Porter cable 7518 Router

[sdppm]

I just received my new 7518 router that I am going to put in a new PRL. I have (2) 3 hp routers and a few other routers at the present time. This is going to be dedicated to my new router table setup. Well I opened the box and pulled this bad boy out. This is one mean looking router. It make my old PC 3 hp and my Freud 3 hp routers look like laminate trimers. You have to pick this unit up to appreciate what you have here. I have no doubt this will do any job put in front of it.

Can't wait to get it installed and make some Raised panel doors.

[David]

Yeah, they work great unless you chuck up a 3-1/4" bit and set the speed to 10,000 RPM, turn it on, and instead of running at the lowest speed, the speed controller gets confused and spins that bit at 21,000 RPM! Mine does that a lot. I found that by moving the switch back and forth a few times, it finally settles down. Seems the speed control issue is a known quirk of the 7518. Other than that, I like it. It never runs out of oomph.

Dave

[Robatoy]

I know a lot of guys here use a router like that for spinning raised panel bits, but I still think that's a job for a shaper. A shaper with a stock feeder that is. 10,000 rpm is too fast, IMHO for a raised panel bit. Besides, that PC 15 amp motor is, at best, a little over 2 HP, no matter what.... and that's assuming a 100% efficient motor. I have used up a half dozen of 7518's over the last 10 years and always hated when it would trip due to overload in the middle of a cut.

My intent is not to shit in your cornflakes/ burst your bubble, because as far as practical routers go, it is a damn good unit, but to ignore its limitations is going to make you disappointed.

It ain't no shaper.

[David]

If it's being overloaded, maybe you are using a dull bit, going too fast, going too deep; SOMETHING. My 7518, while it's got some flaky speed problems, just doesn't bog down at all while raising panels in 2 passes in oak. What are you doing that is causing your poor router such grief? :) Are you sure your electrical service to the router is adequate? I once had a lot of trouble with a planer bogging down until I switched circuits.

Dave

[sdppm]

If that is the case my old Freud must of been the best router in the world. It cut over 200 raised panels and in one pass without any problems. I cant imagine this wouldnt do better.

[CW]

Agreed.

[Jim]

It does seem that routers in general are rated rather generously. It is likely that they are rated at the peak horsepower insted of average. As peak horsepower is twice average, they can advertise a much more impressive rating. Also, the power really depends on how hot that the motor can get as well as the duty cycle.

Induction motors as used in saws, etc., are usually rated at the average horsepower. For short duty cycle things like saws, the rating is the average horsepower that the motor outputs when the temperature rise is 60 degrees above ambient. Jim

[Robatoy]

Using that logic, my 26 oz Estwing framing hammer is the world's best screwdriver? 3 swipes and that puppy will sink a 2" screw into almost any kind of wood.

Due to innovative thinking, the home-woodworker has ventured into the realm of industrial processes, using tools that aren't really designed to do those jobs. I do that too. I use a router as a jointer, for instance.

I also used to freehand (against a fence, of course) a 3/4" radius full-bullnose bit (that's a mouth 1 1/2" wide x 3 cutters almost 2" tall and 2" in diameter.) in both the PC and the Hitachi M12V and found the slow-speed torque of the M12V to be superior to the 7518. So it might very well be that your Freud did a better job than the 7518 is going to do. Personally, I think most PC routers are over-rated these days and are living off the reputation they built up 20 years ago when they were the only big game in town. Just my opinion. FWIW When PC went from the 4.5" motor bodies to the newer 4.2" motor bodies, things were just never the same again. Just my experience.

[bob]

Suggestion: If you haven't used that big boy yet, send it back and get the Milwaukee 3 hp unit. Same money, much better tool. The 7518 is well known to stall when feeding stock into a raised panel bit at 10,000 rpm. My does it all the time, since the day it and the bit were new. As soon as you start the feed, the electronic speed control causes the motor to stall and shut down. You have to power off the router and power on to clear it up. It is such a well known problem that when I was at a woodworking show a few years ago, the Milwaukee guys were doing a demo of their bad boy router against the 7518. They demoed the stalling problem, then showed how the Milwaukee never slowed or missed a beat. I was sorta pissed because my 7518 was only a few months old and had I known about the Milwaukee, I would not have bought the 7518.

Other than the stalling problem, my 7518 has plowed many a board feet. Tons of power. I put it in an Router Raizer. Makes changing and adjusting bits from the top a breeze.

Bob

[Swingman]

Mouthful ... I have four or five routers laying around here (mostly older PC's, including a 7518 and a newer plunge PC that I bought for next to nothing at a garage sale ... the "P" now stands for plastic).

Funny thing is, I dusted off a 30 year old Black & Decker the other day to do some hand routing ... it was an el cheapo in it's day, but who'd a thunk that a B&D tool would ever feel so solid and well made, comparatively speaking?

We've fallen a long way, most just haven't been around long enough to know the difference ...

[Robatoy]

Same here. An old (guessing 25+ years) B&D 1/4 " collet, mind you, but all die-cast, solid as anything. Virtually vibration free. It was an old friend to me, till it met the concrete of my old shop and took a large chunk off the base rendering it useless. I LIKED that B&D...nothing from them to replace it. The old (4.5" motor PC) production routers would last and last too. I remember taking my first one out of the box and starting it up... I flicked the switch and found myself looking in a different direction than just before I started it. Not quite as severe as the first time you pull the trigger on a Weatherby 460 Magnum mind you, but you get the picture.

[fredfighter]

Sounds like Nahrm had a garage sale...