Thread: Router Purchase Advice

You might find a page on basic routing I wrote a while back of some help. It's here if you get the time.

Ray

Originally Posted by HeadScratcher

Hi Tom, if you look at my speaker build thread here https://www.woodworkforums.com/f99/novice-speaker-builder-144661/ it is fairly apparent why I need to be able to work with some fairly small circles. Where do you get your guides from if Makita don’t offer them?

Every piece in the cabinet will be curved in multiple directions, and I need to make 5 identical speakers which have identical volumes, so I really need a solution that is flexible.

I was thinking I would need a combination of a few small guides, and an adjustable hole jig to do all of the curves I need. The biggest problem I can see myself facing is the outside of the cabinet walls.

Using the hole circle jig I can do three semi circles on the inside (2 small, 1 large) and I can afford to go past the optimal point because everything on the inside is scrapped, but the problem I was scratching my head over was how to do the same thing on the outside of the cabinet without going past the critical point and burrowing into material I want left.

I think the guides would work well for the outside of the box, but I am faced with trying to work out how to make the outside circumference slowly shrink without making multiple jigs.

Anyway I probably shouldn’t clog this thread with speaker building advice.

Edit:

Found a link to them in another thread...
https://www.woodworkforums.com/attach...des-guides.jpg

These are for the 3612 but gives me an idea of what I need. The collet is to stop you putting the router bit in too far and hitting the guide I presume?

Funny you do a Google search and you wind up coming back here all the time

Have you put anything on paper regarding what sizes you are requiring 'They say a picture is worth a thousand words' but I require more details if I am to assist
Our local Makita agency have no problems locating the template guides

Tom still in a design phase for the cabinet, the mid woofer that goes in the bottom part of the cabinet is ~150mm diameter, I was thinking somewhere around 170-180mm diameter ID at the front with a wall thickness around 20-25mm and tapering in towards the back.

I need a cabinet volume of ~4.5 litres (give or take for speaker cone displacement etc) but I need to do some fairly intricate calculations of each piece before I can determine the length and volume. The chamber in the picture is roughly 9 degrees and I was thinking of purchasing ~10 degree chamfered router bit for internal shaping.

Hopefully that should give you some idea of the radius of the circles.

Edit:
Top circle is fairly easy to work out... with an ID of 170-180mm (from horizontal speaker centre line) the radius will be half the diameter I decide on. Probably be around the 170mm mark with min of 20mm wall thickness either side, that makes it 210mm diameter min... I don't want the cabinet making the speaker look too small and disproportionate.

Hi HeadScratcher try Norwest Tool Centre - Professional Quality Tools they will order in any of the template guides for the RP2301FC that they don't have in stock.

Regards

Harold

Thanks pal they are the cheapest I have seen so far on the router as well at $486.00

Ray nice basic user guide... plenty of solid tips in there (just to cover off for when common sense just isn't enough).

Picked up my new Makita RP2301FC router today but I’m unsure what it should have come with...
First thing that struck me as being a bit odd was you pay $85 for a budget Makita disk grinder and you get a hard plastic case... You pay $500 for a top shelf router and you get a cardboard box.
According to the manual that came with the router I got some optional extras, but didn’t get some of the standard options.
I got a Straight guide but didn’t get the Fine Adjusting Straight Guide (accessory).
I didn’t get the Template guide (optional accessory) but did get the Trimmer guide (optional accessory).
I didn’t get the Dust nozzle set (accessory), but got a Straight bit.
I got some black plastic handle that looks like it belongs on a hammer drill, but can’t see any mention of it in the manual.
Ordinarily there is some kind of packing guide in the front or back of the manual to tell you what should be in the box, but there’s nothing. I looked on the Makita website before I bought it and it doesn’t tell what the standard inclusions are either.
Has anyone bought one of these routers recently that could tell me what should and shouldn’t be in the box?

It would appear that they don't stick to putting the same things in the boxes. I picked up the RP2301FC about 12 months ago. it came with straight guide, Trimmer guide, 6 & 8 mm collet sleeve, spanner, M6x135 screw (for under table adjustment). The Black plastic handle. You can remove the knob above the nylock nut on the depth adjusting rod. It screws on there makes it a lot easier to make fine adjustments.

Hope this helps

Regards

Harold

Thanks Harold, I just needed to take the cap off that covered the end of the threaded shaft to see the two dimple marks in the nylon nut underneath. Probably would have been easier to guess it's intended use if I put my glasses on and noticed the thread inside.

I should have mentioned the little bits as well. I got the two collet adaptors, the long screw and washer for adjustment when used on a router table, and a spanner, but still surprised that there was no hard case to speak of.

I went to Bunnings on the way home and bought a 20 litre plastic container to keep it in. Mine did come with a Makita TCT router bit (D-07901), and put the hard word on the salesman for an extra router bit.

So I got a TruaCuT (Specs by Stanley) TB512/2 router bit, as I got there just at closing time and had to make a quick decision on the freebee. I thought it would be ok for rounding over the corners on my speaker front and rear panels.

I would have made a project out of making a box for the router. That way you learn how to use the router. You end up with something useful, and if you have a stuff up it should not be a major drama (like it would be on your speaker boxes).

Having said all that, my first router still lives in its original cardboard box from 21 years ago. The tools are in a little wooden box I made for them, but the router bits have out grown the wooden box and are now in a plastic "Carb-i-tool" router bit box.

Good point Handyjack, I looked at plastic tool boxes and I looked at metals ones, but the thought of making my own wood one never dawned on me. Not high on the priority list now that I have a plastic tub to keep it in, but might put it at the bottom of the to do list.