Thread: Advice on DeWalt Dw 626 plunge router

Hello Gerhard,

I have an opportunity to purchase an MOF11.

The machine looks fascinating to me, I use a lot of routers and router tables, from FEIN through the venerable Bosch and DeWalt 625 on a WOODRAT from England.

Do you recommend it, it will cost me a small fortune to ship from Europe to New York, and I need your help to advise me if it will be worth it! It looks like the heaviest industrial router of all time!

Thank you!

Send me a P.M. if you wish.

Gary Brant
Staten Island, New York USA

Hello Gary!

At present the DeWalt DW627 is one of the sturdiest router motors, which -i believe- is still in production, or was until very recently. Black & Decker hardly changed anything on the original Eugen Lutz design. The original Motor Oberfräse (MOF) 11 started out in the latter 50's with an 800 Watts motor and was later cranked up though 1100 and 1600 to the present 2000 Watts. It is meant as a heavy base model for all day production work and has a collar to fit all sorts of attachments. There is a small 3 column plunge base with only a few adjustment possibilitiers, a larger one column bas with more possibilities (the pale blue metallic thing pictured above) and various sole plate shapes to use the router motor for edges and trims and to work door slots for closing mechanisms. The MOF 11 is also known to be used in large templates for routing slot patterns for louvre doors, or as a CNC router motor on a computer controlled arm. There are even little parquet sanding machines on wheels, where a MOF 11 motor drives a sanding disc by means of a drive belt.

You must be very fond of heavy oldfashoined machines to work a MOF 11 nowadays, considering the vast assortment of routers to choose from as an alternative. The MOF 11 is top heavy with the bases that were made for it and it lacks handy features that many plunge routers offer as a standard. Compared to modern machines it is somewhat unruly and cumbersome to work with. You are guaranteed to be watched with interest when you use this thing, you instantly know when a pro measures the job you are doing, since you are not taken for an amateur when you go through the effort of handling a contraption like this.

The motor is a very nice piece of casting, with a decent oldfashoined size field and armature packet. It has large bearings and a good axial fan. The arbour has fine metric thread (M12x1), for which readymade bits are available, but also spanners with inserts for 6, 1/4 ", 8, 10 or 12 mm shaft bits. The sound of the machine is lower pitched than the usual very high pitch caused by commutator slots and centrifugal fan vanes. The large Marquardt rocker switch is also a beauty from yesteryear. But apart from all that, the MOF 11 as a router assembly is not exactly state of the art. That's why i asked around for experiences with the DW 626, which has a motor of about the same size, yet has all modern features and electronics. The MOF 11 takes 2000 Watts of power at full load, of which 1200 Watts are available as arbour power at continuous nominal duty. That's about 1,5 real HP. The DW 626 takes 2500 Watts and is claimed to give back around 1600 Watts of power, which is slightly more than 2 HP. So again on this account, the MOF 11 is like the oldfashioned 4-cylinder diesel Landrover. The engine block is almost as large as a Gardner block in a London double-decker bus and is almost indestructable, but it's no V8 and doesn't have its HP either.

Regards

gerhard

Hello Gerhard!

I went ahead and purchased the beast!

It has to be shipped to New York from England, and I hope it will be worth the trouble.

I may need your help with the inserts issue, as most of my router bits are 1/2", and I'm not sure
how the collet on this machine is set up.

When it arrives from across the pond I'll give you a shout.

BTW, it is a 240 volt model, so it will be used in a 60hz. 220v circuit which is what we have in the states. I've found that this works out well, the motors tend to turn in a slightly higher rpm, and that
can't hurt!

Many thanks again,

Gary

Hi Gerhard,

I use the DW626. I love it. I am in Europe now, but back in Australia I used it everyday for two years to trench, rabbet, groove, mortice, in the table, freehand, outside or hooked up to the dust extractor. I'm sure there are plenty of routers that could do that in pine or beech or maple, but in iron bark and spotted gum? That router is as hard as nails. I miss it like crazy.

I am not the true officianado that you clearly are, but I can vouch for this unit's power and practicality in tough working conditions. If mine ever dies, and it will take some killing, I will get another one.

Berlin

Hi Berlin,

thank you very much indeed for your valuable comments on this machine. It confirms what i already guessed, so i will definitely buy one now!

and hi Gary,

you will be impressed, i can vouch for that!

When running a 240 Volts machine on 220 Volts, you must take some power loss into account. The power loss is even a square value of the voltage loss! 220 Volts is a 917/1000 part of 240 volts. A 240 Volts machine will therefore only have 0.917 x 0.917 = 841/1000 or 84% of its original power when operated on 220 Volts.

Furthermore, the 60 Hertz instead of the European 50 Hz will heat up the motor slightly faster, but i don't think there will be a higher rpm because of this higher frequency. Induction motors have a direct relation between AC frequency and rpm, but series connected "brush type" motors are rather slightly impaired by higher frequencies. It is a physical property of a wound copper coil to have higher inductance and current limitation at higher frequencies and series motors have coils in both stator and rotor, doubling this effect. When for instance electric locomotive traction motors (which are also series motors) were fed AC in the latter 19th-/early 20th century because of the bigger advantages that AC power had to offer, huge problems with overheating and commutation were experienced. That's why 50 or 60 Hz could only be used when sufficient motor construction knowledge was gathered to adapt the entire electrical circuit to standard power grid frequencies. Until then, frequencies as low as possible were used for AC electric trains, like 16 2/3 or 25 Hz. So on 60 Hz there will be slightly more heat and commutator brush fire

Instead of the MOF11's designed 18,000 no-load speed on 240 V, the rpm will be around 16,000 to 17,000 no-load on 220 Volts. So you should treat the machine as if it had only an input value of 1600 to 1800 Watts and i also advise to not let the load rpm get below a minimum of 11,000 to 12,000. Used in that way you could use the router continuously for days on end without overheating damage whatsoever.

I will look up some pics of various spanner types. The "metric fine" M12x1 thread (12 mms diameter and one winding per millimetre) was a much used standard for European routers. There was (and still is) a wide range of router bits available to fit this arbour size. You just screw them on, they are self-centering in a very precise way and they do not slip under high torque loads. The MOF11 was a large production machine to make for instance stair case constructions or louvre slats or door slots to fit closing mechanisms in. Therefore, the bases and accessories were mostly meant to be used for longer periods in one particular setting. Later, the MOF 31 was added as a medium powered machine (1200 Watts) to be used along the MOF 11. As a typical plunge router it was much more versatile for mixed odd jobs around the craftman's workshop and its arbour thread of M12x1 guaranteed that it could make use of the smaller sizes of the MOF11's bits assortment, which cut tool costs for the craftsman. The 1600 Watts MOF 98 and its electronic version 77 were fitted with a spanner as standard, since they were meant as universal plunge routers to be used with standard smooth shaft bits rather than the system bits from the types 11 and 31.

Elu itself of course offered spanners with M12x1 inside thread, to fit both the MOF 31 and 11. But other brands had them in their assortment as well, like Tarpley from England. When added to the MOF11, the advantage is obvious. Much cheaper conventional shaft bits can be used, since the inside threaded M12x1 bits cost twice as much on average.

Best of greetings!

Gerhard

Dear Gerhard,

Greetings from New York to my friend!

The machine arrived from England and it is glorious!

I have not had time yet to even plug it in, I have been cleaning it up a bit, it is almost mint condition now. It is a green-enameled version of the MOF11 with silver-enameled motor.

The previous owner sent me a 1/2" USA style collet, without which I would not have been able to use the machine!

I am quoting to you the exact information on the nameplate:

Elu 713 Muhlacker Made in West Germany
Type MOF11/2 Nr. 51737
220v 50-60hz (I got lucky!)
10a.
2000w 18000/MIN

So, it appears that I got very lucky and received the proper 220v motor for use in the USA! Am I right?

Do you have the manual for MOF11? I can pay you to scan and send me a copy by email of the book!

This is a beast of a machine, the quality of the castings is quite unbelievable, at least as good as the Swiss INCA machines I have in my shop.

Also, I am quite intrigued by the ability of the user to set the spindle shaft off center!

I received a "centering device" so that the operator can set the center up, but do you have any good tricks yourself?

I am so glad that I got this machine, it may not be for everyday use, but as a collector piece it is right up there with the best I have ever found.

Thank you for all your help and advice.

Best wishes and regards from New York,

Gary Brant

Hi Gary!

Great, good on you! Yes, you've got the real McCoy all right. The motor was apparently already constructed in such a way that 10 Hertz difference do not mean much in ways of efficiency. That's perfectly okay, then.

Have you ever visited the firm's present website ? It is www.elumatec.de . Around 1984, there was just too much stiff competition on the electric tool market, especially in Germany with its many quality brands (Bosch, AEG, Scheer, Striffler, Scheppach, Metabo, Flott, Reich, HolzHer, Wegoma, Fein, Löser, Mafell, Haffner, Fezer & Stoll, Ackermann & Schmitt, Läuffer, etc.). Eugen Lutz thought it better to sell the Elu brand name and all associated inventory and B&D presented itself as an eager purchaser.
After that, the Lutz factory carried on as a manufacturer of large stationary production and tooling machines for window frame parts. This was a new lucrative market, since many homeowners switched to maintenancefree aluminium and plastic window frames.

You can browse the Elumatec website to see their current line of business, but when you choose http://www.elumatec.de/English/Unter...rie/index.html , you can see the Elu history from its beginning in 1928. The factory is still in the same place in Mühlacker-Lomersheim. There are still some employees active from the Elu-times and there is also a museum on the factory terrain, run by pensioned former employees. When you e-mail the factory, there might even be someone who could guess in which year machine # 51737 was put together, though chances on that are slim after more than 30 years. Prior to the mid 70's, an Elu type plate was made of glossy blue elox coated aluminium, after that it was a piece of adhesive coated alu foil with black elox printing. The MOF11/2 was sprayed hammerite silver up to the mid 70's, afterwards it was sprayed spickly silver. The number 713 is the Mühlacker postal code, which changed in the latter 70's / early 80's into 7130. By then, the type plate was a mere silvery plastic sticker. MOF11/2 was the souped up 2000 Watts version. Should you ever venture to have a look inside the motor, then you can check its manufacturing year on the built-in suppressor capacitor, unless this is one of the later grey plastic ERO types, which weren't always printed with a manufacturing date.

But if it isn't absolutely necessary to open the motor and if it runs fine and is clean, than it is better left closed. Just to let you know a fraction of what you'll have to do then. To lift the upper hood, you first have to remove the carbon brushes by unscrewing the black bakelite caps one by one. This must be done by a coin or a screwdriver with a very precise fit. The coin must preferably stay hanging in the cap slot without falling out, only then can you carefully unscrew a tightly fastened bakelite brush cap without pieces breaking off or splitting the entire thing in two. Remember exactly in what position each brush was fitted, each brush must be put back in the same brass holder and in exactly the same way, since each brush is worn in a certain way, slightly different from the other one.
When the caps are removed, unscrew the top plate around the top axle sleeve. Around the protruding bit of top motor axle is a protective sleeve, to prevent fingers from getting caught in the spinning part. Instead of a hex profile or two flat slots to fit a spanner key into in order to hold the axle, a simple hole is drilled through and a smooth steel pin is used to hold the motor axle when tightening or loosening the router bits on the opposite threaded axle side. The protective sleeve is kept from falling off by the top plate, which is secured by three slotted metric screws prior to the 70's and phillips type screws in later years. Two more larger screws are holding a ring (in which the machine name is moulded) around the top plate, which in its turn holds in place the hood underneath. After removing the ring, you can carefully lift the hood a bit, but it will not come loose completely, since the switch and its leads are still attached. To put all this stuff back properly when you're done inspecting the motor, it takes a lot of care to make sure that all wires are stuffed back in a proper and safe way and that all screw top and thread holes match each other. In other words: it's nice to see the beautiful motor from the inside, but it's also a bit of a pain to get at it.

I must have a MOF 11 manual somewhere, but there is a choice of about 200 boxes in which it may be. In the mean time, i can already fill you in on a few details. The green one-pillar guide sole that came with your purchase, may already be fitted with the parallel guide rail on the side (like the one on the blue one-pillar foot in the pic below). This rail is supposed to slide along a length of hardwood or some other sort of straight guide, which is to be clamped on the workpiece, just like the modern system guide rails of Festo(ol) or Hilti or HolzHer/Reich/Spero are. I keep pieces of perfectly straight and smoothly planed beech reserved expecially for this purpose. The slider surface of such wood can be rubbed in with a broken chunk of stearine candle to give a low-friction parallel guide, acting smoothly on the steel parallel guide rail on the one-pillar router foot. The lateral play of the router bit is simple and nifty trick at the same time. If your router bit is only 10 mms across and the groove or slot you need must be 25 mms wide, than the two lateral stops can help yoo to first rout a groove of the bit width (10 mms) and make this groove wider in steps of a few mills for every stroke, till you reach the final width of 25 mms. You can also have free play between left and right stop settings. This is done for instance with routing out larger recesses and gnawing the material away bit by bit in a freehand way but staying within the stop parameters nonetheless (for instance when making a writing accessory desk store box from a nice solid block of wood, with several sizes of recesses to sort pens from pencils, etc.). But when doing chores like that, you will experience what i meant to say in earlier replies: you will find this machine model quite heavy and cumbersome to work in precise and delicate ways as compared to modern lighter weight more versatile plunge routers. Still, that was the compromise that workshop carpenters had to accept with this machine: either you use your very heavy production-purpose motor as a not 100% ideally sized handheld router, or you buy a lighter separate pure plunge model like the MOF31 on which you can use the screw-on router bits you already owned with the MOF11.

By now you will already have noticed the lower pitched heavy sound of the machine and the long smooth run-out it has, because of its large armature assembly weight. When the previous owner maintained the machine well and the parcel service was kind towards your prize possession, you will not yet experience any ball bearing rumble and it such case the motor run and its sound will still be in the quality class of its own that this machine became famous for worldwide. It packs a lot of punch and this construction can take a lot of beating, but only when you don't overstress and overload it too much, it will keep this quality run for a lifetime, or at least the lifetime of the bearings, which can be replaced. I know for sure that it made you smile for joy when you switched it on, it sure does so every time i use this machine type. It will last and last and you are sure to attract attention when people see you working with it.

The centering device you mentioned may be a "copying bush"("kopierhülse"). It is meant to be screwed inside the foot ring and is than positioned exactly concentric with the router bit. Picture a cleverly shaped ornamental groove that you have to make in a piece of furniture, like a large cabinet with nice doors. You may already know the special router bits with ball bearings underneath, which serve as an edge guide. In any curve or shape of wood length, the bearing will act as a perfect parallel guide, following the edge contours so that the router bit leaves a routed rim of overall identical width and profile. Now picture doing this on a plane, in the middle of a wood surface as it were. The ball bearing will no longer work this time, for there is no edge for it to roll against. Instead as a parallel guide help, a template is put between the router sole and the wood workpiece. The edge of the copying bush slides along the template shape and the router bit inside copies this shape as a routed line in the material (for instance a v-shaped groove or a half-circular one). Copying bushes are also used for lettering, like nameplates for ships in teak wood. A v-shaped router bit is used to rout the main part of the letters, but of course its routed groove starts and ends in a round finish because of the rotating action. These round ends are then treated with fine chisels by hand, to get those nice sharp crisp character serifs. The resulting routed lettering is filled with gold leaf or gold paint and the total workpiece is multicoated with transparant boat lacquer. Very nice on anything from navy ships to laid back canal boats.

As for manuals: keep an eye on Ebay Germany, where Elu booklets on how to get optimal use from routers, are on offer on a regular basis. I could also look out for you and i could translate them or you. Mind you, "antique and vintage dealers" have also discovered the popularity of Elu tools amongst crafstmen and collectors, so these saught-after booklets may fetch unexpectedly hefty prices.

About the attached pics: the first one shows you the first MOF11 from 1951, more about that on the Elumatec website (the pic was copied from there). The lower insert in the first pic shows a later MOF 1! with big motor, this pic was taken from Ebay from a recent auction. I don't buy machines that worn out, but it was the best option showing the little simple three-pillar guide foot underneath such a big motor, it's really too small. The second pic shows one of the 11-types i own myself (also from Ebay and prior to my cleaning and restoring it), with a one-pillar guide foot, explaining some functions. The third pic shows one of the latest MOF 31 types, also showing a copying bush to screw inside the guide foot to surround the router bit. Several diameters of such bushes were available in the catalogue. It also shows the kind of adapter spanner from M12x1 to smooth sanks, that will fit your 11-type as well and which are still available. Again watch out for them on auction sites and store or shop cleanouts.

Greetings!

Gerhard

Dear Gerhard,

Thanks for all the help with my new machine and all of your kindly advice and the pictures.

Here are four views of the MOF11 I purchased in England and shipped to New York.

The fourth picture is of the alignment device for the router.

I would like to purchase three items from you if you can manage:

1) The original tool to hold the spindle at the top of the machine when removing or attaching bits and/or collets

2) A 1/2" straight cutter, of the type that threads onto the spindle shaft, NOT the regular type that goes into a 1/2" collet. I believe you published some photos of these in an earlier posting

3) An original or SCANNED copy of the MOF11 user manual, in English language.

Please let me know if you can help me with any of these items.

Thanks again for all of your help!

Gary Brant in New York

Originally Posted by gerhard

Hi Gary!

Great, good on you! Yes, you've got the real McCoy all right. The motor was apparently already constructed in such a way that 10 Hertz difference do not mean much in ways of efficiency. That's perfectly okay, then.

Have you ever visited the firm's present website ? It is www.elumatec.de . Around 1984, there was just too much stiff competition on the electric tool market, especially in Germany with its many quality brands (Bosch, AEG, Scheer, Striffler, Scheppach, Metabo, Flott, Reich, HolzHer, Wegoma, Fein, Löser, Mafell, Haffner, Fezer & Stoll, Ackermann & Schmitt, Läuffer, etc.). Eugen Lutz thought it better to sell the Elu brand name and all associated inventory and B&D presented itself as an eager purchaser.
After that, the Lutz factory carried on as a manufacturer of large stationary production and tooling machines for window frame parts. This was a new lucrative market, since many homeowners switched to maintenancefree aluminium and plastic window frames.

You can browse the Elumatec website to see their current line of business, but when you choose http://www.elumatec.de/English/Unter...rie/index.html , you can see the Elu history from its beginning in 1928. The factory is still in the same place in Mühlacker-Lomersheim. There are still some employees active from the Elu-times and there is also a museum on the factory terrain, run by pensioned former employees. When you e-mail the factory, there might even be someone who could guess in which year machine # 51737 was put together, though chances on that are slim after more than 30 years. Prior to the mid 70's, an Elu type plate was made of glossy blue elox coated aluminium, after that it was a piece of adhesive coated alu foil with black elox printing. The MOF11/2 was sprayed hammerite silver up to the mid 70's, afterwards it was sprayed spickly silver. The number 713 is the Mühlacker postal code, which changed in the latter 70's / early 80's into 7130. By then, the type plate was a mere silvery plastic sticker. MOF11/2 was the souped up 2000 Watts version. Should you ever venture to have a look inside the motor, then you can check its manufacturing year on the built-in suppressor capacitor, unless this is one of the later grey plastic ERO types, which weren't always printed with a manufacturing date.

But if it isn't absolutely necessary to open the motor and if it runs fine and is clean, than it is better left closed. Just to let you know a fraction of what you'll have to do then. To lift the upper hood, you first have to remove the carbon brushes by unscrewing the black bakelite caps one by one. This must be done by a coin or a screwdriver with a very precise fit. The coin must preferably stay hanging in the cap slot without falling out, only then can you carefully unscrew a tightly fastened bakelite brush cap without pieces breaking off or splitting the entire thing in two. Remember exactly in what position each brush was fitted, each brush must be put back in the same brass holder and in exactly the same way, since each brush is worn in a certain way, slightly different from the other one.
When the caps are removed, unscrew the top plate around the top axle sleeve. Around the protruding bit of top motor axle is a protective sleeve, to prevent fingers from getting caught in the spinning part. Instead of a hex profile or two flat slots to fit a spanner key into in order to hold the axle, a simple hole is drilled through and a smooth steel pin is used to hold the motor axle when tightening or loosening the router bits on the opposite threaded axle side. The protective sleeve is kept from falling off by the top plate, which is secured by three slotted metric screws prior to the 70's and phillips type screws in later years. Two more larger screws are holding a ring (in which the machine name is moulded) around the top plate, which in its turn holds in place the hood underneath. After removing the ring, you can carefully lift the hood a bit, but it will not come loose completely, since the switch and its leads are still attached. To put all this stuff back properly when you're done inspecting the motor, it takes a lot of care to make sure that all wires are stuffed back in a proper and safe way and that all screw top and thread holes match each other. In other words: it's nice to see the beautiful motor from the inside, but it's also a bit of a pain to get at it.

I must have a MOF 11 manual somewhere, but there is a choice of about 200 boxes in which it may be. In the mean time, i can already fill you in on a few details. The green one-pillar guide sole that came with your purchase, may already be fitted with the parallel guide rail on the side (like the one on the blue one-pillar foot in the pic below). This rail is supposed to slide along a length of hardwood or some other sort of straight guide, which is to be clamped on the workpiece, just like the modern system guide rails of Festo(ol) or Hilti or HolzHer/Reich/Spero are. I keep pieces of perfectly straight and smoothly planed beech reserved expecially for this purpose. The slider surface of such wood can be rubbed in with a broken chunk of stearine candle to give a low-friction parallel guide, acting smoothly on the steel parallel guide rail on the one-pillar router foot. The lateral play of the router bit is simple and nifty trick at the same time. If your router bit is only 10 mms across and the groove or slot you need must be 25 mms wide, than the two lateral stops can help yoo to first rout a groove of the bit width (10 mms) and make this groove wider in steps of a few mills for every stroke, till you reach the final width of 25 mms. You can also have free play between left and right stop settings. This is done for instance with routing out larger recesses and gnawing the material away bit by bit in a freehand way but staying within the stop parameters nonetheless (for instance when making a writing accessory desk store box from a nice solid block of wood, with several sizes of recesses to sort pens from pencils, etc.). But when doing chores like that, you will experience what i meant to say in earlier replies: you will find this machine model quite heavy and cumbersome to work in precise and delicate ways as compared to modern lighter weight more versatile plunge routers. Still, that was the compromise that workshop carpenters had to accept with this machine: either you use your very heavy production-purpose motor as a not 100% ideally sized handheld router, or you buy a lighter separate pure plunge model like the MOF31 on which you can use the screw-on router bits you already owned with the MOF11.

By now you will already have noticed the lower pitched heavy sound of the machine and the long smooth run-out it has, because of its large armature assembly weight. When the previous owner maintained the machine well and the parcel service was kind towards your prize possession, you will not yet experience any ball bearing rumble and it such case the motor run and its sound will still be in the quality class of its own that this machine became famous for worldwide. It packs a lot of punch and this construction can take a lot of beating, but only when you don't overstress and overload it too much, it will keep this quality run for a lifetime, or at least the lifetime of the bearings, which can be replaced. I know for sure that it made you smile for joy when you switched it on, it sure does so every time i use this machine type. It will last and last and you are sure to attract attention when people see you working with it.

The centering device you mentioned may be a "copying bush"("kopierhülse"). It is meant to be screwed inside the foot ring and is than positioned exactly concentric with the router bit. Picture a cleverly shaped ornamental groove that you have to make in a piece of furniture, like a large cabinet with nice doors. You may already know the special router bits with ball bearings underneath, which serve as an edge guide. In any curve or shape of wood length, the bearing will act as a perfect parallel guide, following the edge contours so that the router bit leaves a routed rim of overall identical width and profile. Now picture doing this on a plane, in the middle of a wood surface as it were. The ball bearing will no longer work this time, for there is no edge for it to roll against. Instead as a parallel guide help, a template is put between the router sole and the wood workpiece. The edge of the copying bush slides along the template shape and the router bit inside copies this shape as a routed line in the material (for instance a v-shaped groove or a half-circular one). Copying bushes are also used for lettering, like nameplates for ships in teak wood. A v-shaped router bit is used to rout the main part of the letters, but of course its routed groove starts and ends in a round finish because of the rotating action. These round ends are then treated with fine chisels by hand, to get those nice sharp crisp character serifs. The resulting routed lettering is filled with gold leaf or gold paint and the total workpiece is multicoated with transparant boat lacquer. Very nice on anything from navy ships to laid back canal boats.

As for manuals: keep an eye on Ebay Germany, where Elu booklets on how to get optimal use from routers, are on offer on a regular basis. I could also look out for you and i could translate them or you. Mind you, "antique and vintage dealers" have also discovered the popularity of Elu tools amongst crafstmen and collectors, so these saught-after booklets may fetch unexpectedly hefty prices.

About the attached pics: the first one shows you the first MOF11 from 1951, more about that on the Elumatec website (the pic was copied from there). The lower insert in the first pic shows a later MOF 1! with big motor, this pic was taken from Ebay from a recent auction. I don't buy machines that worn out, but it was the best option showing the little simple three-pillar guide foot underneath such a big motor, it's really too small. The second pic shows one of the 11-types i own myself (also from Ebay and prior to my cleaning and restoring it), with a one-pillar guide foot, explaining some functions. The third pic shows one of the latest MOF 31 types, also showing a copying bush to screw inside the guide foot to surround the router bit. Several diameters of such bushes were available in the catalogue. It also shows the kind of adapter spanner from M12x1 to smooth sanks, that will fit your 11-type as well and which are still available. Again watch out for them on auction sites and store or shop cleanouts.

Greetings!

Gerhard

Hi Gary,

haven't visited this forum for a while now, been quite busy with two jobs at a time, sorry about that.<O
Wow, i still drool over the pics you posted. You sure bought yourself the best ever version of the original Mühlacker-made MOF11. It has indeed the best castings, the best ball bearings, the best single pillar guide foot. And you got the insertable copying bush bracket as a bonus, which for this model has become a very rare part indeed.

<OI can send you a 1/2" bit with inside thread for free. Just send me your address in my private message box and i will look up a decent bit for you.

<OThe pin tool to stick through the protruding top axle part, is nothing special. It's just a pin of hardened steel, looking like an ordinary metal drill bit without the grooves. It's about 9 cms in length and has the same dark finish. Just the sort of accessory that is the first to go missing or to get swept away and thrown out in a heap of sawdust. That's why these pins seldom come with a second hand machine and are quite rare as a separate part. I only have one original such tool myself to share amongst several MOF11's, so i'm afraid i can't part with that.


If you want the original part, look for DeWalt DW627 router motor spare parts. It is called a "bar" and is listed as number BDE-868002-00.3 . As you know the DW627 is a virtual copy of the MOF11 motor.


But you can also make such a tool yourself. I did that and i now use this alternative instead of the original part, which is stored away to prevent it from getting lost. Since the pin looked like a drill bit and has about the same grade of steel hardening, i actually used a drill bit. I took a wooden handle of the sort that is also used on little scroll saws and files and rasps and the like. I selected a drill diameter that snugly fitted the axle's bore hole, used it to drill its own hole in the handle, squirted some contact glue into the hole and stuck in the drill with the smooth back end sticking out. The smooth end subsitutes the rather expensive original pin or "bar" tool.
The only thing just must check is the clearance between the tool diameter and the motor housing top lid. If the handle is too thick, you can not insert the pin into the bore hole.

By the way: the bar or pin tool is not really necessary. With two standard metric keys (one for the flat sides in the arbour and one for either the spanner or the threaded bits), you can also unlock bits and spanners from the spindle.


As for the manual, i'm looking for that myself, and for quite some time now. The original is in six languages and is quite bulky, since it comprises all the functional options and covers the functions of the accessories as well. Elu also published "How to"-booklets on circular saws, planers and routers. These booklets explained the right ways to use the tools and covered all sorts of tips and tricks and are still very popular and sought-after. I only know these in German and sporadically one of them shows up in Ebay Germany, where it is either snapped up at once as a "buy now" item, or fetches a ludicrously high price when it runs in a regular auction for some days. If i get my mits on one, i can copy or translate it for you.


That's all for now


Best regards from Holland, where the daffodils are now rampant, to be relieved by the tulips next month!


gerhard

Hi,

I own a MOF 11/2 router.
Yesterday I replaced the feed wire as it was broken due to winding the wire around the device when storing it.

After power-on the main capacitor did blow-up.
I now would like to insert a replacement capacitor but I was wondering what its function is? Is it for filtering high frequency signals from the 220V network?
The info on the capacitor is the following : Funk-Entstör-Kombination 250V AC 4 Amp. KQG 5,6 BV2104/3.

Is this a keramic capacitor?

Where can I find a replacement and what type should I order?

Thanks
Joris

Originally Posted by gerhard

Hi all,

since in Europe the tool market is dominated by German products and the eastern part of Holland (where i was born) is sort of a German province, i gained most of my tool experiences through German machines. So it's no surprise that Elu is one of my favorites.

The sturdiest one i own is the Elu MOF 11 router motor. On its own this motor weighs about 7 kilograms, has 18,000 rpm and 2000 Watts and fits several types of bases and a heap of professional accessories. Being a collector i own more than one of several machine types, and of the MOF 11 it's three. The mass of these all metals things is huge, the armature takes 2 seconds to reach full idle rpm and the best machine of the three takes almost 8 seconds to arrive to complete stand-still from switch-off. That's quality, that's precision building. But this comes at a price, in a base these motors are awkward and top-heavy to operate. It's all about heavy duty and torque, ergonomics and precision handling are almost non-existent.

As you all know, Elu was purchased by B&D in 1984 to add a serious European quality brand name to its portfolio. Elu Mühlacker engineers joined those from B&D Idstein (Germany) and B&D Towson (USA) to further evolve the vintage Elu MOF 31, 98 and 77 into the MOF 131, 177 and 177E, which were very good machines as well. When B&D finished with the Elu brand in 1999 and continued with the DeWalt brand it already owned from 1960, many Vintage Elu designs and their Idstein-evolutions were continued as DeWalt routers. The DW625 (former MOF 177E) even won several prestigious prizes. The venerable metal MOF 11 was continued as well (DW627), though sales of that are minimal and it will probably be discontinued. Of course, the MOF11/DW627 is an old design, lacking good electronics and a manageable base.

So my attention was drawn to the DW626. 2300 Watts, very good electronics, a generously built motor (on that aspect it comes closest to the MOF 11 of any modern plunge routers i know), lots of modern options but still plenty of fine features from the previous MOF177E/DW625 design.
So in my imagination it has the power reserves of the MOF11, combined with a far more beter handling and power control. Furthermore, its output is 1560 Watts, and that's 2 REAL horsepower at nominal continuous duty instead of some 2 seconds' worth of stalling torque.

So i wondered: what's the DW626 like in practice? Does anyone own one and feel like commenting on it? I'd much appreciate it, thanks!

regards

gerhard

Gerhard, did you end up getting the DW626 in the end? If so, then what are your impressions of it? I'm also interested in buying one from the UK (they aren't available here in Oz). It strikes me as a very efficient table router, however I'm a little concerned about the limited base aperture (only 50mm I think) which would severely restrict my choice of panel raising bits.

Hi Ratbag,

no, i didn't buy one yet, though i had the pleasure of using one. It is like forum members above said it was, very powerful and a pleasure to work. I squandered my money on lots of other things and i missed one in an Ebay auction, going for only 269 Euros (machine only, with all accessories missing, but even so)! Since then i've seen many 626's pass in offers only slightly below RRP, so i'll continue to wait until the price looks better. Besides, it's more a luxury thing, since i have many other routers.
But when i've bought one and looked at it thoroughly, i'll let you know.

As for promises, i promised Gary above original 3/8"and 1/2" Elu bits for his MOF11. It's not that i forgot, it's just that i didn't encounter any original new ones thus far. They really are getting very rare items.

You mentioned the limited base aperture of only 50 mm, but that's the case for many such routers, especially for Elu derived models. The original Elu routers (MOF 31, already had such limited apertures, with two adjacent flanges containing threaded holes. These were meant for attaching a clamp collar which could hold "copying bushes" of different diameters. The copying bush protruded underneath the sole and served as a distance ring around the router bit. The bush served as a guiding aid, just like ball bearings underneath some router bit types are. By laying a template on top of the workpiece and letting the bush slide along the template shape, the router could produce an accurate groove or edge of a deliberate design in spite of being operated freehand.
A bit beyond 50 mms diameter is fairly large, even for heavy 2000 Watts plus routers. At a no load rpm of about 20,000, the circumference speed of a 50 mm bit stays well within 40 metres per second and is comparable to the speed of a circular saw blade of 235 mms at 4200 rpm, so it is not so much a matter of safety and the chance TCT-inserts coming loose and flying through people's skulls. However, big bits or small saw blades (which are often fited in some arbour which fits the router's spanner) that are not fitted securely or get out of balance, may get very dangerous indeed.
In general, it's more a case of high speed direct drive motors not being the ideal power source for this situation, so manufacturers build in this limited aperture to protect the motor and to discourage all sorts of makeshift experiments which could invoke trouble like accidents and claims. Stationary dedicated table routers with three phase induction motors (3000 rpm max) are the machines of choice for large cutting diameters. As a hand-held alternative, dedicated panel or edge saws (looking like miniature circular saws, with guiding attachments allowing cuts along the sides or on top) are widely used for paneling jobs in furniture or ornamental door factories.

greetings

gerhard

Dear Gerhart,
thank you for your (as usual) very comprehensive reply.

I actually ended up buying one anyway as a replacement for an Elu 177E (series 1) that I've recently sold.

The Elu has given sterling service as a mini spindle moulder, making tongue and grooved flooring and v-joint lining boards for 3 houses, & many, many other jobs for the last 25 odd years I've owned it.

I've only ever owned Elu/DeWalt routers though I've used and tried plenty of others. I also have a 96E (series 1), and a 621. I quite like the smaller Festools also, but having used Elus for 25+ years, the others don't feel quite right.

I consider the small Elu to be the best handling, most intuitive and easily controlled router ever made. It has the smoothest plunge & the safest control layout for freehand routing that I've ever come across. I also believe that, even after 25 years use, it's just as crisp and responsive as the day I first used it.

I also admire the longevity of the design. It's still being made, badge engineered, and copied, but never bettered, after all these years. There's a massive range of purpose-designed system accessories available from Elu (second hand), and new from DeWalt and Trend. The 626 accommodates many (but not all) of these system accessories.

Okay. I admit I'm biased, but I really feel it has the Swiss-made precision (thanks to Perles, the original manufacturer) of an Omega Seamaster watch.
While the DeWalt 621/Elu MOF 97E is almost as good (I hate the on/off switch, it catches me out, mid-rout, every time), it has (remarkably effective) dust extraction, and more power. Always a good thing!
Plus the set of template followers that fits the 621 also fits the 626, I believe, which makes the purchase of the big router a system purchase. It will be, however, a big, heavy mo-fo to hand-hold though!

I always found the Elu 177E to be a stiff & heavy bugger hand-held. Especially the plunge action. It's also a bit too intimidating to use freehand without guidance. Maybe I'm a bit of a wimp, but I've still got all 10 fingers.
Upside-down in a table, however, is where the big Elu really shows it's stuff. Using the plunge lock on one side, and the depth nut against the fine adjuster on the other, positively locks the router rigid for critical depth sensitive cuts like matching tongue and grooved edge jointing. You can process a thousand feet of flooring over a week of evenings, and the bugger won't flex, budge, creep or vibrate out of whack as much as a micrometer in all that time! Amazing. I hope the new one will be as good.

Incidentally, Lawson HIS in Southampton (UK) have new DeWalt 626s available for (Pounds Sterling) 235 on runout, which is about (EMU) 260-270, or (AU) $390, for anyone else interested. Not bad for a new one I thought.

Hi!

Thank you for your very detailed and thorough reaction, i learned a lot from it. Amazing that we have exactly the same feelings about the machines mentioned in your post. Your practical everyday routing experience looks to be far greater than mine and i've taken maybe seventy routers of these brands of various generations apart for repairs or restoring, yet we arrive at the same conclusions. That can't be incidental, there must be some value in that. Especially your comment on the venerable Elu MOF96 is shared by many other users. Recently i saw an original Mühlacker made one in Ebay and although i own three already, i couldn't resist buying it. This machine is spot-on any which way you look at it and needs no improving; Eugen Lutz recognised it for what it was and chose wisely when buying it instead of developing an alternative for himself.

Your tip on Lawson is brilliant! I checked their website, including VAT it's indeed still below 350 GBP at the moment, which is an unsurpassed offer. I think i'll order one now. Since our continental mains voltage was cranked up from 220 to 230 Volts in 1993, and the UK voltage was cranked down from 240 to 230 in order to be in step with the rest of Europe, it's okay to import stuff from England now; only the plug needs to be replaced.

Thanks and greetings!

gerhard