[fishface]

Hi. I live in the UK and have a (very modified) Denford Microrouter. My cutting area is about A3 size and I usually mill timber and HDPE plastics.
Last year, the supplied spindle motor, which is a laminator motor, packed up. An official replacement was too expensive, so I purchased the cheapest "normal" hand router that I could find, cut the knobs off either side and modified the mounting. It worked well. I bought a 1050w "performance power" router which is B&Q's own brand for about £40. This lasted for about 9 months of casual hobby use before the motor packed up.
This time, I replaced it with a "Direct power" router which is screwfix's own brand for £35. I again had to cut the handles off and modify the mounting. This lasted a total of 3 hours before the motor completely disintegrated and spat out a lot of black dust!

Would it be worth buying a more expensive hand router, cutting the handles off and modifying the mounting in the hope that it would last longer, or are there much more longer lasting and better options that aren't too expensive (say < £150)?

[Al_The_Man]

Cheaper Universal motor devices are usually intermittent rated, they operate in a runaway condition as a motor so the stress in a continuous environment is high.
Being in the UK, have you looked at Kress, they seem to offer a better product supposidly designed for spindles?
Al.

[RomanLini]

There are lots of people using routers for spindles, even cutting aluminium as well as plastics and wood.

Any of the good brand routers with metal endframes (the part that supports the bearings) should be ok, especially with an internal speed control so you can select a good speed for a job or with an external speed control like a Super-PID.

[yak51]

Before getting started, replace the router bearings, for good quality bearings.
Then the Router last longer. or buy Kress FME