Makita 3600BR

Hi everyone

Due to the passing of my grandfather I inherited the above router. He has it mounted in his Triton table. Is this a router designed primarily for this use or is it OK for using as a handheld?

Secondly my router pieces have a smaller shaft than this machine. Is adaptor which allows me to use them? I haven't sorted through all of his tools but I can't find the spanners or any other accessories to go with it yet and the Makita site doesn't list this machine. I'm am unsure if it is old as the machine is virtually unused and as new.

Aldo, the 3600BR is a 1/2" router. You can get a 1/2 to 1/4 collet from various places. I have a manual I can email it to you if required.

Hi Aldo,
I think you'll find the 3600BR was discontinued in 1985.
1/2" to 1/4" Collet sleeve looks like this.
http://www.tools-plus.com/makita-763803-0.html
As Pat said, you can get them anywhere.

Mike

Thanks for your replies. Pat I will get back to you about the manual, thanks. Mike 1985, I guess sales may have continued for a while because it is in as new condition. Thanks for the info on the collets, I will chase them up as well as a dust extraction port for a vacuum. I do mostly MDF.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aldo

Hi everyone

Due to the passing of my grandfather I inherited the above router. He has it mounted in his Triton table. Is this a router designed primarily for this use or is it OK for using as a handheld?

Secondly my router pieces have a smaller shaft than this machine. Is adaptor which allows me to use them? I haven't sorted through all of his tools but I can't find the spanners or any other accessories to go with it yet and the Makita site doesn't list this machine. I'm am unsure if it is old as the machine is virtually unused and as new.

---

It certainly can be used as a handheld router and it would have come with a collet to reduce the size to 1/4" and also 3/8" along with a side fence attachment and also a trimming guide. More importantly it was supplied with a 16mm template guide and Makita produce other sizes that will fit the router base.

It does require two spanners to release the cutter which can be a problem when mounted under the table, but it can be done as this was one of my first routers I ever used.

I conducted a router workshop a few weeks ago and one of the partcipants arrived with the same router.
Tom

Aldo, I have one of these beasts in near mint condition , with manuals accessories etc. I have attached a copy of the manual cover for you as it shows the parts supplied, which might help you to recognise bits in the workshop. The spanners are 21mm and 27mm, any reasonable open enders those sizes should surfice.

The template adaptor is 16mm as TT suggested and was common to a variety of Mak Routers of the time. There was a range of other sizes also.

Quite often people mounting routers in a table will take the acrylic glide pad off the router base to save 5-7mm and maximise bit elevation, after the table mounting arrangements are made. I suggest that you use a clear acrylic Universal base pad if yours is missing. These are available from a variety of sources including CarbaTec and (I think) Timbercon. If you retrofit one, you can use the normal turned brass style template guides.

Mine came with a 1/2 in carbide bit and a 1/2in to 1/4 in reducer for the collet. The parts list in the manual lists reducers for 6, 8, and 10mm and 1/4in and 3/8in.

Your unit sounds like it might have been well cared for and if so, it should be a fairly viable machine for some time. The main thing that I have found with mine is that steel plunge tubes can fill with wood dust and spill this if the machiine is stored on its side or inverted. This can affect plunge action. It's easy to resolve by removing the big plastic winder knob and the metal nut beneath and allowing the motor and base to seperate. The dust can then be cleaned out of the plunge guides, tubes and return springs and the unit reassembled.

The only other liability relative to an equivaletent curent machine is the lack of variable speed govenor system, but for 1/4in shank bits hopefully you aren't running bits over 19mm diameter so the speed should be OK. If you buy bits, look at 1/2in shank ones as they are much more rigid in larger bodied bits as there is 4 times as much steel supporting them.

Hope this helps, come back if I can help further.

Mal

I got my 3600BR new, in 1989, has been used in the router table and hand held, when I can afford to get the triton the markita will become my hand held unit.Yes, it can be a bit of a pain using two spanners under the table to change bits and agree it's a 1/2 inch router so buy 1/2 inch, 12mm bits for it. They are a good router, probably the best in there day as i know some professional cabinet makers that used them for years. Cheers.

I have also got one - I didn't think I have had it that long - doesn't time fly?
I have used it under a Triton table as well as hand held. It has a bit of a kick to start with but it has not missed a beat.
I have used it on jarrah and other assorted hardwoods it still goes well.
I am pretty sure that all the bits and pieces for the 3612? would fit straight into or onto the 3600. The plate and most things seem to be identical.
regards:2tsup:

Thanks for the replies.

Thanks Malb for your pic. I am going back this weekend to pick up his Triton table and I will search for the extras which you have shown in your pic. At the moment all I have is the router. I access the spindle with a couple of open enders so that is not an issue.

I might see how much the vacuum port costs to buy as I like to get rid of MDF dust.

Your right GPSmith it certainly could do with a soft start:) It does have a bit of a kick.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aldo

Thanks for the replies.
I might see how much the vacuum port costs to buy as I like to get rid of MDF dust.
Your right GPSmith it certainly could do with a soft start:) It does have a bit of a kick.

---

Aldo, I am not aware of a specifc dust extraction port for this router for handheld use, but if it is used with a table and fence, its not hard to get one working through the fence gap.

They do have a nice kick to them, but then routers are about the only thing I can think of where you can directly hold a high speed direct drive 2 HP motor in your hands on the axis of rotation and start it, so it is a rather novel experience till you have done it a lot.

Mal
Do you have a full scanned copy of the book for the 3600BR? I just bought one second hand and would like to work out if I can buy or reconstitute the threaded stop pole. PM me if its possible to email it.
Thanks,
Peter

F_Peter,

I am assuming that you are refering to the depth stop plunger that fits to the motor housing. This is a 80mm long (threaded) plus 20mm (knurled) threaded 10mm x 1.5mm pitch (Metric Fine thread).

Working on scanning the manual for you, have sent PM.

Mal

F_Peter,

I have downloaded a late edition manual from the US for you. It is a 20 page PDF, nearly 3MB. I tried to upload it to Routerforums.com as they have a reference library of manuals and parts lists (it was the first place I looked) and will take PDF attachments to 4MB. That didn't work because I don't have enough posts to be eligible to attach as yet.

I also looked here but we have a limit of about 400KB so that won't work.

I have scanned my earlier copy (covers plus 10 pages) but its not great due to the thin paper (ricepaper style) allowing a huge amount of bleedthrough. It is also 5.5MB which is worse than the 3MB for the later one.

I have 2 x 3600BRs and 2 x 3612BRs (among other routers) and for certain purposes, they are the best routers ever built. Anyone looking for a half inch work horse in a bench would be hard pressed to find a better machine. The lack of variable speed can be solved with an external solution.

I turn to more modern routers for hand use most of the time because of the variable speed and the soft start but I will say this: once you get past the boot in the beginning, these old Maks run smooth as silk.

If I had my choice of any router (Festo, Milwalkee, DeWalt), I'd go with the Makita 3612C. I know the others have more bells and whistles but the Maks have been very good to me for more than two decades and that means a lot in my book...

Thanks everyone! I just bought a triton router table which had the same router! All the question I had you’ve answered for me!