Jessem Pow-R-TeK - Fails a second time Failed Speed Controller

[Mike Goetzke]

I've had issues, first one quit after about 2 hours of actual use and they gave me a hassle when I explained my situation and requested warranty. Finally got them to give me a new one but they said no warranty on the second motor and controller.

Is that even legal where you are for them to refuse warranty?

That definitely wouldn't fly here in OZ. They'd be in massive trouble refusing standard warranty.

All things considered, this definitely sounds like a product to steer clear of, especially if they have no confidence in their own warranty as noted in prior post!

Reminds me of a sump pump I bought at Home Depot years ago. It had a lifetime warranaty and it failed after two years. The replacement they gave me had a one year warranty and they refused to honor the original lifetime warranty on the replacement.

 

[Mark Katz]

Reminds me of a sump pump I bought at Home Depot years ago. It had a lifetime warranaty and it failed after two years. The replacement they gave me had a one year warranty and they refused to honor the original lifetime warranty on the replacement.

As is the case all too often, the lifetime warranty is valid for the life of the item, not the life of the owner.

But this whole discussion is so disappointing for me. I had one of these units on order (backorder actually) about a year ago. Then I got sidelined by a divorce and was unable to use my shop so I cancelled the order. That saga is coming to an end and I was planning to order one as soon as I get back to my shop in about two months. That one is off my list now.

I really want something that will fit in place of the PC 75182 that's in a lift right now. I don't want to spend a lot of time re-engineering something for my router table and lift or creating a whole new setup. I've already missed a year of woodworking and all I want to do is build wood projects. At least the PC 75182 still works for now - has the usual speed control issue.

 

[Michael Kellough]

Woodpeckers has a similar motor.

 

[Mark Katz]

Woodpeckers has a similar motor.

I'm very aware of the Woodpeckers motor - It has been pointed out in many places that this appears to be identical to the Bora/Powermate and Grizzly units (and maybe others). From what I've seen online, those units have a very poor reliability so I expect the same will be true of the Woodpeckers version (unless they are having theirs built to a higher standard).

I've scoured the forums for reports from people who have had and used their Spinrite routers for a year or more and haven't found any. While any individual unit can fail, I don't want to spend money on a unit with a high failure rate.

 

[luvmytoolz]

Reminds me of a sump pump I bought at Home Depot years ago. It had a lifetime warranaty and it failed after two years. The replacement they gave me had a one year warranty and they refused to honor the original lifetime warranty on the replacement.

As is the case all too often, the lifetime warranty is valid for the life of the item, not the life of the owner.

But this whole discussion is so disappointing for me. I had one of these units on order (backorder actually) about a year ago. Then I got sidelined by a divorce and was unable to use my shop so I cancelled the order. That saga is coming to an end and I was planning to order one as soon as I get back to my shop in about two months. That one is off my list now.

I really want something that will fit in place of the PC 75182 that's in a lift right now. I don't want to spend a lot of time re-engineering something for my router table and lift or creating a whole new setup. I've already missed a year of woodworking and all I want to do is build wood projects. At least the PC 75182 still works for now - has the usual speed control issue.

Honestly setting up a spindle is really quite trivial, a small 15w submersible pump, a 10L container for the radiator coolant, and wiring up the 4 cables from the spindle to the VFD is all that's involved. The hardest aspect is probably soldering the cable to the spindle connector.

Every VFD I've bought came ready to use out of the box, but there's loads of info readily available in case you need to set any parameters. The G Penny sets with ER20 collets on Aliexpress are particularly good value and excellent quality.

 

[ewils91]

I've had issues, first one quit after about 2 hours of actual use and they gave me a hassle when I explained my situation and requested warranty. Finally got them to give me a new one but they said no warranty on the second motor and controller.

What are you talking about? Jessem refuses to warranty a new product because they had to replace a faulty one under warranty???

If this is their S.O.P. that makes me seriously reconsider whether or not I should get their motor for my router table build.

I know, if I have issues, I'm still going to request warranty. She said "This is a one time replacement." I'm very disappointed with their customer service.

 

[ewils91]

I've had issues, first one quit after about 2 hours of actual use and they gave me a hassle when I explained my situation and requested warranty. Finally got them to give me a new one but they said no warranty on the second motor and controller.

Is that even legal where you are for them to refuse warranty?

That definitely wouldn't fly here in OZ. They'd be in massive trouble refusing standard warranty.

All things considered, this definitely sounds like a product to steer clear of, especially if they have no confidence in their own warranty as noted in prior post!

I don't think it will fly here if push comes to shove, I'm very disappointed with their customer service.

 

[Mini Me]

To me it sounds like Jessem have reached a point where they don't want the product and will pull it as soon as they can. This is exactly what happened with the distributor in Oz and that resulted in a worldwide pull of the unit. I had one and sold it before I used it and it failed very quickly when used by the new owner.

 

[Mark Katz]

But this whole discussion is so disappointing for me. I had one of these units on order (backorder actually) about a year ago. Then I got sidelined by a divorce and was unable to use my shop so I cancelled the order. That saga is coming to an end and I was planning to order one as soon as I get back to my shop in about two months. That one is off my list now.

I really want something that will fit in place of the PC 75182 that's in a lift right now. I don't want to spend a lot of time re-engineering something for my router table and lift or creating a whole new setup. I've already missed a year of woodworking and all I want to do is build wood projects. At least the PC 75182 still works for now - has the usual speed control issue.

Honestly setting up a spindle is really quite trivial, a small 15w submersible pump, a 10L container for the radiator coolant, and wiring up the 4 cables from the spindle to the VFD is all that's involved. The hardest aspect is probably soldering the cable to the spindle connector.

Every VFD I've bought came ready to use out of the box, but there's loads of info readily available in case you need to set any parameters. The G Penny sets with ER20 collets on Aliexpress are particularly good value and excellent quality.

Which part of

I really want something that will fit in place of the PC 75182 that's in a lift right now. I don't want to spend a lot of time re-engineering something for my router table and lift or creating a whole new setup. I've already missed a year of woodworking and all I want to do is build wood projects.

did you not understand?

 

[Michael Kellough]

Woodpeckers has a similar motor.

I'm very aware of the Woodpeckers motor - It has been pointed out in many places that this appears to be identical to the Bora/Powermate and Grizzly units (and maybe others). From what I've seen online, those units have a very poor reliability so I expect the same will be true of the Woodpeckers version (unless they are having theirs built to a higher standard).

I've scoured the forums for reports from people who have had and used their Spinrite routers for a year or more and haven't found any. While any individual unit can fail, I don't want to spend money on a unit with a high failure rate.

I don’t see [member=7266]jeffinsgf[/member] recommending the SpinRite. I wonder if Woodpeckeris having problems with the motors.

 

[Mike Goetzke]

If you are looking for something different I highly recommend a Milwaukee 5625-20. I have had it in my PRL-V2 for over 15 years. Back when I got it I believe Jessem had a version with their external speed controller. What I did was tap into the variable speed control wires (burried in potting material) and wired it to an external high quality pot. Don't know if the parts are still available but think I have a parts list of the electronics for the router that make it easy to add a pot rather than digging out the potting material.

 

[jeffinsgf]

I don’t see [member=7266]jeffinsgf[/member] recommending the SpinRite. I wonder if Woodpeckeris having problems with the motors.

I try to limit my Woodpeckers flag waving on this forum. This is a place I visit more from personal than professional interest. I drank the green Kool-Aid a very long time ago, and enjoy my Festools every time I'm in the shop.

Since you asked, though, I will share what I know and what I don't know. I don't know if the JessEm routers and the SpinRite routers are made in the same plant. Truthfully, I don't think it matters. The SpinRite 3.25 hp routers that we've been selling since September 2021, have a higher return rate than most of our PFR (purchase for resale) products. To my knowledge, we've never had a return that we didn't replace or refund. I've had the same SpinRite in my personal router table at home since they landed. It has a couple quirks I've noticed, but not sure they're anything except slightly annoying. The "soft start" can be really soft. Like, you hit the switch and nothing happens for a second...then it does. And, it takes a long time to spin down. On the positive side, it is significantly quieter than a PC 7518. I love the ER-20 collets compared to OEM collets. It seems to me to have less run-out than the 7518 it replaced.

Now we have a new batch with external switch and speed control on the water. I've been using one of the samples for several weeks. I've been told that some of the problems JessEm has experienced have been addressed. It seems to be pretty much the same as our previous model, only with more convenient controls. The speed control is very nice. You have much more finesse than the little button on the body. I'm not a fan of the bracket provided to mount the switch box. When I take one home, I'll incorporate it some other way. I've not noticed the start up lag that the "unibody" router has and the spin down seems a little better, too.

Wish I could promise that you won't get a lemon, but I can't. I can promise you that if you do get a lemon you'll get another one or a refund.

 

[Cheese]

If you are looking for something different I highly recommend a Milwaukee 5625-20. I have had it in my PRL-V2 for over 15 years.

I second this suggestion...I've had one in a portable router table that I use for hardwood floor installation for 21 years and it still hums along. I've even loaned the router/table to friends for their floor installations and we all know how well those items are treated.  [tongue]  My neighbor is now using it to install hardwood floors in his daughter's house.  [cool]

 

[onocoffee]

Wish I could promise that you won't get a lemon, but I can't. I can promise you that if you do get a lemon you'll get another one or a refund.

To my mind, it's the responsiveness that is a big part of the equation. If there are issues, how difficult will it be to get that issue rectified. My concern with the OP's situation is the responsiveness by Jessem and then their subsequent demand that there will be no further support for what is supposedly a brand new replacement tool. This is not what someone like me wants to hear when considering one of the most expensive router motors on the market.

Saw the motor announcement on the Woodpeckers site, good to know the company will stand up behind their product.

 

[Mini Me]

This is the spindle being branded by different companies such as Jessem and with some companies saying it is exclusive to them which it clearly isn't.

https://www.google.com/search?q=auk+router+spindle&oq=auk+router+spindle&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDkyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRifBdIBCDcxNTJqMGoxqAIAsAIB&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

[MikeGE]

This is the spindle being branded by different companies such as Jessem and with some companies saying it is exclusive to them which it clearly isn't.

https://www.google.com/search?q=auk+router+spindle&oq=auk+router+spindle&gs_lcrp=EgRlZGdlKgYIABBFGDkyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRifBdIBCDcxNTJqMGoxqAIAsAIB&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

 

I've been using the 2400W AUKTools motor in my router table for over four years.  Mine is the version before the ER20 collets, but the standard collets work for me. 

If it ever fails, I will likely replace it with a similar motor from Wood Workers Workshop. 

 

[krudawg]

Anybody else having issues with the POW-R-TEK.  My buddy has gone thru two motors in the last 3 months - He is not a commercial shop but building new bath cabinet with raised panel doors.  He has been busy with it.

UPDATE:  Jessem is sending out a new speed controller board with the promise they will continue supporting their product with the warranty.  My buddy is an electrical engineer and he has agreed to troubleshoot and help find solutions to the speed controller.  This speaks very highly of Jessem and their support of their products

 

[Mark Katz]

Earlier in this thread I expressed my disappointment with the reliability issues people were having with the Pow-R-TeK router and I was not terribly impressed with the Bbora or SpinRite versions either. I think I have a plan but I would like some opinions.

My router lift is an ancient Jointech unit which is actually a version of the original JessemMast-R-Lift (not the Mast-R-Lift II). It is designed for 4.2 inch diameter routers like my PC 75282. I think I want to put a Milwaukee 5625–20 router in it but that router is 4.14 inches in diameter. Jessem used to sell a shim kit that would narrow the opening to fit the Milwaukee router but they no longer stock and sell it.

So my thought is to get a piece of 22 gauge aluminum stock, which I see is available at Lowe's or HD, and wrap a strip of that around the Milwaukee router. 22 gauge is essentially 1/32" so I think that will almost exactly make up the difference between the 4.2 inch router lift and a 4.14 inch router. I would think that the 22 gauge aluminum stock will not be too hard to roll into a cylinder to fit around the router.

Does anybody any opinions about whether or not this will work?

 

[Mini Me]

I must sound like a broken record but I did warn about the problems and using a water cooled router with a VFD solves every single problem that routers in tables have especially the motor ingesting dust. Putting routers in tables is simply bad use of what was meant to be a hand held tool and now spindles and VFD's are available where years ago they weren't makes using a router in a table a far better solution.

 

[Mark Katz]

I must sound like a broken record ....

Wow, is that the understatement of the year!

Back on January 1st, I responded:

Which part of

I really want something that will fit in place of the PC 75182 that's in a lift right now. I don't want to spend a lot of time re-engineering something for my router table and lift or creating a whole new setup. I've already missed a year of woodworking and all I want to do is build wood projects.

did you not understand?

In my latest post I asked if a $12 piece of sheet metal and a $400 off-the-shelf router (along with my existing router table and lift) would get me up and running. I don't see how your solution has any relevance to my situation.