Dewalt 625 or Trend T10

[Blackswanwood]

I upgraded to the the UJK Router Table and lift which has proved to be a brilliant set up compared to my previous shop built set. My Trend T11 is mounted in it which is a bit of a pain in the behind when I need to use it for other stuff so have been looking at buying another router.

As I understand it the Trend T10 and DW 625 are basically the same and most accessories interchangeable ... the prices are all over the place but interestingly I have found Abbey Power Tools on eBay (used before and had no problems) knocking out DW 625 at £230 which looks like a good deal and Trend T10 at £185 which seems like an amazingly good deal? The only real difference I can see between them is that the Dewalt is a kilogram lighter!

Am I missing something?

 

[Doug B]

My personal experience of both the DeWalt 625 & Trend T11 is that even though I’ve had the 625 twenty years I’ve never had to take it apart for maintenance I wish the same was true of the much younger T11 the shaft of which is a nice blue colour after the bearings gave up the ghost.
I seem to remember Bob nine fingers saying a few years ago that the bearings in the Trend weren’t up to the job, that has certainly been my experience.

 

[shed9]

To be fair I've heard of bearing woes for both machines. I know they used to use different bearings as at one point it was these and the guide bush that separated them.

One thing to note is the motor fan, I believe they both push air down which in a table will be moving air up (although I'm sure I have read somewhere that Trend made an adjustment on their model). Not a show stopper but something to consider in terms of dust collection. The UJK lift is fairly blocked at the point the router fits to the plate and it may impact chip extraction.

I suspect either will be fine and be workable.

 

[Blackswanwood]

Thanks guys. I am erring towards the Dewalt ... although if I do go with the Trend there is the possibility that my wife won’t spot I suddenly have two!

 

[Alder]

Your original post is about purchasing another Router as it is a pain to remove the T11 if it is required for other tasks. Is the Ujk system you have making this difficult or is it merely an annoyance?
A second Router would alleviate this annoyance.
Can the Ujk accept most Routers or would that be difficult if you say bought the Dewalt you mention?
I merely ask as I am a step behind you in that the Ujk system and another Router is on my wish list.
Russell

 

[Blackswanwood]

Russell, it is actually not difficult to take the router out of the UJK lift. I just need to undo the two screws that hold the lift/plate in the table,lift it out, release the four screws that hold the router in place and lift it out. I have had to take the handles off the router to avoid catching on the cogs/chain of the lift so I then have to reattach them. It probably takes 5/6 minutes ... it’s just a bit of a faff and interrupts the flow. Actually as I am typing this I am thinking I perhaps over egged it when I told my wife that the new yellow router is an essential! The UJK set up is imho really well thought out and engineered. I hope this helps. Cheers

 

[Blackswanwood]

Sorry, should have also said that if you download the user manual on the Axminster website it gives you a list of compatible routers. It’s a pretty wide coverage and includes DW625 and Trend T10 or T11. Cheers

 

[Alder]

Thank you.
Russell

 

[MikeJhn]

I have the Hitachi M12VE in a UJK lift it fits perfectly, four years latter is still running well, available for less than both the options you have listed: https://www.toolstop.co.uk/hitachi-m12v ... d3EALw_wcB one very nice addition is a MuscleChuck, one allen key operation to change bits.

 

[Peter Sefton]

I feel the Dewalt are better quality, I have a few 625s in the workshop. My Trend routers haven't lasted as long.

 

[MikeJhn]

Peter is that better quality than the Hitachi or Trend?

 

[Eric The Viking]

The T11 has a quick-release cam system available as an accessory. It is pre-fitted to their aluminium router table, I think, which has an aperture, but not a removable plate. It's just three cams that catch up the baseplate, located by semicircular indents around the sides of the plate. I thought the system would be a good idea when I got the T11, so I bought it and it's fitted to my router insert plate presently.

I got the plate I'm currently using professionally drilled by a local machine shop, to drawings I made up from the info that Trend supply with the router. I got them to do two sets of holes, for the cams and for the usual M5 mounting machine screws (which are inboard).

There are three cams, equally spaced round the rim of the baseplate. The M5 screws, OTOH, are not on an equilateral triangle, I think because one of the fence/trammel rods gets in the way on t'other side of the baseplate.

Various things: The cam system isn't wonderfully well engineered, but it serves. Because my mounting plate is drilled to tight tolerances, there is no movement, but the locking doesn't feel very positive and you have to be careful to ensure the cams are in their locked position - it's hard to do this by feel. Also the security of the attachment is very much dependent on having the cams in an exact equilateral triangle centred on the router plate aperture. I don't know for certain, but I think any slack would greatly reduce the strength of the attachment. Mine are snug and tight (because I got a professional to drill the holes?)

If you didn't use an easily-removable plate, the cams would probably be very helpful, because it is easy to mount the router with them. I can get the router properly located and held by the cams, and then put the M5 countersunk screws in to really hold it tight, but their intended use is to be the only mounting necessary. I think if I was using big cutters all the time, for example I have a hefty panel-raiser, I wouldn't be comfortable with just the cams. Also, the countersunk screws centre the shaft in the middle of the aperture pretty exactly, but I'm not sure the cams would.

Anyway I would consider them again if I wasn't using an easily removable router plate. As I write, I presently have a new plate (Incra, from Peter Sefton's Woodworkers' Workshop) waiting to be fitted into a new tabletop (the opening is a different shape, grrr!), and that isn't drilled for the cams. I'm not sure presently if I'll use them again or not.

It's worth pointing out that when using a big table-router handheld, the router plate from the table makes a jolly useful auxiliary base, if you need one. So even when I do use the T11 handheld, sometimes it doesn't come off the plate at all

 

[MikeJhn]

At £140.00 : https://www.toolstop.co.uk/hitachi-m12v ... d3EALw_wcB I don't see need to take the router out of the table, the fittings on the UJK lift are solid enough to allow a 65mm raising panel bit to be used without any vibration or problems, lets face it we all end up with more routers than we need, so it makes sense to have one permanently in the table.

 

[Eric The Viking]

So here are two buying scenarios:

      70     6mm aluminium insert plate (Axminster)
 290-350     Trend T11 kit*
      30     drilling the plate (guesstimate)
    -----
     450               *some T11 offers include the 1/4" collet, some don't.

Or perhaps this:

     140     Hitachi router
     320     UJK Router lift (Axminster)
      70     Musclechuck (Woodworkers' Workshop)
      20     extra collet ( WW's  W'shop again: needed for Musclechuck, I think )
    ----- 
     550

Obviously I have rounded the numbers up, and ignored additional carriage costs (if there are any). I'm also not allowing for the costs of fitting the plate/router lift into a tabletop. In the case of my new Incra I have to make a new tabletop entirely!

 

[MikeJhn]

You certainly manipulated those costings to suit your post, take away the MuscleChuck and extra collet and you have a price difference of £10.00. also what you have ignored is the convenience of the UJK lift and the reliability of the Hitachi vs the Trend:
a) locking the router height from above the table.
b)No need to access under the table to lock the spindle for bit changing.
You pay your money and take you choice, to me not having to kneel down on the floor and grope around under the table is worth more than the additional cost, plus the unreliability of the T11 would be a deciding factor. (see Peter Sefton's post above.)

Notwithstanding any of the above the OP already has the UJK lift so the costings are academic and would only apply to the price difference between the Trend and Hitachi routers, the MuscleChuck is a nice addition and not a requirement.

 

[Peter Sefton]

Peter is that better quality than the Hitachi or Trend?

Better than the Trend IMO, I don't have any experience of the Hitachi but I would think they are a workhorse.