On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 16:33:48 -0400, "Chris Harris"
wrote:

As some of you may have seen in other threads, I am norrowing down my power
tool wish list.

Now to the router. For this item I think I can afford a decent one that'll
last a very long time, rather than buy a cheapo. I currently have a Bosch
constant speed 1/4" job. It's a something 500. It's done me until now, but
now I want to go up to 1/2" variable speed job.

It'll get used for everything, mortising, dovetailing, panels, mouldings and
facings etc. etc.

What do you guys reccomend in this category?

Somebody previously suggested a Freud, but I had a look at the pics of one
on Amazon and it looked like all the bits didn't fit together very well.
Maybe it runs like a dream? Comments?

Not a suggestion as such, but I guess you need to know this happened;

Back in January, I ordered a DeWalt 615

It's here now and it's about to be returned for a refund; this is why.

Was advertised as having 6mm, 6.3mm and 8mm collets. I have since also
come to understand it should come with a parallel fence/giude, and a
30mm guide bush. Out of those it had the 6 or 6.3 (can't quite recall
which) and that was it!

It's taken until last week to discover that despite countless phone
calls to the retailer, they (who I shall not name as it's not
entirely or even that much their fault in my view, but they are a
household name!) and DeWalt between them have failed to do anything
about that situation, beyond coming up with an 8mm collet so I could
at least use the set of cutters I bought with it from the same
supplier - and all this for the princely sum of £239.99 for the
router alone thank you very much! I bought this one based on DW's
reputation as much as anything much else, but I have to say it's not
what I'd describe as a smooth action plunge either, since it locks
solid before going nowhere at all, instead of sliding downward
sometimes! That reputation can not have been built on doing business
this way, surely? I have made sure it wasn't locked too, but the truth
is actually as grizzly as it sticking on the plunge or even instead of
the plunge!

Since I'd tried out my 8mm cutters in the course of having this
learning curve thrust into my life, I felt I needed something to get
the use out of the cutters and make some cuts that still needed doing
for the house refurb which is ongoing, so I took a real gamble(!) and
spent £23.99 with Screwfix for the Ferm 550watt model, and opted for
that one while I took time to make a better purchase of a "Quality
Router!" ;O) I also felt that I might table this one later to, as it
seems easy to remove from it's base should I decide to go that route
apparently, and there's a few other nice things about it I'd seen
mention of in various newsgroup searches.

OK, it's not quite as nice as the DW of course, but it does plunge
smoothly, and it did come with the 3 sizes of collets as advertised by
both retailers, It also came with a parallel guide, but it did not
come with the bush either, however in all fairness Screwfix mention
that on the their site and in their paper catalogue. It also came with
a router bit which the DW did not, not the worlds finest router bit,
I'll grant you, but at least it was there!

One thing is for sure, one may be ten times the other in price, but
it's not ten times the value.

For my "proper" router I am currently looking at Ferm or Erbauer half
inchers as they are currently looking like an interesting couple of
items to me at least. (anyone here tried either of them?) I'll follow
what other replies you get with much interest as it's pretty relevant
to me too right now - you just beat me to it posting the question!!
;O)

The cheapie will sure get me by while I figure out what the best way
to go with this is! I'd try to keep the weight down from my experience
with the DW615, it's manageable enough, but it is undeniably a bit of
a lump and I'm sure a half incher may be even more so. I find I have
much greater control with the Ferm 550 watt, and don't miss the
softstart as much as I thought I might, however the electronic speed
controller is clearly not as sophisticated as that in the DW (no
surprise either at this price!)

Given what's happened to me this year with routers, I am half tempted
to look at Ferm's dearer model at £35 to be honest! ;O) I could get 6
of those and still be quids in! It "looks" and "specs" quite like the
DW 615 too! ;O)


Take Care,
Gnube