Neal thus spake:

The review of this router was interesting to me because I have had this router
for about three weeks and my impressions of it are substantially different than
Gregs. My impressions are so different that when I started reading his review I
wondered whether Tool Crib may have sent him a Kitchen Aid blender by mistake.
If I were Greg, I would send that router back. It must have been assembled on
Monday morning by an employee suffering a hangover from a weekend long party.

Hi, Neal,

Thanks for the rebuttal. I have no problem with alternate views, and
in fact found it interesting that your model differed so radically
from mine. I have been wooddorking for 25 years or so, off and on, so
I *think* I could tell if they sent a blender by mistake. The blender
has rum in it, right? ;-)

I do have a few comments on your comments, however. They are
interspersed below.

I have only been doing woodworking for a few years am not an expert with
routers or woodworking. I had a low end router that I mainly used in a table.
I wanted something more accurate and I also wanted above the table height
adjustment. I looked at the Bosch routers and was very impressed but they did
not have the above table height adjustment. The Milwaukee did have the
adjustment but still I would have to reach under the table to release the router
before making the adjustment. The Porter Cable seemed to have everything I
wanted. It was only a few dollars more than the Milwaukee and it came with two
bases. I have actually used the router and have it mounted in my table. I'll
go through Greg's review and add my comments below.

This is also why I chose this model. Router table use with the fixed
base was one priority, without having to buy a $300 add-on lift. And
you DO have to reach under the table to fully release the router motor
with the PC, just not for minor adjustments. Moving it 2 1/2" at 1/8"
per rev isn't going to happen in my shop, however. A hex socket won't
fit through the baseplate, and I'm not all that thrilled about using
an electric screwdriver to move it anyway. None of this was the
deal-breaker, however.

I am familiar with the 690 series and I don't feel that the 890 series has a
thinner thickness on the housings I went to Home Depot today and looked at a 690
and I did not see a difference in thickness. The collets seem to be the same
for both models.

The thickness of the plunge base is fine, but the fixed base is far
lighter, IMHO. And the locking lever is very lightweight. Based on
my experience with air-cooled aluminum engines and such, the lever
feels like a fracture waiting to happen - too long, too curvey, and
too thin. IMO, they would have done well to have used a steel lever
as on the plunge base. Again, this wasn't the deal-breaker. But the
thin aluminum lever bearing on the steel friction plate of the clamp
is a bad idea, IMHO.

All of the labels on mine were properly attached. None were loose. The Main
Porter Cable label is slightly crooked. The collet wrench is of poor quality.

Pretty much in agreement here, other than the fact that the labels on
mine are/have peeled off. Not a deal-breaker, but annoying.

The housings are different than the 690 series. They are not as smooth and
Porter Cable may have saved some money here but the machining is excellent. I
don't care if my tools are "pretty". I want them to be reliable, accurate,
consistent and safe. Others may feel differently. I don't feel the locking
lever is too thin and I can not see how it could ever break unless the router
was dropped. The height adjustment works flawlessly in a table and is not at
all sloppy. The odor from the hand knobs reinforces my employee hangover theory
because mine do not emit any odor at all. The collet locking part is somewhat
sloppy in its fit but it does work very well on the fixed base. The adjustment
shafts are not made of soft metal. They are diffinately hardened. They work
well above the table. I can unlock the router and then use my electric
screwdriver with a 3/16" socket to raise the router quickly. The supplied tool
to make small adjustments works very well.

This is where our models diverge. The housing finish isn't bad, as I
stated. I also am not too concerned with appearance. But my
adjustment worm and rack clearance is extremely sloppy. This is a
model that you adjust UP to final position from below the desired
setting when in a router table. Gravity plays an important role in
where it ends up. My adjustment screws *are* soft metal. Can't give
you a durometer reading, 'cause the tools are at work. ;-) The
add-on shaft used to adjust through the router table IS hardened. But
the shaft on the router itself is soft, shiny steel. I can leave a
groove in it with the tip of a forcep. And again, a standard hex
socket won't fit through the baseplate, and I'm not all that thrilled
about using an electric screwdriver to move it anyway - just results
in accelerated wear, plus another tool to keep up with while working.

The collet lock on my plunge base does not work. The router does not go down
far enough to activate the lock. I doubt I would use the lock on this base
anyway but it is a flaw. I have no problem seeing the scale through the plastic
and my 58 year old eyes are not what they used to be. However, it could be
better. I usually use setup bars on a plunge base anyway and never look at the
scale on the router. The next point is probably the most serious problem Greg
found in his review. He was able to change the bit height by pressing on the
router grips. I have tried to duplicate this but I can not. I tried pushing
everyway I could on the plunge base and the depth of the cut stayed the same.
There is no flex in mine and it is much smoother than the 690 series plunge
base. I can not see how his got through any type of quality control with a
defect like this. The router also has power to spare and runs very smooth and
quiet.

My scale is unreadable. You cannot, and I stress the word cannot, see
through the plastic AT ALL. It is like frosted glass. I thought it
could have been from chemical exposure, but it so evenly frosted that
I discounted that possibility. Again, not a deal-breaker, as I also
do not use the scale for much. I have a micrometer for such things.

The deal-breaker for me, as you pointed out, is the slop in the plunge
base. The bushings in the right plunge column are plastic, and there
is an unacceptable (IMHO) amount of movement of the bit. I measured
it with a dial indicator, and with moderate pressure from ONE finger
on ONE plunge router grip, I get a bit height variation of .030" to
..067" depending on the depth of the plunge. Additionally, the bit
moves sideways from .025" - .044", again depending on the setting of
the plunge. The side with the bronze bushings stays put, while the
side with the plastic bushings flexes. It also makes a creaking
sound, and shudders when doing so. It is not smooth at all.

[Q] Are both of your post bushings bronze, or are they mixed?

I don't know much about motors and nothing about varish or pressure impregnated
windings. If someone can explain the need for this to me, I would appreciate
it. I have never used a router at full plunge depth and I can see no situation
where I would need to. The slide could possibly break if this occured and the
auto lock was turned on. It is easily turned off. Since the collet lock does
not work on the plunge base, I don't think I will be too concerned with this.

The windings in a motor actually vibrate and move about at high speed,
centrifugal force is a power thing at 23,000 RPM. In good quality
motors, the windings are varnish impregnated to fix their position so
that they don't abrade the copper wire's coating - which results in a
short. I have had several Taiwanese motors from Delta do this very
thing - and upon disassembly, found they were NOT varnished. It is
quite a dramatic experience - a bright flash, some smoke, then dead!

As explained in the OP, the breaking slide is really only of concern
in a router table. Leave the switch on, hook to a remote power
switch, engage the auto-collet lock, raise the bit for change and
*Snap*, the slide is broken. You could opt not to use the auto-collet
lock, or turn off the router with the motor switch, but this defeats
some of the benefits of putting it all in a router table.

That made in the USA is a label I used to look for all the time. I kept buying
American made cars when everyone was telling me that they were junk. After my
wife got a foreign car, I realized that what everyone was telling me was right.
My American made car can not compare to her car. I really hate to admit this.
I think The Chinese have made tremendous improvements in quality control over
the last ten years and Made in China may not be so bad anymore. I don't know
what parts of this router were made in the USA. I would not describe it as made
of "Chinese pot metal and cheap labor". It's becoming a global economy whether
we want it to or not and we need to accept this change. I had no problem running
the CD but its content was not anything special.

I understand about the Chinese thing, and probably 60% of the cast
iron in my shop is of Chinese origin. And they HAVE improved over the
years. But the import stuff was clearly identified as such, and I
knew what to expect - no OSHA, slave and prison labor. This unit
claims to be Made in USA and it isn't. Most likely, only the most
minimal of final assembly work was done here. The motor is clearly
constructed all offshore parts, offshore. I doubt that anything but
the CD, instruction book and base labels were made/printed here. And
as for assembly, I doubt that anything but the grips, labels, and
bases are attached in this country. I have worked with imported
electronic equipment for 40 years, and know the signs of imported
workmanship, and the degree of bean-counting that goes on in
corporations these days. PC VERY carefully avoided labeling most of
the internal parts with a country of origin mark- THIS ****es me off.

I appreciate the time Greg took to do his review but I think that anyone
interested in a new router should take a look at this one and draw your own
conclusions. It has its faults and good points like any other product.

As I said in my closing statements, "Form you own conclusions."
Maybe I got a bad one. Maybe it was an early release, and they have
since addressed my concerns. Maybe Tool-Crib has so much purchasing
power that they are now dictating to the manufacturer what to do in
order to cheapen a product. (akin to Wal-Mart, Sears, & Home Despot.)

If it weren't for the sloppy plunge base, I would probably keep it,
just to see how long it lasts. But I can think of no better way to
voice my objections and concerns than to return it.

I would also like to thank everyone on this newsgroup for all of the excellent
answers to questions and the never ending humor that is always present here. I
think woodworkers have been blessed with more common sense and humor than the
rest of the population. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas

Ditto That!


Greg G.