1/4'' router - buying advice.

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Bill Derr

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I need to get a new 1/4'' router. It will mostly be used with a Trend hinge jig and rounding over, also a bit of light duty regular routing.
I have a Bosch GKF600 and it's pretty decent with the plunge base tbh, trouble is it won't take guide bushes so I have fitted the Trend universal base, that works quite well but the brass inserts the screws go in to to hold a guide bush in have failed and I'm reluctant to but another.
So I bought a Katsu with a plunge base, same problem with guide bushes but the Silverline Porter Cable style one sort of fit, at least they did until I switched the thing on and the guide bush came unscrewed and got chewed up by the bit - the bushes were well made but the Katsu has a bit of vibration in it so I think that was the problem.

So I'm looking for a proper 1/4'' plunge router as it needs to be fairly light to be comfortable with the hinge jig and is ready to go with no adaptions for guide bushes - so far I like the look of the Trend T5 and the Makita RP0900X, Festool too dear for me so not even in the running.

Your recommendations will be most welcome :)
 
I bought the DeWALT D26204K just over a year ago - I predominately use it in the plunge base configuration, and I've never had a bad experience to date when using it. It seems to get decent reviews across the board , so it might be worth a look.
 
I have 3 makita routers, 1 x 1/2 and 2 x 1/4.
If I get a fourth, it will be the same colour.
 
You know, I dont even know what that is. :shock:
I'm out of touch here admittedly, but I do stick to stuff I know works, and makita routers work.
 
The Draper Expert, although not a 1/4" its light the handles are on the lower area of the router and it takes the Porter Cable bush's as standard, added benefits are a transparent base and three LED work lights built in, I was impressed enough I bought a second one, best router I have ever used in a jig.

Mike
 
so far I havent used bushes routing.
80% of my routing is on the table.
18% is with a sled mounted router for thicknessing small pieces,
and 2% is a roundover bit in an edge trimmer.
I just might investigate a katsu as the sled mounted router (NOT a makita) is rubbish and needs to be binned very soon. But I am leary of something cheaper than its copy.
 
I'm leaning more towards the T5 at the moment as it has variable speed which seems a useful thing to have, seems odd that the Makita doesn't have variable speed and just spins at 27,000 RPM - pretty sure I have seen on some router bits that the max speed is lower than that????
Not too sure if that is a problem or not as my Bosch is single speed and I have never had any issues with it.
 
Makita do make a variable speed router. I didnt spend the extra. i have never felt the need to change speeds. I have a couple variable speed machines, again, I have never changed the speeds. Just something else to go wrong (and they do).
 
I love my little Katsu router, if you have one of these already no need to buy another tool. I made a base to take Trend type guide bushes out of 6mm acrylic, it only takes a couple of hours and works perfectly.

Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk
 
I wouldn't think a single speed to be a drawback on a 1/4" machine - they don't really take large enough cutters to cause a problem. I've a few cutters that need slower speeds - like a 36mm square and a 40mm ovolo - but of course these are not made with 1/4" shanks, and of course some are designed for table use rather than freehand.
 

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