Advice on routers

[RobP]

I'm a self-builder and now finally reaching the point of needing to make some furniture to fit in my new extension and loft conversion. In particular I will be building a fitted office (for my better half who works from home), and then perhaps some dining furniture - table, chairs, sideboard.

I think (but correct me if I'm wrong) that a router is going to be a useful bit of kit at this stage, but I have no idea what to look for as I have been borrowing a router from a mate when I have needed one so far in the build. Most of my existing kit is Makita (well made, good value - you get what you pay for...).

Advice needed...?

Cheers,
Rob

 

[chingerspy]

Well for a lot of work I've found that a router table would help me out so I'd get one with a table in mind next time...

I'd get a 1/2" collet one that had a through table fine adjustment facility. Both of mine (B&D old one and the small new makita) do not have this function so I'd have to adjust the router as normal from under the table.

Makita do one I think around the £250-300 mark. Although I believe other makes such as Trend and DeWalt routers offer better adjustments. Trend in particular do a whole range of accessories which work together which cover most routing applications. They are all around the same price mark though.

edited after checking prices looks like a new router for me is out for a while

 

[RobP]

Sorry guys - I was being lazy and hadn't checked back through the threads properly. If I had I would have seen endless versions of my query.

Many pointers towards trend T10 or T11, so seems like a good choice.

Thanks,
Rob

 

[George_N]

I just bought a Trend T11 router after much deliberation, to replace an old B&Q T-Tech one. Currently on offer from D&M tools for £239 with free 1/4" collet...I ordered at 2pm and it was delivered next morning. Not had a chance to use it a lot yet but so far it has performed very well. As a self builder you will find plenty of jobs for a good router, from fitting kitchen worktops to making your own mouldings to cutting M&T joints or dovetail joints etc. etc. The T11 finally got my vote because it is a professional quality tool and has fine height adjustment from the top or bottom, meaning that it is ideal for mounting in a router table. If you haven't got a router table you should seriously think about buying or building one. There are lots of examples posted on this forum, from the New Yankee Workshop all singing and dancing set up to a simple board clamped to a couple of saw horses with the router hanging underneath.

 

[Malboro]

If I was you I would get a Triton Router. Not such a big name therefore cheaper than the Trend. Basically built to go on a router table. Won numerous awards for being the best router ever. Nothing but fantastic reviews. Plus its orange!

 

[George_N]

In this thread I asked for advice on which router to buy. I started off leaning towards the Triton, partly because I already have a Triton Workcentre and partly because of glowing reports on this forum. I was quite surprised to get several negative comments about the reliability and build quality of the Triton. As I said in my recent post above, I finally went for the Trend, based on good recommendations on the forum, all the features I wanted including through table height adjustment, and the price in the D&M deal, which wasn't that much dearer than the regular price for the big Triton router.

 

[Tim Nott]

I'm well pleased with the Trend T11, especially the fine height adjustment. Not so the Trend T4 which is a piece of crap. Also very fond of my30-odd year old big Elu, now on its second set of brushes and fourth set of bearings.
By gum, we had none of that poncey soft start nonsense in them days - brace yourself, switch on and watch the lights dim

 

[jeffinfrance]

DONT BUY A HITACHI