Thread: New router - money no object

What router, you ask? You mean routers, as in plural don't you?

You have already stated that money is no object, so why swap one router between table and hand held? I would have one permanently mounted in the table, another for hand held work and a small trimmer for the little jobs such as hinges.

Why do I say "would"? I do have those 3 already and another spare big one as well.

What do I have? A Triton TRA001 in the table, a Triton MOF001 for hand held worh, a little Makita trimmer and a spare Makita 3600.

I'm sure you'll get lots more recommendations, but that was my pick and I'm happy with that lot

I'd go along with Fred's selection. Sounds good to me.

I agree with Big Shed. More than one is necessary. I have a Hitachi TR-12 for the table. Plenty of grunt where it is needed, but does not have variable speed. I can't complain as my father has given it to me and it had done about 2 hours work over 15 years. I find that it's a bit too big for me to use hand held though. For handheld, I use a festool OF1400. I like the height adjustment featurs and its dust capturing ability. It has a great ratchet system for bit change-outs and it fits nicely with my other festool accessories as well. It is my prefered router for handheld work. I'm not sure if you have any other Festool tools, but beware, they are addictive. For small jobs, I recently acquired a Bosch GMR-1 trimmer. I bought this model because I liked the fine/course height adjustment system and it fits well in my hands. Nice ergonomics and bit changeout is a breeze with the course adjustment feature. Hope this helps and good luck. Half the fun is researching.

Originally Posted by Just George

I am looking for a new router, it will get a lot of hand held use and a small amount of table use.

I have my own thoughts about what I am looking for.

With money no object, what would do you think would be good and why?

George,

With money no object, I would also go with the 2 router setup

A Triton TRA0001 in the table (as it seems to be the best for under table operation)

A Makita 3216C for hand held use due to its superb plunge action.

This is my current set up for these two routers.

If you only wanted 1 router I would go for the Makita due to the plunge action (you did say only a small table usage) - it come with a cover for use in the table also.


James

The Makita 3612C is relevation when it comes to routers, it is quieter than the Triton, is has loads of torque, handles big bits with ease, the soft start is less intrusive than some other routers and the brake when switched off is very quick.

If money is no object then look at the Scheer brand of routers, they are considered to be the best routers available, I have personaly own a 3hp sheer I have had it for tweny years, only thing I have replaced is the bearings two years ago

The Festool OF1400 is a fantastic router for handheld work. Accurate, plenty of grunt for anything handheld, great collets, and the best dust extraction of any router I have seen.

I also use my OF1400 in the table and it performs very well. It would be nice to have a second router for the table, but with my setup it takes me only about 2 minutes to mount.

The 2 issues with using the OF1400 for table mounting are (1) you won't find a mounting plate pre-drilled to suit this router, (2) no inbuilt screw mechanism for height adjustment and no suitable off the shelf router lifts
(1) is not really an issue, I bought the "blank" Incra alloy plate and drilled the 2 holes required for mounting the router.
(2) you need to be a bit more creative. You can just push the router up from below the table and use the accurate depth stop with micro adjust to set your height accurately, but you are pushing against gravity and the springs for the plunge action. This gets old. So other approach is to just attach a U shaped frame also to the bottom of the router plate that goes around the router and has a screw that does the pushing for you. (You could probably get even more creative and rig this up in such a way that you could do your height adjustment from above the table).

So for hand held I think it is hard to beat, for table work the compromise is that you need to go with the Festool router table (which I don't like), or come up with your own mounting and lift system, (which is really quite easy).

In the unlikely event that money was no object, in spite of my obvious loyalty to the TRA001 and MOF001, it would be the Festool TF2200 for inverted use and Festool OF1400 for hand-held use. No contest!

Ray

IMHO money no object,
1. Start with the biggest and its not a router, start with a spindle moulder... yep a real cast iron topped machine.
2. Makita 3612c and a uni-lift for the router table(festool quality is wasted in this situation)the 3612c mak is a proven long term workhorse.
3. OF1400 festy for hand held work(very tasty!)
4. Trim router can be just about any reasonable brand, they are a pretty simple machine and dont need 20 million features like a hand held job to be useful, look more for one with a decent solid base set up(some are pretty cheesey)

If money no object and you have a spare $1450 then the Festool OF2200. The perfect router

Money no object, handheld use mainly wirth some table work? No question - the Festool CMS Bench-mouted Router OF 1400 Set (TF 1400-SET AUS) or CMS Bench-mouted Router OF 2200 CMS Set (TF 2200 AUS240V Set) depending on how much power you really need.

Why - because it will encourage you to buy more Festool of course

Greaty dust collection, fantastic hand-held router & works with the other parts of the Festool "system" including rails & the MFT, portable & the best after sales service around.

As i said in another post..if you have a spare $4300 US...Scheer..crazy money isn't it..