Jessem Pow-R-Tek Router Motor

[Kevin Fester]

Yes I have . Powered up out of table and no bit or chuck . Less vibration but still seemed more than it should for a brand new motor .  Vibration seemed to be coming from the back of the motor (red end) while holding it . I really think I got a lemon . However , felt I had to go thru the motions with Jessem .

The following was my correspondence with Jessem .

" There is a lot of vibration coming from this unit. Enough at 20000 rpm’s to be ear hurting. Resonance all through the table. I took the unit out of the table and fired it up just holding it in my hands to take any possible contributing factors out of the equation. Resonance is coming from the motor. It is over twice what my big Makita plunge or Bosch 1617.

The motor has only had a 1/2 inch straight bit in it. However , even a straight bit tended to magnify the vibration. Ran the motor in my hand without a bit and vibration was less. Running it this way , the vibration seamed to be coming from the red end of the motor.

When the motor was in the table. At slow speed it was ok. At medium there would be a low growl coming from it. At 2200 it is a resonance machine.

I have my 1617 in the table now and there is no vibration. "

You can see that they focused on the "less vibration " first (concerning the collet ) . I understand that

I will let this thread know how this ultimately turns out .

 

[luvmytoolz]

Without a cutter much less a collet, there should be virtually no vibration at all, especially as holding it in your hand acts as a damper so if you're feeling vibration there's definitely an issue beyond changing the collet. Sounds like the armature is out of balance, or maybe the bearing housing is slightly offset.

 

[jeh]

I got mine a few weeks ago . Just set it up this week .
My unit had terrible vibration . Over twice a normal large router say a makita plunge. It caused the router table top (Phenolic Jessem) to resonate so loud it hurt my ears.

I contacted Jessem . They talked to their engineers . They got back to me saying they think I got a bad set of collets .  They are sending two new collets saying that will probably fix the problem . Said if it doesn't I can send it back for a new unit .

One thing that I found disappointing . It is designed in Canada by Jessem . Box indicates Made In China .  :

Are any routers made in NA?

 

[simonh]

Here's the vibration level claimed by JessEm on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cn-MKrVpLC4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Looking forward to a 240v version. We only have the AUK available which is a good router body, but this looks to have a few nice improvements.

 

[Formally Kevin Fester]

Here's the vibration level claimed by JessEm on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cn-MKrVpLC4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Looking forward to a 240v version. We only have the AUK available which is a good router body, but this looks to have a few nice improvements.

Thank you Simon for posting the instagram link .

This let me know what I should expect of this new motor . I did the screw test on my router motor. Screw flew off . I then put the router motor back into the lift and into the table with the screw on the router lift plate . It danced . I took a very short video of it dancing and sent it to Jessem Customer service . I then put my well used Bosch 1617 into the lift and then into the table. Placed a screw on the plate and the screw didn't move . Sent a short video of that to Jessem . They eventually got back to me saying the motor was defective.

They then canceled the previous collet order and issued a new order for a replacement motor . It is now on the way with a return shipment label for my defective motor .

Concerning Jessem customer service . They don't seem to like to answer or return phone calls . It appears there preferential way of communicating is with Email . This I didn't like . However , in the end they have treated me honorably .

Without the video evidence it would have been a much longer ordeal .

Kevin

 

[aCircle]

I’ll add my voice to this for anybody who is looking later.

It starts with this — major props to JessEm for proactively reaching out to check in on the purchase. I hadn’t set the router up yet and after reading this thread, I did a few tests, and fortunately already had a contact email to reply to after my tests.

I had the vibration problem as well. Turns out that some of these earlier motors shipped with a black collet seat and that’s the one they’ve since upgraded. If you watch in the video the collet seat is a shiny steel. JessEm has also since upgraded the collets themselves, as well.

I got a near-immediate response (on a Saturday!) to my email and they’re taking the motor back to switch out the collet seat to the new style and including a few of the new collets as well. Major props to the JessEm team for great service and accountability.

Also worth mentioning that the build quality on everything else for the motor is outstanding. The control box itself is particularly worth noting. I’m stoked to get it up and running!

 

[luvmytoolz]

So I'm assuming the collet seat was out of round or mis-aligned?

I wonder if they will contact all the people who bought one of these, or just wait till complaints come in. If its the latter, some lesser experienced people unfortunately won't know the vibration is actually an issue and just think its normal.

 

[aCircle]

That’s hard to say. I take your point, though. I also think that the expectations may be different and folks who spend time on a Festool forum may be somewhat more, uh, picky about tool performance than most other people.

I’d have to leave it to JessEm to answer but they emailed to check in un-prompted and were extremely happy to help fix the issue when there was one. It may be that some of these first runs of collet seats work fine and others don’t… who knows. I can say this whole interaction makes me happier with the premium I’ve paid and that’s a nice peace of mind.

 

[Formally Kevin Fester]

I will also add . Jessem also add reached out to me via email . This was before I had the motor up and running . I too had an email contact because of this when my trouble arose . On my defective unit . An out of round collet seat with no collet or bit while running doesn't seam to me to be the cause of my serious vibration .

My replacement motor is due to arrive this Thursday . So hoping to be delighted . 

 

[Formally Kevin Fester]

My replacement motor did indeed arrive this past Thursday .

It runs smooth and vibration free . I am very pleased .