I’ve had my X-Carve running for a few weeks now, about 20 hrs worth of carving on it maybe. Just noticed consistent sparks inside the housing of the Dewalt 611 spindle. There’s a fair chance they’ve been there since day one, but I wanted to check - is this something I should be worried about?
Thanks gang!!
Please contact the DEWALT service center. They should be able to help you diagnose the problem.
Thanks for the link, @Zach_Kaplan. In doing some more Googling, it seems that a small amount of sparking/arcing between the brushes and commutator is to be expected, especially with a newer tool. I see the same thing on my drills and don’t worry about it, but I’ve never used a router on this kind of duty cycle before. I’ll contact Dewalt just in case.
Also, the image didn’t seem to upload from my phone. Trying again - might help someone else…
Are the sparks coming out of the yellow case?
Nope, staying inside. They’re consistent - if the router is on, the sparks are there. The spark “volume” increases when the router is under load.
I know when my feed rates are too high I will get more sparks than normal ,usually because my bit is dull or it’s set to deep of a cut.
Generally:
Sparks are to be expected on brushed motors. It is occuring when the brushes engage/disengage the commutator.
New brushes are not always “seated” and may require a short break-in period where the brushes are worn down slightly so that they are perfectly round relative to the commutator. A proper break-in will typically allow better performance and slightly increase the longivity of the brushes.
Sparks can cause pitting of the commutator, sooth etc to build up => decreased power tranfser => more pitting and sooth.
it’s probably just the brushes, but you can check by removing the top plastic cap. the brush (really a graphite rod with a wire on the end) sits under the spring in the slot behind the spring end. if that’s where the sparks are coming from, all is good.
it’s not a bug. It’s a feature!
Haha, I use that line at work alot…
Speaking of, I talked to some of my buddies at work, who are similarly inclined to the “maker world” (one of whom put together his own CNC, and inspired me to pick up an X-Carve as a starting platform), and they seem to think the router should not be sparking at this point (after ~20 hrs of usage).
I did fire an email off to Dewalt today, but haven’t heard back yet. I’d rather not pull it apart (just yet) to check out the apparently offending brush for fear of voiding the warranty.
Received a reply from Dewalt today…
“We apologize for the delay. Upon review of your inquiry, it is normal while the brushes wear in to see some sparks from the unit. This will not be as visible with use of the unit. We hope that this answers your questions. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Guess I’ll keep running it for now. I’ll start worrying more if the sparks increase, or if I start to notice worrying odors.
I did go ahead and order spare brushes. Seems to be a commonly consumed item.
