Subject: Re: Router Recommendations?

From: Steve Wallace <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 20:32:52 -0800

Philip Procter wrote:
> 
> "Rick Gimbel" <[email-masked]> wrote:
> 
> >At the risk of starting a 'really big' thread:
> 
> >I would appreciate anyones input on the better 1 3/4 - 2hp routers, plunge
> >doesn't matter, this router will spend most of its time in a custom table
> >anyway.

So ya prolly don't really want a plunger anyhoo...but this is another thread
entirely...and I don't really wanna get Rich and Bennett all fahred up... ;^>

> >Price IS an issue and please spare the 'garbage in - garbage out' lectures,
> >I'm on a budget <g>

Aren't we all?  What do you want to spend?  And it's interesting that those
folks trying hardest to 'save money' on tools spend the most on them when
the cheap crap breaks...see my .sig

> >Thanks in advance.......
> >--
> >Rick Gimbel
> >Actual sign in a Los Angeles dance hall:
> >"Good clean dancing every night but Sunday."

Hmmm....Kinda like the actual sign I see occasionally near Old Town San Diego:

      +-----------------------------+
      |                             |
      |       P S Y C H I C         |
      |          F A I R            |
      |                             |
      |     ----------------->      |
      |                             |
      +-----------------------------+

How's come they need the sign?  hehehe....But I digress...

> Oooh, I just know I'm going to catch it for this!!

 Ayup!

> The regular, consummer model Sears router is about $80 and has some
> nice feature (and some obvious shortcomings, like no 1/2" bits). 

Not to mention the exclusive patented ARHA* feature found only on
Sears Best Craftsman routers.  This is truly an engineering feat
on par with some of the truly awesome things that have gone down
in 'Murracun history...like clear Miller Lite (what kinda marketing
brain fart was *that*?).

[snip]

> For about $60 more the PC is a better router.

Yeah.  I fixed the problems that I was having with my Crapsman router 
by adding a Porter Cable upgrade kit** to it.  It now works like a champ.
$60 well spent, IMHO.

The PC 69x is really a nice small router.  It has the ability to be several 
routers in one, by interchanging the bases.  It will support your skills and
needs as they grow.  You might wanna start off with the 690 for use in a table, 
and later buy the 6931 base for plunge work, and maybe the 6911 base for 
non-plunge hand-held use.  Routers are awfully versatile machines to constrain
to one kind of operation, IMHO.

[bunch-o Jesus drivel snipped]

*  ARHA  Automatic Random Height Adjustment.  A feature found only on 
	Sears routers that causes the height to slip at the moment that
	is most likely to damage the piece of wood that you are working
	on.  This is not a problem unless you care what the finished piece 
	looks like.

** Porter Cable Upgrade kit.  This is an auxiliary attachment to the Sears
	router that you bought when you didn't listen to the advice of 
	folks who warned you to stay out of Sears stores.  It is simple
	to attach.  Start by removing the bit from the Sears router.
	Open the Porter Cable upgrade attachment box...PC part number
	PC690.  Unpack it carefully.  In the center of the foam insert
	will be a gray cylindrical device.  Remove it carefully, and
	use the spanner set included in the box to insert the bit into
	the small, beak-like device on the bottom side of the cylidrical	
	part of the upgrade kit.  Place Sears router in garbage with a
	great deal of pomp and ceremony.  Upgrade complete.

Later.
Steve.
-- 
"Buy the best, and only cry once."

---

From: [email-masked] (Darren Scott Cobb)
Date: 28 Mar 1997 16:50:33 GMT

>the cheap crap breaks...see my .sig

And to top it off, a fine router seems to be one of the few 
tools that nearly any woodworker can afford.  I have to admit 
that I feel terribly humbled when I see these discussions about 
$1000 table saws and $500 miter saws, and how anything less is 
just junk.  But some of the very best routers on the market (I'm 
partial to my Bosch) shouldn't set you back more than $200.
This being the case, there is no excuse for buying the Craftsman.

I won't Craftsman-bash just for the sake of bashing, or just to 
be fashionable, either.  But please don't buy a Craftsman router. 
The problems I had with mine have been echoed here multiple times.
I can't believe that a bunch of people sat around in a boardroom
and actually purposefully approved that machine for release.
Maybe I'm naive.

Darren Scott Cobb                  __  .    __    .      _/|__    ,
Indiana University               }<_;>  . }<_;>  .     /`o _  `\_/ 
[email-masked]                            __  .   >,_____,/^\ 
http://ezinfo.ucs.indiana.edu/~dascobb/      }<_;>        \|      `

---

From: Brad Erickson <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 12:17:30 -0800

I have a Jet cabinet JTAS-10 with a 30" fence. Need a mobile base.
the Vega looks interesting??  does anyone have Recommendations???
Thanks,
Brad
-- 

   ***CAPELLA NETWORKING - WEST***		    
   http://capella.sj.ca.us	   Phone:    800-649-7928            
   Email: brad:capella.com	   Fax:      408-358-8710
   Worldwide distributor of:  3Com, Adtran, Ascend, American
   Power, Assurnet, Cisco, Compatible, Computone, Kentrox,
   Livingston, Microcom, PacificBell, Shiva, U.S. Robotics

---

From: Tom Cross <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 22:52:21 -0800

Try:
HTC Products
332 E. Lincoln
Royal Oak, MI 48067
Area code is 810 (will change to 248 in May)

I bought a stand from them for my Jet TS. I know I saw a stand for the 
cabinet saw in their catalog.

Good Luck

---

From: [email-masked] (Tim Hoyman)
Date: Tue, 01 Apr 1997 08:22:09 -0600

> the Vega looks interesting??  does anyone have Recommendations???

Brad,

I have a HTC base under my PM 66 that I really do not like all that much. 
It has casters at each corner, two that swivel and two that are fixed. 
The fixed casters have a bolt with a knob that can be tightened down to
stop the wheel from turning.  However, I have found that there is quite a
bit of play in the whole system, so my saw tends to move a bit.  A friend
has a Delta base under his Delta CS and it sits on the floor until you
step on a large lever, then it lifts up on to a swivel caster.  His is
much more stable.  I would check to see if the Jet will fit in the Delta
base.  Make sure you will have access to your DC outlet if you use the
Delta base.

Good luck,

Tim

---

From: [email-masked] (Bill Hartmann)
Date: Wed, 02 Apr 1997 14:44:52 GMT

Brad

Jet makes a retractable caster set, the JRC-1. The bolt right on to
the legs. I have used them on the JWTS and they work real nice. You
can get them from tool crib. I just used two lower them and the wheel
barrow the saw. Call Jet and see if it will work on the JTAS.

Also Delta has out a new universal mobile base (pn 50-345). It is like
their mobile base, but you supply wooden rails that tie the corners to
together so that you can size it to fit.

Bill