Beware of Unwinding Router!

[DonkeyHody]

I have a Porter Cable 7518 3 1/4 router mounted in my table. Sweet machine. Last night I had just changed bits and was raising the bit to final height when I accidently hit the On switch. Even with the soft-start feature, the starting torque wrenched the motor from my hands and started unscrewing it from the base. And it happened FAST. I just managed to stop it before it came free of the base and fell to the floor with a spinning bit. I shudder to think of the possibilities. Now I know why they say always UNPLUG the tool before making adjustments. But how many of us really do that? Unplugging is a hassle, but I'll at least install a switch in the incoming line that I can turn off.

DonkeyHody

[LRod]

I do. When I first started watching The Router Workshop I was struck by the fact that Bob Rosendahl and his son religiously and vocally unplug the router each and every time they have their hands near the bit. I figured if it's good enough for them, it's good for me.

You trust a switch? Unplugging or installing and using a physical disconnect is the only sure way (or popping the breaker at the panel).

I'm glad your lesson turned out well. I hope you incorporate unplugging your router into your regimen of handling bits.

- - LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

[Swingman]

I wired/mounted a switched wall receptacle to the side of my router table and plug the router into it. Besides being able to turn the router on/off with the switch, it is also very convenient to unplug, so encourages doing so.

[Juergen Hannappel]

[...]

The breaker is *also* a switch, albeit it should be a more trusty one than an ordinary switch, with a larger distance between the contacts in the off state. Switches come in a number of patterns, which are more or less safe, i _guess_, that those whicl allow you to apply a padlock are a safe to use in such a case. Read in any case the specifications of the switch, if it doesn't have any desist from using it: It will be crap.

[Puff Griffis]

When I made my router table I installed a switched receptacle right = there so that unplugging the router becomes second nature. I am not what = some would call a safety freak but I am not going to adjust a router or = a table saw without a fail safe. Puff

[CW]

[Wayne K.]

Router and tablesaw always get unplugged when handling blades bits. Just the thought of the tablesaw starting as I put on or remove the arbor nut is enough for me. Same with the router and all the other meat-eating tools in my shop.

[Bill Rogers]

I'm here to tell you that's the best advice you'll get in many a year. I always inform people to do the same, but neglected ..once... myself. I now have a thumb, first, and second finger to keep me reminded.

Bill.

[Juergen Hannappel]

[...]

Thats luck. You could have ebded without a thumb, first, and second finger to keep you reminded.

[Routerman P. Warner]

No doubt about, routers are dangerous, and if fired accidentally they can fly out of their castings and eat you. Notwithstanding, plugs & sockets are not switches. I do not unplug my routers to change bits. I might change cutters 10 or 20 x/day. I do have a tight check list I go through every time I use the buggers tho. Would I advocate you adopt my check list for yours? Hell no. You just have to keep on top of this 100% of the time, ain't no safe woodworking tools.

(Routers)

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[B a r r y]

Um, me. I unplug tools before I work on them.

I'm not sticking my hands down the throat of a tablesaw, or on the bit of a router, if it's got power to it. No way, no how.

Five fingered Barry

[Bill Rogers]

Still ...when I was a tyke, and in my first real job, a carpenter for forty years had an accident. Never one before that, but one then. He ran a board through a saw, holding it down to the table with his hand flat on it. Four fingers to the bone. It only take one moment one time, even for the pros. How much time do you save if you don't unplug the thing, and do you really have to save that little amount of time?

Bill.

[Andy Dingley]

Before I go near _anything_, I _always_ have either two switches at least a foot apart both turned off, or I have it unplugged (if there's only a single switch). For this reason my sawbench, or anything else I can't easily unplug, has an isolator switch added to it as well as a starter.

[Howard]

Ouch.

There is a deep scratch in my face shield that was made by a router bit. I sure am glad I was wearing it... But that's typical of how I work. The most important goal of any project is to end up with the same number of fingers and eyes I start with. I can't think of anything that I would want to build in my shop that is worth the loss of a finger or an eye.

Keeping all of my fingers in working condition makes it easier to play my fiddle. Therefore, I unplug even prior to changing bits in a drill. In fact, I have the chuck key taped to the cord about 3 inches from the plug just so I can't get lax about it.

Then again, I'm not a pro...

[e-mail]

[JLucas ILS]

Tie the routers wrench to plug so that you have to unplug to change bits. It works

[Michael Daly]

I like this idea. I don't like the idea of having to plug/unplug all the time, but a double switch sounds like a solution. Safer than a single and potentially easier than some other ideas I've considered. I'm also looking at some sort of light that warns me power is on in my "someday to be finished" router table. I'm thinking of a teensy LED in the table top next to the router. May sound silly to some, but I'm rather shy of power tools (a neander at heart, but I like how fast I get things done otherwise).

Mike

[patriarch]

"Swingman" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

See, I have this problem with making certain that my mind doesn't wander, even when I'm in theraphy^H^H^H^H^Hthe shop. SEEING that the plug is physically seperate from the power source means that the electrons can't as easily do nasty things to me. I just get interrupted far too often to rely on my memory of switch settings.

If I were the seasoned pro that Pat Warner is, maybe it would be different. But I'm not, so I have to do things differently. And, given my mind's propensity to wander, more simply.

Seems to carry over to driving these days, too. ;-)

Patriarch

[Andy Dingley]

Strictly, they should also be the right sort of switch. I forget the name, but they're designed in such a way that a broken switch can't accidentally short together inside. Big cam isolators do it, recycled light switches don't.

And if your isolator is there as an _isolator_ too (i.e. electrical isolation, not just cutting the mechanical power) then make sure it's a double pole (for single phase).

[Dan White]

My girlfriend's brother is a carpenter, and about 6 months ago he nearly lost all his fingers from a table saw. He slipped, and the saw cut his thumb off, and as he fell faint, his hand landed on the saw blade and mangled the rest of the fingers. After numerous operations, he again has a thumb and the fingers are healing. It looks like he will regain use of the hand and all fingers, but it has been a long road to recovery, not to mention the lost income.

Think twice! dwhite

[Rick Nelson]

Well said.

As a young kid, I almost launched the key through my Dad's head one time when I left it in the chuck and turned the press on. When he gave me the drill press a few years ago, the first order of business was to paint the key flourescent orange. Now, I never turn on the drill press before visually locating the key.

Back on the issue of routers, I'm also in the group that unplugs it anytime I change bits. I've had my table mounted router fire up by accident once when I bumped the power switch while I was lifting it up to blow some dust out from under the base plate. Not a real dangerous situation because both of my hands were on the body of the router, but it was a strong reminder that power tools can come on when you don't expect it.

-Rick