Agree that 2 to 2.5 hp is good for most plungers.
Notwithstanding, if you overwork them, they get hot. A 3 HP tool is ~ 3
pounds heavier but will run much longer on heavy duty situations.
Mortice to 2" for an hour or so and the small plunger will get too hot
handle.
More on routers? See the http://patwarner.com/selecting_router.html
link.
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wrote:
Hi,


I'm seeking some explanations regarding the huge plunge routers
available on the market right now.

All tool manufacturers offer a 3+HP plunge router in their lineup (some
have more than one) but only two makes a fixed base router (PC and
3HP). My impression is the following:

- Those routers are very heavy and not really suitable for hand held
work.
- Some of them have a very small base opening preventing them from
using large diameter bits.
- Some may claim they're designed to be installed in a table. Well, you
don't need a plunge router to gain the ability to raise the bit? A
fixed base router does the job well... Many plunge routers have
powerful springs that makes them very hard to raise once they're
installed in a table.
- As far as I'm concerned, a plunge router is designed "to plunge" in
the material. I don't know many "plunging" tasks that requires such a
monster. Making mortises is done easily with any 2HP plunge router.

Well, this is my understanding so far. Am I missing something? There
must be over 10 plunge router monsters available but only 2 fixed base.
There must be a reason for it that I ignore. What's the advantage of
the plunge base in such big router?

I would appreciate if anyone of you can shed some light on this...

Thanks,

Ben