The speed dial on my router has loosened and will change speeds during operation. I put some electrical tape on it to hold it in place, but I am curious if others have seen the same issue and how it was addressed?
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Yes I noticed that it climbed from 3.5 up to almost 5 yesterday when I was carving. I’ll try the tape idea.
-Alex
I have had the same issue as well. The tape seems to be a temporary fix, as I have had the tape come off during a run as well. Was considering some surgery on the router to see if I can tighten it down.
yep same here noticed it moving
Let me know what you find. The repair part does not appear to have a screw holding the dial.
This is good to know… I will look for a possible fix while waiting for my shipment in late(?) Dec.
If you just bought a Mikita router did you notice the strange bump on the cord? It’s an anti-shoplifting tag and can be removed if you like. Please don’t damage your cord removing it.
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Wow, I thought they just stuck those on the boxes so they could be de-activated at checkout. I thought the thing on the cord was some sort of magnet something-or-other to minimize electrical noise.
I thought it was a ferrite bead for noise… Cool thanks for the tip. Makita will repair the router under warranty but I have to pay for shipping. Sounds like the repair is not going to do much however with everyone else having the same issue.
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I just dropped mine off for repair yesterday at an authorized repair center, and was told there would be no shipping charges. I’d check around for a center before shelling out for shipping. I too had the spinning speed control issue, but only with a l 1 1/4" flattening bit. I was thoroughly overworking the little trim router flattening a cookie on the 1F and spun a bearing. Vibration seems to be the cause of the speed dial movement. It didn’t move when I began the flattening operation, but only after I decided to see how far I could push it in terms of DOC. Vibration set in and that is when the speed dial began moving. I had zero issues at any speed up to that point. Purchased a backup as I was told Makita turn around is running roughly 2 weeks. Can’t wait for the 80mm spindle mount . . .
Hmmm, curious if they changed the design at some point? I had a Makita on my SO2 without any problems. I guess we will see soon 
Brand new router, wanted to mention that I have the same issues. Although I mill aluminum and if the chip gets to big or stuck in the hole being milled and insufficient coolant makes its way in, the vibrations from chatter really drive the speed down. Might want to solder the dial to max speed but I don’t know.
My plan is to actually remove the dial from the router and put it near the controller. I don’t have my router (or machine) yet, so I can’t give any specific wire sizes or alternative speed selectors, but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be possible.
I have my shop vac running on a variable speed router control plug. I know it would be a workaround of the actual loose router dial problem, but I could see this eliminating the vibration induced dial turning problem if you could stop the actual dial from turning with glue or any other means. You could also possibly benefit from unlimited adjustment speed(down to 50% power), not just the 6 settings on the makita router.
Cheap triac style controllers like the above don’t work with variable speed routers with soft-start (the common Makita trim router and most routers these days are variable speed with soft-start).
The aftermarket controllers should have fine print warnings to this effect.
-Mark