BillFitzmaurice.info

Prompted by the old man to return his Craftsman after borrowing it for a year.

Picked this unit up locally on CL from a retired woodworker. Now I understand what Bill and others have been saying about Porter Cable. This isn't the fanciest thing out there, but it sure is nice.

Fixed base. Plunge bass. Guide bushing kit. Nice.

Porter's aren't the cat's meow, (festool, ahem) but they're damn near it. Durable and accurate. Nice pickup.

LelandCrooks wrote:, (festool, ahem)

One Festool......or 4 Porter Cable routers, a set of bits, a router table, and a tuna melt at Denny's - same price.

Bingo Bruce.

I only build a few speakers from time to time and would eventually like to make a few pieces of simple furniture, but that's about it. My dad and cousin are the ones with the shops and all the fancy gear.

For me it's just the basics , and the quality of the PC motor and bases are much improved over the Bosch and Craftsman I've been accustomed to.

For anything more advanced, there's always the local makerspace.

I'm really excited about the guide bushing set.

Radian wrote:Bingo Bruce.

I only build a few speakers from time to time and would eventually like to make a few pieces of simple furniture, but that's about it. My dad and cousin are the ones with the shops and all the fancy gear.

For me it's just the basics , and the quality of the PC motor and bases are much improved over the Bosch and Craftsman I've been accustomed to.

For anything more advanced, there's always the local makerspace.

I'm really excited about the guide bushing set.

I bought the Bosch kit a few years back...couldn't see much difference between it and the PC at the time.....although I really like the cool, wooden handles on the Bosch. Found the Bosch on sale and it came with some clamps (weird, right?). Would have bought the PC if it had been a better deal.

I'd love to have some of the Festool stuff, but just can't justify that price for a small amount I use it.

The festool router is like a gift from God when paired with their dust extraction unit.

Bruce Weldy wrote: I bought the Bosch kit a few years back...couldn't see much difference between it and the PC at the time.....although I really like the cool, wooden handles on the Bosch. Found the Bosch on sale and it came with some clamps (weird, right?). Would have bought the PC if it had been a better deal.

I have the bosch and it is nice but it has 2 weird quirks for a router. The handles on the plunge base are a bit loose as in they move around when you are man handling the base. The second quirk is that the on/off switch gets plugged up with sawdust and needs cleaning from time to time or it won't turn on. Who'd of thought there would be saw dust around the shop?

I see a lot of covered rocker switches offered now, yet everyone seems to complain about their lack of convenience over a toggle switch. Word must've gotten around.

I was mulling around the big lot stores today and could plainly see why most people end up with 1/4" shank bits....it seems that's all they carry. It's not like 1/2" shank are all that more expensive. I never experienced a problem with smaller size, but all I've ever used at work were the bigger ones.

Oh well, I'll check with the local wood club for a supplier in town and if that yields nothing, it'll have to be mail order. All I ever use are about 4-5 bits.

CoronaOperator wrote:

Bruce Weldy wrote: I bought the Bosch kit a few years back...couldn't see much difference between it and the PC at the time.....although I really like the cool, wooden handles on the Bosch. Found the Bosch on sale and it came with some clamps (weird, right?). Would have bought the PC if it had been a better deal.

I have the bosch and it is nice but it has 2 weird quirks for a router. The handles on the plunge base are a bit loose as in they move around when you are man handling the base. The second quirk is that the on/off switch gets plugged up with sawdust and needs cleaning from time to time or it won't turn on. Who'd of thought there would be saw dust around the shop?

I've not encountered any of those problems......I don't use the plunge base all that often. Most of the time I just do a manual plunge with the fixed base.

I went with the Milwaukee (kit with both regular and plunge bases) and have only good things to say about it. Smooth and powerful.

sine143 wrote:The festool router is like a gift from God when paired with their dust extraction unit.

I am still wanting a Festool router to go with my Festool dust extractor. Too poor after the Fest track saw and extractor so I went with the Dewalt router with plunge and fixed bases because it was the only one that had a dust extraction connection stock. The others I looked at required an additional fitting for the dust hose.