They'd burn out on some of the jobs I've paced my DeWalt through.
The 500W jobby is just a hobbyist router for cutting out inlays and stuff like that,as for the other :-)
To each their own I suppose. :-)
============================= The specification for the Trend one says it has a pillar drill fitment. Does this mean what it appears to suggest - that you can attach it to a pillar drill? If so how does it work, if you've tried it?
Cic.
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Just by detaching the main body from the plunger base,this is also common on the B&D 850W routers
============================= How does it attach to the pillar drill?
Cic.
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I think it attaches to the pillar drills work area stand upside down? although I suppose most routers can be adapted to it?
=========================== That's more or less what I was thinking. I suppose it depends on the design of the drill table. I'll have a look at mine tomorrow and see what I can do.
Cic.
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Not quite, the body has a 43mm collar so it will fit a drill stand.
Haven't tried it myself.
cheers, Pete.
Forgot to say, get a box of these:
pair of these:
and some decent comfortable earmuffs.
cheers, Pete.
What DeWalt have you got, would you recommend it to the OP or not?
If not, what would you recommend the OP get, and why?
cheers, Pete.
I'd recommend any of the DeWalt range of routers if he's wanting to shell out DeWalt prices?
Makita,HitachM12,Dewalt.
For a power tool that I know I'm going to use almost daily I go with the
*big boys toys*,anything I would use infrequently I buy cheap.The router gets hammered week in week out,cheap branded routers are not up to daily punishment so you need one thats of an industrial usage.
The motor is the main criteria. Then comes the bearings for zero side movement(thats wobble for you)
I would like a Milwaukee or Makita but maybe I'll have to save more pennies. :-(
cheers, Pete.
Having just completed (well, nearly) a similar project from a pretty unskilled start, I'd say you'll be OK with almost any router *for this job* - my bookcases have been done with an allegedly 1200W 1/4in/8mm Homebase one that cost twenty quid on special offer.
For the money, it has been great, but not being able to use 1/2in bits is becoming too limiting for me: on the other hand, it is very light and manageable, and has a fairly smooth plunge.
Bits - I took the approach of buying a half-decent box set to see what I used, and then good bits for specific purposes. For slots for the shelf strips, I've got a Freud bit that cost more than the router, and gives a much better cut than the equivalent in my box set. From limited experience, I think it's easier to do a good job with good bits and a crap router than with a top-end machine but cheap bits.
One word of warning on bookcase strips. If you decide that routing the slots to be a tight fit is a good idea, then assemble the bookcases, and then paint them, you may find that a large rubber mallet is insufficient to persuade the strips to fit.
I ended up using sanding drums in a brand new Dremel (gutless and made of cheese - it's going back), which was less dull than sanding the paint overspill by hand or trying to make some special scraping tool. Cut the slots oversize, mask thoroughly, or paint with a roller (oh, and suck these eggs carefully while you're about it ....).
Regards
John
Did it not occur to you to feed the shelving strips into the top or bottom and tap it into the recess till its gone all the way down the lenght of the side? this will then bite the sides and eliminate the paint for a truly flush finish.
...Or you could have masked the routed rebate before painting.
...Or sprayed the the MDF,Car aerosol spray stays whiter longer. :-)
I'd go down to the local Sunday market (there is someone in Hanley, SoT on Sundays with reconditioned B&Q tack. Some of it very good and most of it very cheap) and get the cheapest largest one I could find and a box of assorted cheap cutters.
At the very worst, you would find out exactly what you wanted next time. There is a lot of cheap Chinese slave made stuff available that isn't all that bad, certainly quite capable of getting you through your first projects.
Knowing how crap cheap cutters are will inspire you to either buy more or buy the best.
Changing settings and worse bits or cutters all the damned time is a real pissoire. I'd like to have a router for every job but of course the space and nuisance value has a diminishing return.
They can be used to drill out locks and lock handles -a time consuming job with generally poor rates on pricework with an hammer and chisel.
But they can also be cut with a chop/pull saw if it has a setting to stop the drop. Far quicker and a much more useful tool IME.
I repeat until you use the cheap you can't appreciate the need to spend on them. The difference in prices is worth the learning curve. For some cuts a cheap one is adequate.
It is on features on some material that the pricey ones come into their own. Housing joints and their like will/may be masked by the work.
... or give up....
A little difficult to do along the length of a 2m board.
It's a waste of money. All that is learned by using the cheap ones is the experience of everybody - that they are crap and don't produce decent results.
Rough edges, joints that don't fit properly......
I've followed a number of threads on tool selection and have learnt that Andy Hall is very much an advocate of spending money on what he would describe as 'quality' tools. The concept of 'Quality' does include 'value for money' and I have yet to be convinced that the even for a reasonable level of DIY that it is necessary to buy 'professional' grade tools. My brother is a cabinet maker and he needs the spend money on buying tools that will last, are reliable 24/7 and don't have any foibles - time is money to him. His tools are wonderful to use but I do not believe that that grade of tooling is
**necessary** for the DIY'erIt is I agree everyone's own choice and very much depends on how deep your pocket is and your attitude towards having something with a 'Name' on it.. I have 30 years of extended DIY experience (major refurbishment of an old cottage, furniture building, etc) and have always used the philosophy of buying a cheap power tool first - the irony is that despite the reasonable level of use of 3 routers from B & Q, chop saw and SDS drill from Aldi/Lidl, etc, etc, the only thing that hasn't been too good was a cheap (~=A315) battery drill from Aldi/Lidl, but you get what you expect at that price.
And the point is that I do now know that if I was going to go into a major furniture building project in hardwood, I might well look at whether the better quality routers do in fact have a smoother plunge action and stiffer guide - but there would have to be a definite step function in those features to justify my replacing the cheap ones I have.
One thing that hasn't been mentioned is a Router Table - I find that suprising as I use mine regularly, hence having 2 1/2inch machines. I don't know what the commercial ones are like but I have a basic home built one and it's one of the best things I made myself and gets used regularly.
Rob
This depends on what you consider to be a "reasonable level of DIY".
Do you think that it should be less of a lesser quality than if a professional does a piece of work?
In my view, it should be of a much higher standard or there is no point in doing it.
You are absolutely right that I buy on value for money. That includes the price, the cost of ownership over time, the ergonomics and precision.
That depends on the standard that you wish to achieve, whether you are concerned about ease of use and precision, reliability, service etc.
You are making the mistake of assuming that DIY work has a level of expectation associated with it that is less than professional work.
I don't accept that tools for DIY should have to have foibles and unreliability and especially not down time. Time is exceedingly expensive.
The better philosophy would be to rent one if use is occasional and then to buy a decent one if use is frequent.
All of this depends on your level of expectation.
They do. If you were working regularly in hardwood, you would notice the difference.
A router table is something that is very reasonable to home build. There are good quality mechanisms and tracks that can be built into these to provide an excellent result.
I make and use quite a lot of jigs in general and for specific applications because it's necessary to do so for them.
No, it's bearing backlash...
Awkward, given that both top and bottom of the bookcases had been fitted.
If I'd thought of this before painting I probably would have done. As it is, I only thought of it later ...
John
The message from "robgraham" contains these words:
Not in some people's books.
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