Router survey...

[Rick Fisher]

Okay..

How many routers do you have..

Rules..

(1) Must be running, or being repaired..
(2) Includes Trim routers, up to 3 1/2 hp routers.. (not shapers or pin routers) ..

[Caspar Hauser]

I can bring 7 to mind. There may be more, and I assume we are talking the ones with tails, if not then 9 ish.

I need a good (not PC) mid hp plunge, any ideas? :D

[Rob Wright]

2 PC 790's ( 1 D-handle with plunge base extra, 1 in a table)
1 rigid trim router
1 Milwaukee 5625 in a woodpecker quick lift
1 Hitachi m12vc with a kit

I love having two mounted in tables when doing rail and stile. Most of the time the PC 790 has a 1/16" round over with bearing mounted in it for breaking edges.

For a decent value and good price - I love my 2.25 HP hitachin - just wish it was a D-handle

[Doug Shepard]

I didn't include it, but are you counting Dremel's too?

[Homer Faucett]

Bosch Colt
Bosch 1617
Dewalt 616
PC 890
OLD PC Speedmatic (the 2 hp US PC)
Two Ryobi RE 600 3 hp (table routers)
Trend T4 Plunge
Hitachi M12vcs plunge/fixed combo

I'm a router junkie.

[Kent A Bathurst]

........
I need a good (not PC) mid hp plunge, any ideas?

Curious - why "not PC" ? I am considering a similar router, no brand decision, you caught my attention.

[Alan Bienlein]

I had 8 till I gave a nieghbor who was getting started in woodworking my old Black & Decker router that I had for about 17 years. It's enough for him to do what he wants to do and of good enough quality not to give him any troubles.

[Caspar Hauser]

Curious - why "not PC" ? I am considering a similar router, no brand decision, you caught my attention.

I've gone through enough, (need and local availability) they were/are constantly in and out of the repair shop. My 7518 will stall at surprising times, but is the best of the PC routers I've had/have. My PC plunge, I'm about ready to keel haul, hang draw and quarter, then bury at the crossroads at midnight, after I've jumped up and down on it for a while.:mad: It will not hold depth, plunges poorly despite cleaning, graphite, wax etc, bits fall off it, it is not as if I abuse it, it's cleaned after use, stored in its own box etc

Deep calming breath... so time to replace them as they in turn irk me beyond the pale and cash flow allows.:)

I'm looking at milwaukee, I have a fixed base single speed that works like a champ, I use it 5/6 days out of 7, it has forged, not stamped spanners which I take to be indicative of giving a crap, so I'm curious does this translate into their plunge routers?

CH

[glenn bradley]

4 Milwaukee
1 Bosch
1 Porter Cable
1 Ryobi

[glenn bradley]

so I'm curious does this translate into their plunge routers?CH

You can plunge with one hand and they just won't bind.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Thanks, Caspar. My little 'ol PC 690 is bulletproof as far as I can tell, but I've been thinking about getting one with a little more ooomph. Plus, I don't have a plunge base - rarely need one, but would still like one. Appreciate the insight. You too, Glenn.

[Caspar Hauser]

You can plunge with one hand and they just won't bind.

This is good news.

[Mike Langford]

1 Bosch (trim)
1 Ryobi
1 DeWalt (3 bases)
4 PC 690's

If you're counting Dremels (as Doug inquired) I have 4

[Don Bullock]

I only have two right now, but I plan to set up a router table with a dedicated router soon. If I could afford more I can see a need for at least six.

[Tom Esh]

2- PC890's for the table. (One's a reconditioned spare.)
2 - C'Man VS for the DT jig
1 - Colt
1 - DW621 plunge

[Bill Arnold]

Eight (8)

1 Hitachi M12V in my router table
3 Bosch 1617EVS
1 PC Trim router
2 HF Trim routers
1 Craftsman 1.5hp router (old but works fine)

[Tom Esh]

I can bring 7 to mind. There may be more, and I assume we are talking the ones with tails, if not then 9 ish.

I need a good (not PC) mid hp plunge, any ideas? :D

Dewalt 621. Smooth as silk, fairly quiet as routers go, great dust collection and comfortable to use. Even better with a Pat Warner base.

[pat warner]

Fallin' all over >25.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Fallin' all over >25.Right there with you Pat. Only ever bought one new, and it was on clearance. Recently I found out you could change bits, rather than routers. When you buy used, more likely than not, the wrenches are missing. It's hard to justify buying $30 worth of wrenches for a $20 router. I have one router (DW 610) that has only had one bit in it. The bit is a screw on, reverse helix, 1/2" that I use to cut dados in the cubbies I build. Cut several THOUSAND feet of dados with this bit, in 3/4 birch plywood. I have more 690's than voting allows.

[Simon Dupay]

9 routers:
1-bosch 1617
6-PC:1-100,1-150,1-155,1-350,1-537,1-690 (just love those old PC tools!)
1-freud lam trimmer
1-Stanley "R2-D2"
and still looking to add more to the stable.

[Dick Mahany]

5 -1

1 Milwaukee 5625 (Incredible tool)
1 Bosch 1618 (Love it)
1 Bosch Colt VS Trim router ( very handy)
1 Craftsman Commercial ( ~1975 Model, still works great !)
-1 Makita 3612 (sold it and MISS it )

[Brian Kent]

1 good router. 2 old cheap routers that I avoid as much as possible.

[Larry Edgerton]

Over 20, lost count, and all Porter Cables. I very strongly disagree with the gentleman that says Porter Cables are junk. I don't have any that are designed since the whore of the woodworking market started screwing them up, but I have a slew of 690's, several 100's, a few 310's, and four or five 3 1/4 hp's. The 3 1/4 hp plunge has been abused for over 20 years, and has never stuck once. I did burn out the soft start but just bypassed it and kept cutting.

I did however try some of the models since Dewalt [spit, spit!] bought them and they are just the same old box store crap as everything else now. I would suggest you look for older models.

[John Coloccia]

Over 20, lost count, and all Porter Cables. I very strongly disagree with the gentleman that says Porter Cables are junk. I don't have any that are designed since the whore of the woodworking market started screwing them up, but I have a slew of 690's, several 100's, a few 310's, and four or five 3 1/4 hp's. The 3 1/4 hp plunge has been abused for over 20 years, and has never stuck once. I did burn out the soft start but just bypassed it and kept cutting.

I did however try some of the models since Dewalt [spit, spit!] bought them and they are just the same old box store crap as everything else now. I would suggest you look for older models.

Larry, you really nailed it. My PC is from the early 90s, and is a work horse. I had a cordless drill from about the same time that just recently died on me a couple of years ago. The drill and batteries lasted nearly 15 years! So I replaced it with another PC drill, right? WRONG. What a piece of junk. Went straight back to the store. It's a shame, really.

1 - Bosch Colt
1 - Bosch 1617 (I'm really liking this router, by the way)
1 - PC
1 - Dremel with Stew Mac router base (another one I'm really liking for all sorts of jobs...it's a full fledged router as far as I'm concerned).

[Caspar Hauser]

Larry,

I'm very flattered by the epithet Gentleman, I've been known to do the odd impression.:)

I don't know when "the whore of woodworking" bought out PC, I gather that would be DeWalt.

All of my present power tools are less than 10 years old and my routers younger than that, would that be in the sphere of change? I am merely reacting to my experience with the tools I have/had, I have no knowledge of older production, it would appear from your experience that I came too late to the game (not the first time). I bought PC having been told by experienced carpenters of their quality, my need and local availability. It would appear from my experiences and your latter ones that what once was true is sadly less so of late,

Cordially

CH

[John Shaffner]

1 PC 690 w/D handle
1 Pc 690 w/plunge
1 Hitachi M12V for under table use
1 Hitachi M12VC for over table use
2 HF trim routers, 1 dedicated for 1/4" roundover, 1 for 1/8" roundover
1 Rockwell "green series"

Routers are kinda like clamps, ya just can't have enough

John

[Larry Edgerton]

Larry,

I'm very flattered by the epithet Gentleman, I've been known to do the odd impression.:)

I don't know when "the whore of woodworking" bought out PC, I gather that would be DeWalt.

All of my present power tools are less than 10 years old and my routers younger than that, would that be in the sphere of change? I am merely reacting to my experience with the tools I have/had, I have no knowledge of older production, it would appear from your experience that I came too late to the game (not the first time). I bought PC having been told by experienced carpenters of their quality, my need and local availability. It would appear from my experiences and your latter ones that what once was true is sadly less so of late,

Cordially

CH

I tried one of their new 2 1/4 hp plunges with the flat side on the base last week just out of curiosity. A friend has it stored at my shop. It wouldn't last long in my shop, I would smash it with a hammer! Junk!

You owe it to yourself to own a 3 1/4 hp PC. They are big, but to my way of thinking, that is a good thing. Weight means stability, better cut, and less vibration. The plunge works all day long, year after year. the lower bearings in this series is huge, 2 7/8" I believe just off of the top of my head. Hurry up and get one before Dewalt decides that it is too good, lasts too long, and that they just don't sell enough for the bean counters.

Also, try to pick up a 310. They are out of production, but they are the best I have ever used in their class, run forever, and are a nice small size for small bits.

The Borg is not our friend......

[Paul Greathouse]

Three 690's, one of each breed (fixed, plunge & D-handle). One 7518 with a benchdog lift in the Naum table and a PC trim router.

Two Dewalt plunge routers 621 & 624.

Two Freud 1700's in the new 3 router table.

One Milwaukee 1 3/4hp, can't remember the the model number but I love it for handheld use.

One off brand 3 1/4hp plunge that I bought off Ebay, its dedicated to an overhead dado table.

Two Craftman, one dedicated to a 1/4" roundover bit I use alot and the other is usable but not used much.

Soon to be purchasing the 3 1/4hp Milwaukee fixed base which will be the 3rd router in my new 3 router table.

[andy brown]

1. Swiss made Elu 1/2" collet- had 25 years

2.Italian made Elu 1/4" collet- 20 years

3. Makita Trimmer 1/4" collet-15 years

always done as they should! last biggish job was a quirky shaped flight of stairs.

Andy.
ps.
over in England we seem to use mainly plunge routers, which is what the top 2 are !

[eric anders]

I count 12 routers I own if 3 dremels and 1 Milwaukee that is on its way is counted. I would like to see some dialog of pro and con comparisons from people that have these. Here are mine:

Sears Fixed Base model 315.25070
This is about 38 years old and was my only router for about 28 of those years. I never liked the height adjustment, but it was powerful enough and had a light (almost none of them have a light anymore.) I still have this and it is in the original small router table that I use if I have a secondary router table operation and don't want to change bits on my large router table.

Dewalt DW621
Smoothest plunge of any router I have. Base is small and almost always would like to put a larger base on it. Dust collection is great, but I have taken almost all the dust collection components off in order to see the work.

Dewalt DW625
Great horse of a large router. Plunge is very smooth, but the springs almost require a second person to plunge it. I now use it in my mortising jig and use just one spring. I used to have it in my router table, but I could not get enough range or height above the table.

Hitachi M12V
Use it in my router table. Great collet that takes only a partial turn to release the bit. It is considered as one of the better plunge routers for a router table, and I agree. It is certainly better than the DW625 was in a table. I would still like to see the collet rise higher above the table. I have not found a plunge router that allows the collet rise a considerable amount above the table without some sort of extender (which always is a compromise in additional vibration).

Bosch Colt PR20EVS variable speed trim router
Best darn small router out there. I use it every chance I get for any application that can use a 1/4 inch bit. I saw it on the cover (I believe) of Woodworker Journal about 5 years ago. It was not identified and I researched it and was the first to get one in the Detroit area. I knew it was a winner and it was--and is. I always longed for the PC 310, but the Colt made that go away.

Dewalt DW673K trim router
I have all the attachments for this and for that reason will keep it. It is a very quality feeling router--good power and smooth running. The height adjustment is not the greatest. It is a cantilevered affair that is hard to accurately position.

Milwaukee 5615 fixed base, fixed speed
A really great router. I turn to this router every chance I get where a 1/2 inch bit is needed. It runs very smoothly, has great verticle adjustment features, has wide open bit visibility. The body grip feature was a great idea and Milwaukee's implementation could not have been better. I got this almost at introduction and I did not think I would need the variable speed version. I guess it would be nice, but it is not a deal breaker.

Milwaukee 5615-24 fixed and plunge kit
What can I say. I saw this at about 2/3 the price I paid for the fixed base version I originally bought and read the reviews on the plunge base which were glowing. Couldn't resist. It is on its way now from Amazon. Again, I would like the VS version, but I can't see paying the $100 more for the feature in a mid-sized router when I have others with VS if I need it.

Freud FT1700VCEK
This was a good deal that I jumped on. The fixed base router appears to be great. The noise level is amazingly low. It appears to be very similar to the Milwaukee fixed base router in design. The collet appears to extend out of the base more than any other router I have, so it could be an excellent router table router. I hear that it is. I have not done more than just turn it on, so I can't tell how it will be in actual use. The reviews of the fixed base version were good. The plunge base portion is another story. They must have had a summer intern design that. Does not even come close to compare to the other plunge base routers in plunge adjustment precision. The play in the plunge bearings is pretty poor (about what I would expect from a $100 low end plunge router) and I can see where it might get "sticky" over time. It was not real smooth out of the box, but time will tell.

Dremel Model 280
One of the original Dremel tools. It is about 30 years old. Fixed speed, but quite strong. I wore out the original armature and had it replaced.

2 - B&D Wizard 2VP940 Type 1
I got 2 of these since I only paid about $5 each for them. They have been very useful since they use the Versa Pak replaceable batteries. I use them any time I can get away with a lower powered version of the Dremel type tool. Never had any problem with them. Use them all the time.

[Caspar Hauser]

I tried one of their new 2 1/4 hp plunges with the flat side on the base last week just out of curiosity. A friend has it stored at my shop. It wouldn't last long in my shop, I would smash it with a hammer! Junk!

That's the bugger!

I shall be looking at the others, thanks for the info.

Cheers

CH

[Joe Jensen]

#1 - 50 year old Rockwell (Porter Cable now) model 100 1HP
#2 - 30 year old Porter Cable model 536 (heavier version of the PC model 690
#3 - 15 year old Porter Cable model 536 (heavier version of the PC model 690
#4 - 18 year old Elu 3338 2 1/3rd HP plunge router. VERY VERY similar to the Festool OF2000.
#5 - 40 year old Rockwell gift from a friend. Half way between the PC100 and PC536 routers in amperage.

I use the PC routers the most, like the balance between size and power. The little model 100 is crazy smooth and vibration free. Essentially zero vibration but only a 1/4" chuck.

[Jim Crockett]

I feel deprived - I only have one. But it has both regular and plunge bases - Bosch 1617PK.

Jim

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Can't never have enough routahs

[Bruce Wrenn]

[QUOTE=John Shaffner;1249415]
1 Rockwell "green series" Is that one of the plastic "snot monsters?" that describes the color, not quality

[Matt Winterowd]

4 routers, 6 bases.

Bosch 1617EVS fixed & plunge kit
Milwaukee 5615-24 fixed & plunge kit
Milwaukee 5625
Festool OF1400

I really like the little Milwaukee set for control. Really nice body design and size, and a screamin' deal at $100 from Amazon. Would be nice if it had soft start, but for that money who cares.

The Festool has amazing dust collection, but I'm actually not as crazy about the handle design and overall usability as I'd hoped. The big Milwaukee is in the router table, and the Bosch is jig dedicated. The plunge base is installed on my Leigh FMT, and the fixed base is more or less permanently attached to a circle cutting jig.

[sean m. titmas]

the PC 690 are my work horses that handle the majority of my routing. the 7518 is set up in the table for running big profiles and the assortment of smaller routers are all dedicated set ups for p-lam trimming, cove and round over profiles. i like to keep my routers set up with a bit and never have to change them.

[Rick Fisher]

Hey Matt. I have the QF1400 as well. It took a bit to get used to the handle, but I like it now.

I love the collet on the QF-1400, it has become my "go to" router because I can change a bit so easy..

I also have the MK700 trim router.. its adjustments are amazingly accurate, but I find not being able to see the bit odd...

I am considering getting another new router and giving away my old Makita 1/4".. It was the first router I ever owned.. I have a buddy who could use one..

[Mike Wilkins]

9 routers; 10 if you count the one with a bad switch, and 6 laminate trimmers.
And still have my eye out for another one.

[Eric DeSilva]

Fallin' all over >25.

I feel better, since I only have 4.5 (pair of 1617s, a Triton in a table, a OF1010, and a Colt, which is the 0.5). Unless you count a shaper, in which case I've got 5.5.

[Rod Sheridan]

Okay..

How many routers do you have..

Rules..

(1) Must be running, or being repaired..
(2) Includes Trim routers, up to 3 1/2 hp routers.. (not shapers or pin routers) ..


One, I've included a photo of it, it's a cordless model, very quiet.......Rod.

[Steve Clardy]

Should of had a 20+ option. Lol



PC 7310's
PC 690's
PC 7500's
1 Hitachi

Like Larry, I've stayed with the tried and true PC versions.