Bearings for the Ubiquitous Porter Cable 690 Series Router: Mission Accomplished!

[jteneyck]

You get a gold star for persistence, to be sure.  Most of us would have just run it until it died.  I'm going to print out those bearings and put it in the 690 manual for when mine need to be changed, which was a couple of years ago to be honest.  Thanks very much.  

Who did you buy the SKF bearings from?  

John

[Philip1231]

You get a gold star for persistence, to be sure.  Most of us would have just run it until it died.  I'm going to print out those bearings and put it in the 690 manual for when mine need to be changed, which was a couple of years ago to be honest.  Thanks very much.  

Who did you buy the SKF bearings from?  

John

Yeah, lets call it persistence


I got them at a place called RodaVictoria USA located in Florida.Correction: Sun Bearings, also in Florida.

[Bob Vaughan]

Yeah, lets call it persistence


I got them at a place called RodaVictoria USA located in Florida.Correction: Sun Bearings, also in Florida.

There can be a 'gotcha' detail on some of the older 690 models.  They used the wide inner race 88502 size bearings.  Been bit by that more than once.

[Bob Vaughan]

There can be a 'gotcha' detail on some of the older 690 models.  They used the wide inner race 88502 size bearings.  Been bit by that more than once.

Not doing much so I thought I'd post a couple of pictures.  First is a 690 taken apart showing the 608 skate board bearing and the 6202 main bearing.
Second is from 2017 when I was going through my routers for check-ups.  Compared to these older routers, modern routers really aren't much.

   

   

[Bill Holt]

Holy cow!!!!!!!!!!!  I felt guilty (not) when I bought router no. 6.

You win.

[Bob Vaughan]

Holy cow!!!!!!!!!!!  I felt guilty (not) when I bought router no. 6.

You win.

Back story:  I get a kick out of restoring certain portable power tools and have been doing it since the 1980s.  I'd pick up a broken tool for $5.00 or less and tear into it.  I found that I had a 75% chance of bringing it back to working order.  Once I got one running, under the bench it would go until the next one comes along.

Times have changed but the quality of the older tools still reigns supreme in my book, although I do like the convenience of battery driven tools.

[Bill Holt]

... the quality of the older tools still reigns supreme in my book, although I do like the convenience of battery driven tools.

I agree completely on both statements.

[Philip1231]

Not doing much so I thought I'd post a couple of pictures.  First is a 690 taken apart showing the 608 skate board bearing and the 6202 main bearing.
Second is from 2017 when I was going through my routers for check-ups.  Compared to these older routers, modern routers really aren't much.

Bob:

I am glad you responded to this post, given your status as resident expert on all things related to machine restoration. I have a few questions I’d like to ask regarding bearings in general and specifically the bearings for the PC router:

Installation: I don’t have a shop press. What I have always used is a short length of copper tubing of the correct diameter (to match inner race when installing on an arbor) and a hammer. I tap the bearing into place (more of a substantial smack than a tap). For the relatively small bearings on this router and on fractional HP up to a few HP motors, is this installation method OK, or should I be investing in a press? All the bearings I’ve installed to date seem to be humming along nicely, FWIW.

Bearing Seals/Shields: Until recently, I gave little consideration to whether a bearing was sealed or shielded: I was not even clear on what the difference was. At this point, it seems as though bearings inclosed with metal are Shielded, while bearings the have a rubber disc enclosing the race are Sealed. All of the motor bearings I’ve dealt with prior to my PC router exploration were of the metal shielded variety. And they all happen to be in applications where they were inside TEFC or simply totally enclosed motors. The original bearings I pulled out the PC router had either rubber shields on both sides, or in the case of the smaller upper bearing, a seal facing down, and a shield facing up, totally enclosed in the bearing housing/bracket.

It occurred to me that my earlier recommendation of replacement bearings may be wrong. I specified two bearings that have the metal shields. I suspect that perhaps PC specified sealed bearings for the router due to exposure to saw dust, as the 3 of the 4 bearing faces are exposed. I wonder how much of a difference it will make in the long run. I may take another look at the available bearings and see if I can find sealed bearings that meet the high RPM requirement of this router (not easy finding bearings that meet that requirement (or maybe I just couldn’t find them?).

At any rate, looking forward to your response.

Best

Phil

[Bob Vaughan]

Copper tubing or PVC both work if the size is right to drive the inner race.  The collet holder has a short section that goes down into the bearing.
 
Having a press is a rabbit hole.  You’ll get more confident and start restoring all sorts of things with bearings.
 
For years I’ve been using nothing but sealed bearings on woodworking machinery and electric motors.  The cost percentage is not worth the risk.  The 6202 and 608 sizes are so common that often I won’t obsess on bearing ratings.  They are too easy to change.
 
Run what you’ve got for a while.  They’ll let you know if they are unhappy by screaming at you.
 
Here’s a tip for the next time you tear into a 690.  Once the cap is off and the armature is exposed, get a ½” air impact wrench.  Hold the armature in your hand and give the impact wrench a couple of bursts.  The armature may slip in your hand at first, but it usually takes me less than four bursts with my POS Jet air driven impact wrench.  Note: Air impact wrenches run up to 7000 rpm.  Battery powered stuff in this application are way too slow and weak.  Been there.


 

   

   

[Kudzu]

Not sure I can anything to this convo.  But I got a 690 from my FILs shop and it has been sitting on the shelf for some time.  It worked but had a bearing screaming at me. Finally decided I could really use it and found this thread while looking for photos on how to dismantle it.

Once I got bearing numbers I found a set at Freemont Industrial Supply. First time using them but they easy to deal with and quick shipping.

And I was surprised at how easy it was to repair the router. I have fixed a ton of things but always shied away from small electric tools.