Kitchen worktops. Apart from an 8mm set sold by Aldi (though unfortunately not any more), all kitchen worktop cutters are 1/2".
I'll need to do some worktops in the next year or so, but I was planning to buy the crappest, cheapest, 1/2" router possible for that job alone. I'm intending to have a 1/4" router as my main one simply because they are lighter and, therefore, easier to manoeuvre.
But, I've never owned any power router before so I'm keen to hear if I'm misguided.
Alex
More like the first. And, actually, even more like a Trend T4. But much less well made. I think it was twenty-something pounds when I got it.
For a worktop, I'd use a full-size bit. But a little bit of very light chamfering, 1/4" is so much lighter and easier.
BIG cutters and heavy cuts basically...
The half inch machines sit in the niche just below spindle moulders in the food chain. So there are a number of cutters that only come with the larger shank sizes.
A panel raising monster cutter like:
Will cut a profile like:
in a single pass. The mass of cutter alone would be a liability on a smaller shank, even without any attempt at cutting.
To put it into perspective, you can compare a 1/2" shank crown moulding cutter against a 1/4" shank ogee here:
Yup. The machines themselves are typical significantly larger, and often more than twice the weight.
For freehand work its less common to absolutely need the larger shanks... they are common on the very long worktop bits for example, but many decorative edge profiling cutters are fine on the smaller shanks. The bigger ones as shown above are not safe to use hand held anyway.
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