Greetings all!

My wife and I are building some decks on my house using ipe wood for
the deck boards and railings. Those who are familiar with ipe know
that it is VERY heavy and dense; one must pre-drill for every screw and
bolt. Our 18-volt cordless (Ryobi) drill has been great for drilling
little holes for the #10 screws in the deckboards and in the railings,
but it is nowhere nearly up to the task of drilling 1/2 inch holes
through ipe 4X4's for the lag bolts on the railing posts.

My 18-volt cordless is great for almost every job I have to do, and
thus I don't have tons of other uses for a heavy duty, monster-sized
corded drill. I'd like to get something that is powerful enough to be
able to get this deck job done, but I am not eager to drift into the
spectacularly expensive realm of the professional-caliber, gargantuan
mega-tools. Any recommendations?

Also, my wife and I could use a router, but have almost no experience
in this area. We do not have a specific project in mind, but I think
we would benefit from a router that has maximum versatility. I don't
think that we'd need a particularly powerful, ultra-heavy duty router.
What are the advantages of a plunge router versus a fixed table router?
I suppose something under $120 US dollars would be nice, but we would
be willing to spend more if necessary. Are there models which are dual
purpose -- perhaps they are a hand-held plunge router which can be
attached to a table to do fixed table routing?
Thanks in advance for any advice!

Chuck

wrote in message

My 18-volt cordless is great for almost every job I have to do, and
thus I don't have tons of other uses for a heavy duty, monster-sized
corded drill. I'd like to get something that is powerful enough to be
able to get this deck job done, but I am not eager to drift into the
spectacularly expensive realm of the professional-caliber, gargantuan
mega-tools. Any recommendations?

Rent one if you can get the job done in a day. Milwaulkee is ne of the
best, but DeWalt and a few others in th at catagory will work.


Also, my wife and I could use a router, but have almost no experience
in this area. We do not have a specific project in mind, but I think
we would benefit from a router that has maximum versatility. I don't
think that we'd need a particularly powerful, ultra-heavy duty router.
What are the advantages of a plunge router versus a fixed table router?

Avoid Ryobi as they are one of the worst routers ever made. For maximum
versatility look at one of the models with changeable bases. Porter Cable,
DeWalt, Bosch, Milwaukee, Hitachi are all good. Read up a little at
www.partwarner.com Pat is probably the best router guy in the world and has
some reviews and comments on his web page.
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Don't believe you'll be able to find a router bit long enough to get
through a 4X4. As Edwin suggests rent the proper tool.

On 21 Dec 2004 23:30:06 -0800, wrote:

My wife and I are building some decks on my house using ipe wood for
the deck boards and railings. Those who are familiar with ipe know
that it is VERY heavy and dense; one must pre-drill for every screw and
bolt. Our 18-volt cordless (Ryobi) drill has been great for drilling
little holes for the #10 screws in the deckboards and in the railings,
but it is nowhere nearly up to the task of drilling 1/2 inch holes
through ipe 4X4's for the lag bolts on the railing posts.

wrote:

What are the advantages of a plunge router versus a fixed table router?

A plunge router can "plunge" which is to say, penetrate into the middle
of the work, without starting at an edge. Useful for things like
mortices.

Personally, I found it less used than a fixed base unit.

I suppose something under $120 US dollars would be nice, but we would
be willing to spend more if necessary. Are there models which are dual
purpose -- perhaps they are a hand-held plunge router which can be
attached to a table to do fixed table routing?

Porter cable makes a good (great) router, which has plunge, standard,
and D-handle bases. You can buy a kit with all three, or get the bases
later as you need them.

Hello again!

Thanks for all the very helpful responses I have received thus far. I
just want to clarify something: My original post asks about (1) a
drill that can put a 1/2 inch hole in 4X4 ipe, and (2) general advice
on a router, but I did not mean to imply that I was thinking of using a
router to go through the 4X4. When I said we "could use a router," I
meant that we generally seem to be working on projects where a router
might be useful.

Chuck

My original post asks about (1) a
drill that can put a 1/2 inch hole in 4X4 ipe,

I picked up an inexpensive drill at Harbor Freight for some drilling into
concrete I had to do.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=45338

It certainly isn't the highest quality, but for me it did everything I asked
it to do. I also used it with a 5/8" wood boring bit to run wires through
2x4 studs and it handled that with ease. It had more than enough power.