New router advice

[novocaine]

is it the blue one Graham? if so, I've had one of those, it got nicked. was more than fine for most work I do, sat in a table just fine too. cost less than a worktop jig at the time.

One of these - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1500W-DIY-150 ... 2429241840

Went for the Triton as replacement for the table as it has lift built in, again occasional use.

thats the one. worked fine for me. even if it is named after the devil (apparently).

 

[deema]

I'm unusual, I hate routers! So, I'm going to offer an alternative solution that will do everything you need and enable you to grow with your hobby. I would suggest looking at a secondhand Elektra Beckum spindle moulder. It's small, has decent fully adjustable fences and should have shaw guards and comes with a sliding table for making tenons. It will accept router counters so is in essence a router and a router table could combination but far far cheaper, and will as a bonus take small spindle moulder tooling. It has decent dust extraction as well. On auction sites if your patient they often go for not much more than your budget. If that wasn't enough, if you decide wood work is not for you, you will be able to sell it for the same price you paid for it....or a little more!

 

[powertools]

OOOHH! Graham used the "S" word!

Terrible wasn't I! In fact, much of the Silverline stuff is almost identical to dearer badges, the Draper router being an example. At least virtually everything comes with minimum 3 year guarantee, some lifetime but, haven't claimed yet so don't know if honoured.

Problem is, people have different ideas about what is affordable. For a new DIYer just tooling up for occasional use, there's so much choice between spending the cost of a decent meal for two or, blowing a week or more's wages. Anyone remember the Bridges drill and accessories such as table saw? Times have changed a bit since I had one of those.

It is unbelievable how times have changed. I renovated my first house including making new doors and windows with nothing more than a bridges drill and all the attachments plus a set of ck cutters. Although i have not used any of it for 25 years or so i can't bring myself to get rid of it.

 

[sunnybob]

Silverline might make exceedingly good chocolate teapots, but I wouldnt give any of it house room after breaking one of their 4" engineers vices just by tightening it with my bare hands. Clean snap right across the lower tunnel, loud bang there I am holding a lump of scrap in one hand while looking at the other half still attached to the bench.

Thanks, but no thanks.

 

[MikeJhn]

I have two Silverline electric staple guns, both have broken catches that hold the staple holder in place, both of these broke within two hours of being used, Silverline do not honour their own guarantee's, do not stock spares and do not care about customer service, you buy any product with their name on at your own risk.

Mike

 

[MikeJhn]

First of many requests for bits of advice...

Does anyone have any sub £100 recommendations? As well as any advice on if I should wait and save for a table router, or are there universal tables that I'll be able to fit an existing router to if I buy one now?

Ta

Jon.

Jon

To answer your original question, sub £100.00 router are available, but they would almost exclusively be 1/4" routers which have their place in a workshop, but you are looking for a router that will eventually fit into a router table, this would need to be a 1/2" router to be of any substantial use to you, 1/4" routers are restricted in what they can do and what bits can be fitted into them.

Practically all router tables come with an insert plate that has to be drilled to fit your particular router, so any can be made to fit, what you need to consider is the convenience of above table height adjustment , above table depth locking and above table bit changing, all of this is available at a price, do your investigations carefully and you should get exactly what you want in the end,

I made some expensive mistakes before I eventually arrived at what I think is the most versatile and convenient router table at a reasonable cost.

Mike

 

[sunnybob]

A way of reducing the cost of a good router is the way I got mine.
I bought the big makita on ebay at the cheapest price advertised.
I then took the router out of the box and put everything else back up for sale. Box, edge guide, dust extraction, everything that was not going under the table. I got £45 back on that lot, giving me a 1/2" top brand router for quite a bit under £200.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Silverline might make exceedingly good chocolate teapots, but I wouldnt give any of it house room after breaking one of their 4" engineers vices just by tightening it with my bare hands. Clean snap right across the lower tunnel, loud bang there I am holding a lump of scrap in one hand while looking at the other half still attached to the bench.

Thanks, but no thanks.

I bought a small vice for my bench drill - it was so badly made as to be unusable. Never again. Miles worse than Rolson or Amtech.

 

[MikeJhn]

Jon

Click on this link, there are some bargains listed: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw= ... s&_sacat=0

Mike

 

[Phil Pascoe]

That Hitachi has good reviews as well.

 

[MikeJhn]

Been using a M12VE in my router table for four years, never missed a beat, I also have the M12V2 for large scale off the table routing, very powerful and easy to use.

Mike