im an idiot with a 1/4" router

[paneen]

iv been looking for a router for a while now to make some raised panel doors with. the plan was to buy a used router on ebay and the door and drawer 1/2" cutter set from rutlands.

after some trawling on ebay i found alot of dewalt dw621's going for about £60-£100 so i went online to look up the spec of such a router to make sure it was a 1/2". i found an american site listing it as supporting a 1/2" collett. brilliant. back to ebay to put in a winning bid. new (well used actually but the thing looks like its hardly been used) router on the way.

not so brilliant. after a bit more searching on here when not so caught up in the heat of the moment i now know that only the american version supports 1/2" collet. bollocks.

i suppose my question is. does anyone on here know what i can do about this? the plan was to mount the router under a table. are there any cutters similar to the rutlands door and drawer set i could use in this router? shall i just cut my losses and buy a 1/2" router?

thanks in advance

 

[marcros]

personally, I would cut my losses. If you invested £60-100 in a hardly used dewalt, then the losses may not be that much at all. The door cutters can be some big ones, far better suited to a 1/2" collet.

The alternative is- if you can afford to do so- keep it and you will find it useful for smaller tasks. But you would also need to get a 1/2" one for the table.

 

[JustBen]

Can you not get an adaptor for it?
I've got a 1/4 router and it's plenty powerful enough.
A lot of places do 1/4 versions of most bits but granted not all.

 

[mseries]

I don't think you'll find a panel raiser for 1/4" but you can get a rail & stile set for 1/4" from Trend. You could use the router hand held to raise the panel but only (easily) if the slope is flat at not curved so it might not suit you. The jig you'll need is very simple to make and is used with a straight cutter. Let me know if you want me to say more about this, I can photo my jig at the weekend and talk about the method if you like. I got it from a book so don't have a link at the moment.

You can probably sell the 1/4 incher on and recover most, if not all of you money then put it towards a 1/2 incher, if you have aleady splashed out on the cutter set then this might be the best bet.

 

[n0legs]

Unless you've already go a decent 1/4" router, you still have a cracking machine there.

 

[MMUK]

If the router is going to be permanently table mounted why not look at something a little cheaper?

I had a Draper 1/2" router permanently mounted to a table for years before some thieving scrote took a shine to it on site in Liverpool :evil:

IIRC, the router cost about £60 at the time.

 

[n0legs]

Totally agree with MM on this.
I've got the older Erbauer 1/2" set up permanently in my table. It's either 2000 or 2100 watts and copes with everything I throw at it.
It was on offer when I bought it a couple of years back, sub £100 IIRC.

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

If moneys tight I'd sell it. If moneys not I'd keep it because I have one and they're a very useful 1/4" router but only for topside work. They don't have the grunt or the capacity for table work and of course wont take an 80 or 90mm bit for any kind of panel raising.

I recommend the Trend T11EK for the table because apart from its excellent grunt it has an incredibly useful micro-adjuster that works upside down. This means all your height adjustment is done from the top of the table. It cannot be over emphasised how very useful that one feature is.

 

[paneen]

ok i think im gunna keep hold of the dewalt and look into buying a cheap 1/2" router to mount under a table. that way i can always sell the dewalt if it doesnt get enough use.

i would love the tend t11 but its way off my budget. im thinking maybe this http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silverline-20 ... 5d463dfecb
i dont really want to spend over a ton and having the dewalt means it will stay under the table bearing this in mind can anyone recommend anything.

u guys are a great help cheers

 

[MMUK]

I don't know what your exact budget is but CPC still have the 110v T11 on offer at £176 +VAT

http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/produ ... 434161&N=0

 

[PeteG]

iv been looking for a router for a while now to make some raised panel doors with. the plan was to buy a used router on ebay and the door and drawer 1/2" cutter set from rutlands.

after some trawling on ebay i found alot of dewalt dw621's going for about £60-£100 so i went online to look up the spec of such a router to make sure it was a 1/2". i found an american site listing it as supporting a 1/2" collett. brilliant. back to ebay to put in a winning bid. new (well used actually but the thing looks like its hardly been used) router on the way.

not so brilliant. after a bit more searching on here when not so caught up in the heat of the moment i now know that only the american version supports 1/2" collet. pineapples.

i suppose my question is. does anyone on here know what i can do about this? the plan was to mount the router under a table. are there any cutters similar to the rutlands door and drawer set i could use in this router? shall i just cut my losses and buy a 1/2" router?

thanks in advance

Hello Paneen...I'm not going to be of any help regarding the router, I was in a similiar situation a couple of months back. I'd been looking at the Erbauer 1/2" as has been mentioned, it was on offer at Screwfix for just less than £100.00...The night I went to look at one the offer had finnished and they were at £150.00, I bit the bullet and bought Triton TRB001. However, I have just bought the door and drawer making kit from Rutlands whilst it was on offer. Haven't used anything like these before and I was gob smacked how big the cutters are, especially the raised panel door cutter. I photographed it with 1/2" 28.6 mm radius round bit, from the Wickes cheap and cheerful range.

 

[Rhossydd]

Haven't used anything like these before and I was gob smacked how big the cutters are, especially the raised panel door cutter.

They should command a huge amount of respect and caution.
Fitted to a big powerful router, as they need to be, these are a serious proposition when mounted in a table.
When there's a kick back the results can be serious.

Best not to ask how I know :-/