What wood router to buy?

[JustJason]

Re: What wood router to buy?

"Its a poor carpenter that blames his tools"-----Skill is everything. The tools you use will not make you a pro. Experience and skill will make you the pro.

I have seen guys armed with top of the line tools make garbage projects and I have seen guys with cheap Black & Decker or Skil tools create magic.

I don't know how much a agree with that statement. Having quality tooling makes a world of difference. If you don't believe so then you have neither any real experience or quality tools.
It's true that an experienced craftsman of any trade can always do more with less. But a craftsman of even an entry level will hone his skills better and faster with the use of quality tools.

 

[i386]

Re: What wood router to buy?

When power tools are accurate and don't take a lot of fiddling with to set up they are much more enjoyable to use. Being durable and serviceable are important too. When I buy the "good stuff", that's what I look for.

 

[Fl_Richard]

Re: What wood router to buy?

There are many porter cable routers on ebay used for under $100.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/Porter-Cable-69...92394099QQptZRoutersQ5fBitsQQsalenotsupported

 

[lowkee]

Re: What wood router to buy?

Well, I ended up buying the PC 690LRVS, as I just couldn't justify $330 to myself. I can't wait to get it and try it out. I'll start on building a router table for it tomorrow. Let the oar building begin!

 

[lowkee]

Re: What wood router to buy?

Well, I got my router in yesterday and thought I would share today's project both for it and using it...

I took some time to make a router table for my new Porter Cable 690 router. I also made a router lift for it, since it just seems dumb to have a router table and no way to adjust the height without crawling underneath it. The outcome was fantastic! I managed to cut a new transom using it right before it got dark.

Here is finished router table. I used it to cut my transom using a luan template.

The finished router lift.

I used a long threaded rod for the adjuster. Double nuts were used to lock the rod to the table top. I welded a locknut to the router cradlea as the lifting mechanism.

I mounted springs to the rails in order to make lifting the router as easy as lowering it.

High end drawer rails were used as the lift rails. These rails use ball bearings and have a 100lb weight rating, so no wiggling will happen mid-cut.

Keeping the router secure was a priority, so I use tons of bracing. I don't want the bit to wobble mid way through a task.

 

[lowkee]

Re: What wood router to buy?

The 1st time ever using my router was to create a pocket under the table where the router can slip into in order to allow bit changes above the table. I couldn't see ducking under the table every time I wanted a different bit. The particle board has a slit down the center and a clamp to tighten it around the router to hold it in place while in the lift. There are probably 100 ways to do this better, but I couldn't find any clamps to fit around the 3 1/4" router housing.

The finished router lift can be adjusted using either a handheld driver or a cordless drill. The 16 TPI threaded rod allows for fine adjustments, but not so fine as to wear your wrist out trying to make a coarse height adjustment. Changing bits is a piece of cake, now.