Erbauer 1/2" 2100w router from Screwfix?

[Set Square]

Has anyone tried one of these

?

It sounds too good to be true for 60 quid - but I've bought other Erbauer kit which seems to be fairly well made. Any comments?

[AlexW]

Never tried it but: the fence & trammels looks flimsy for a big router, the dust extraction port looks a little small and there does not appear to be a precision plunge adjust.

Have you considered the new cheapo Trend? Don't think it costs much more.

HTH,

Alex.

[J]

Which Tred would that be? Sounds interesting.

I'm looking for a new router, sub £100, something with a little more power. I've tried making a box jointing jig using my router table, but it does seem to struggle a little on thicker pieces.

Was thinking of buying a new router, the Trend T5 seems to be about £160ish and the T3 just looks very cute, but not very powerful.

Ta

[Andy Hall]

12.7mm routers under about £160 or so are too much of a compromise. Major issues that beset sub-£100 routers in this size are poor quality plunge mechanisms that stick, heavy in weight and mechanical output from the motor that is much less than suggested by the power input.

All of these are really important in this class of router.

The T5 is a very good router for up to 8mm use (but more typically used at 6.35mm). I have one for doing light work. It is also OK in a router table, again for small work, but not suitable for anything sizeable.

To get something decent, is normally a £200+ purchase like the DeWalt

625 or Trend T11. If you have around £160 to spend, then the Freud 2000 is a good option for a 12.7mm machine.

[John Rumm]

It looks like yet another a badge engineered model that seems popular with alot of suppliers

axminster have a version:-

also do a version of it.

I have "handled" a few of the varients, and they are nothing special, but then again they are not obviously really nasty either. As usual you may find the power output at the sharp end a bit disapointing for heavy work, and the quality of finish achieveable not first class.

Depends on what you need it for really. Decent 1/2" routers tend to start with something like the Freud FT2000E - but that will be over 100 more!

[Mark Williams]

I have a second-hand example of the previous version. The new version looks very similar. However, the new version has a 2100W motor and is half a kilo heavier, so there are clearly internal differences. My

1850W version has a soft start and it's not clear that the 2100W version does. The bushes which are supposed to keep both sides of the body parallel on their respective plunge bars leave a lot to be desired on mine when the depth is not locked, but I don't know whether they're all like that.

On the whole, I'm not convinced the 1850W version is worth the GBP 85 which Screwfix sell them for. There's nothing exceptionally fine about the design or build as far as I can tell. I suspect the 2100W version is only worth the GBP 60 if you want some of the features not available on a Happy Hedgehog model (e.g. the 8-stage turret, rack-and-pinion depth scale or easily-accessible motor brushes, etc). Personally; if I had to buy a 1/2" router for occasional DIY use, I'd go for a Happy Hedgehog (such as )---but I'm not a tool snob.

The trammel and guide rods are suitably sturdy. But the fence is flimsy---and made much more flimsy by the fine-adjuster. I think all routers in the bottom half of the price range have rubbish fences. If I need to use a fence, I use a plain softwood homemade one, which obviously doesn't have any micro-adjustment. Good after-market guide fences are available separately...

The knob on the top left of the picture is the plunge depth fine-adjuster, if that's what you mean.

[AlexW]

The new cheapo Trend, is a bit basic and rough round the edges, I forget the model no. Spotted it in a B&Q warehouse. Its a big one c. 2KW and is not the T3/5/11 etc...

Alex.

[AlexW]

And not T9/10 either which I forgot. Nor is it on Trends website. Hmm, its probably a re-badge which they don't admit to (other than for B&Q customers).

Alex

[daddyfreddy]

You could probably buy the same thing cheaper under another name like Challenge etc. If you look at the SDS drills by Erbauer they are pretty much identical to the Power Devil/Challenge stuff. IOW most likely out of the same factory.