5625BearingsReplacement/photo#5037181732818920066) (Brown ring at the top most of the armature shaft). Make sure that all three connections are good (same picture/link and the next one).

Brushes aren't covered under warranty unless it failed within 30 days (I believe). Yes, that's how mine behaved before the brushes failed. Remove them and make sure there is still over 1/2" of brush length and that they both slide inside the tube easily.

In the next few days, I'll be posting something new on my BLOG (http://pacosarea.blogspot.com/) about the MK 5625; wave spring to pre-load the bearings...

[dingwall]

Thanks Paco,

I may have to learn to change out my own bearings as this will be the second trip to the repair shop for this router and the second for my PC. The PC didn't even get turned on before we found problems with the work.

[paco]

Repair parts are so cheap that I recommend to get one more spare set to keep handy. The whole package (brushes pair, bearing set, collet shank [chuck]) is less than 20.00$can... the shield bearings raise the total for about 15-20.00$ more depending on the brand.

I'm currently testing the shield bearing (lower) with the pre-load wave spring on a full day length carving... so far it keep cooler!?

[paco]

Here's my results with the pre-load bearings on the MK5625 on my BLOG (http://pacosarea.blogspot.com/).