Is ryobi good enough (or other cheaper brands)

[kevinr]

I need to build a cupboard or two to fit an odd sized space. Probably pine frames filled with T&G - nothing too fancy and maybe some veneered MDF for the interior & top. I reckon that a router will give me better finish, some detailing and square tenons (if I put a jig together first). The trouble is funds are quite limited.

The ryobi 1/4" is about at £49 or £89 with their router table.

My question is - is this good enough to give me a good quality result?

The view on here (I've searched a lot this week) - and from looking at cheap brands in the diy sheds - seems to be that nearly all sub-£50 powers tools are too low quality to do anything properly. Its not that they will wear out - they appear unable to cut straight from day one. Eg. I looked at a router and a crosscut mitre saw in Wickes and the router could not plunge if you pushed the wrong handle - it canted and bound on the pillars. The saw head could be rocked from side to side by several degrees depending on how you pulled on the handle. Clearly neither of those could be relied on for a good cut.

So are any of the cheaper power tool brands (from screwfix, etc) reliable OR does good woodwork have to wait until I can afford better - or cut straighter with a hand saw.

Thanks

 

[JPEC]

I have several Ferm tools from screwfix, and I 'do wood' for a living :shock: :?
Although they are not the most refined tools you can buy, with a little practice you can achieve very satisfactory results for very little money.
I have bought these tools to work out which ones it is worth spending decent money on.
The only one I have 'upgraded' is the bicuit joiner (for a Lamello), and that was really only because I wrecked the ferm cutting door frames out for laminate floors.
Ok I would like to trade the table saw up to a Scheppach but thats just crazy talk!!! (hammer)

For the money how far wrong can you go?

Hope this helps a bit

Julian

 

[JPEC]

Ps. Don't forget the display models in shops have had every tom and dick messing about with them and they have probably never been set up properly!

PPs. I have a Makita 3612 router which if i dont keep the pillars lubricated tends to bind a little!

Julian

 

[PowerTool]

Hi Kevin,and welcome

Although I don't personally have any Ryobi tools,I know people who do,and the general impression is that they are good for DIY use,OK for light trade use (spare/backup tools) but not suitable for constant trade use - which is about you would expect at that price level.

You can get perfectly acceptable results with "cheaper" tools - but it may need more time setting up to be able to do it.
Remeber that wood expands and contracts,so accuracy is relative to that (i.e. you don't need to be accurate to thousandths of a millimetre with something that may alter by 2 or 3 mm with humidity)

Buying advice is always to buy the best you can afford,as you do get what you pay for - but you also need to get some use from the tools to offset the cost.

Hope this helps,

Andrew

 

[Newbie_Neil]

Hi Kevin

Welcome to the forum.

If you do buy say, a Ferm, from Screfix and it isn't concentric you can keep sending it back. It might need you to return it a few times but you'll get a reasonable one in the end. Factor this into your promised delivery dates as SFX will pick up, and inspect, before they drop the new one.

Cheers
Neil

 

[Tarkin]

On Ryobi, I've got a Ryobi 18V Combi Drill, and it's a tough little thing. It's taken all sorts of abuse, I've used a few other Ryobi products too, and have always been impressed as I'd written them off as cheap rubbish. Don't know about their router though, but if it's up to the standard of their other tools (any reason to think it wouldn't?) then it could be quite a good tool.

I've also got a ferm router (well had), which went in the bin after it exploded and almost imbedded a straight cutter into my arm (missed me by only a few inches)! :shock: After that, I decided that buying a cheap drill is one thing, but skimping on something that spins bits of sharp metal at 22000 rpm can have adverse affects on my health. Just a thought....

 

[wrightclan]

Kevin,

I have a Ryobi router and a couple other Ryobi tools. While they are not pro tools, (I do have some pro tools)they are generally better than other Chinese DIY tools. I haven't tried the model you're looking at, but mine has been no trouble and is very accurate and smooth. I don't use it every day, but when I use it I know I can rely on it do do clean, accurate work.

Remeber that wood expands and contracts,so accuracy is relative to that (i.e. you don't need to be accurate to thousandths of a millimetre with something that may alter by 2 or 3 mm with humidity)



Andrew

Andrew,

You seem to be conflating accuracy of cut with accuracy of sizing of parts or overall size. They are 2 very different issues. If you don't have tools that can and will cut joints accurately or prepare wood accurately; you will have ill-fitting joints that will eventually fail.

With respect to a router, if it is does not run concentric it will have a very poor finish with any edge cutting or moulding; and can even be dangerous with larger bits.

Brad

 

[Anonymous]

Short answer is YES.

I find Ryobi kit to be good enough for my needs and have used a couple of their tools for a few years without problem.

 

[wrightclan]

Kevin,

If you do go for the router, spring for the table as well. If you have a table, you will find yourself using the router for so many things you never imagined before having one. You can make your own quite easily, but for £50, it will get you started into the wonderful world of routing.

Brad

 

[kevinr]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I really was shocked at how wobbly some of the cheap tools were. Its true that they've been handled a lot but they hadn't had any use (vibration and force) on them. It seemed poor that the cutting edge on the Wickes tools could be moved so far side to side just in handling the tool.

Are any of the other cheap tool brands OK for a start. This thread seemed to get some votes for Ryobi - often considered bottom of the middle ground really - and a mention of Ferm as very cheap and ok.

Your advice welcomed. I've not tackled such a "will be looked at" project before.

Thanks

 

[RogerS]

Kevin

Have sent you a pm.

Roger

 

[Little Ern]

Kevin,
I bought a 10" Ryobi CMS from Costco a couple of years ago for about £70.
It's quite noisy but after installing a Freud blade and fiddling about with the set-up I can't fault it.

 

[WellsWood]

Hi Kevin, welcome to the forum.

I have had the bigger brother, the RE-601 1/2" version, for about 5 years now. It's actually a bit of a beast for handheld work because it's so big and thus has spent most of it's time in the table. The "friction" on the speed control dial went south a couple of years ago and has had a lump of bluetac doing the job of stopping the speed wandering ever since. Apart from that it works as well now as the day it came out of the box.

I don't own anything else of their's but I have noticed in recent years a revamping of their range with regard to the aesthetics. To my mind they have made their stuff look and feel a bit less "industrial" and now seemed to be aimed more at the posh end of DIY stuff. What that means with regard to the quality of the internals is anyones guess, but personally I'd be inclined to think they're not as good as they were. If you want to know what I mean nip down to B&Q and compare the size of the battery on their 18v cordless drill to say the Makita equivalent- you'll get the gist.

When it comes to router tables I don't rate the bought ones much, preferring to make my own. I reckon you'll always get better value for money that way. It's also a much cheaper way of finding out what features you like/don't like (need/don't need) for the day you go shopping for a "ready made".

Hope I've helped

Mark

 

[engineer one]

have bought and used one of the ryobi router and table kits
a couple of times. my only complaints are that the table gets
dusty in the strangest places, and the switch gear placement is
odd, as indeed is the way in which the on/off switch is held.
also changing the bits is a bit of a "b****r". however
the kit seems well made, run out does not seem a problem,
and frankly the service from ryobi seems pretty good.

in your position, i would take the plunge(soory )
because until you start, you will not find out, and certainly
the three bits of ryobi gear i have used seemed robust, and well made
and up to the job for heavy intermediate work.

the wickes gear is i believe generally for someone who has a
costed job to do, their tool has broken, and they can write it off
during the job, then if they keep it or not they are quids in.

it's to me kind of like buying nutool. gets you out of the hole, but
you have to keep taking them back to get the right one.

go for it.

paul :wink:

 

[andycktm]

Hi, kevinr
I'm surprised no one has told you the ryobi router takes half inch cutter's. .
I got one of the table kit's about 2 year's ago ,last month i removed the leg's and put the whole top in a home made cabinet.The top is made of a 3 foot length of kitchen worktop which happen's to be the same thickness as the roybi top :wink: .Also made a lifter,new full length fence , removed the handles and the switch.Lastly i continued (cut) the mitre slot's the full length of the table.A little under powered,but ok for general work.........slowly :roll: .

ps Put some wheels on,so if it doesn't work it will make a nice tea trolly :lol:

 

[engineer one]

are andy you running tea rooms for people of "reduced height"?

my ryobi table is much to low to work as a tea tray, mind you a
post modernist coffee table, well who knows??

but i agree about the size, still it is often suggested to go slowly
to stop burn out on the wood.

paul :wink:

 

[andycktm]

:lol: :lol:
Nice one,no mate i just made the cabinet 30 inch high :wink:

 

[Argee]

Hi Kevin, welcome to the forum.

I have had the bigger brother, the RE-601 1/2" version, for about 5 years now. It's actually a bit of a beast for handheld work because it's so big and thus has spent most of it's time in the table.

I had one of those too - wanted something with some grunt and it was the one I liked the feel of when I went down to Woodcut Trading to have a look (which gives some of you an idea of how long ago that was).

Right in the middle of a job, I went to change cutters and the spindle lock snapped off. Because of how it was built, that was that - but it did me a favour in a roundabout way, because I needed a big machine quickly and that's when I discovered the Triton.

The rest, as they say .............

Ray.

 

[WellsWood]

- but it did me a favour in a roundabout way, because I needed a big machine quickly and that's when I discovered the Triton.

The rest, as they say .............

Ray.

ah yes well, the day my Ryobi dies will be the day before I own one of those too! Hmmm...... now where did I put that big panel raising cutter?

Mark