New 1/2in Router

[GerryT]

Any advice/recommendations buying a 1/2 Router.
My old Elu died a death last week after years of service and I’m not up to speed on the Dewalt, Makita and Bosch routers etc so any one who has used any 1/2in models for a length of time chip in with your experiences and recommendations.
Cheers.

 

[sneggysteve]

Buy another Elu

 

[GerryT]

Buy another Elu

Smart advice and I’m considering that but just wanted to put out the feelers for other brands.
I’m not a brand junkie though I own plenty of Makita

 

[Mickjay]

I've had the Makita 2301 for a couple of years and can't really fault it. I use it hand held and in a home made table, I particularly like the above table adjustment with the long screw. I would buy the same again if it broke or got lifted.

 

[Mike.R]

I've used the heavier Trend routers for many years. I keep thinking it would be a good idea to buy a Festool 2200 but they're twice the price and I'm happy with the Trend routers.

 

[pgrbff]

I replaced my 177E with a festool 1400. Great router, better than the elu which I bought around 1985.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I replaced my 177E with a festool 1400. Great router, better than the elu which I bought around 1985.

Curious to know what makes the Festool 1400 better?

I have two Elu 177es (one is in a router table). The Elu I like especially is the Elu MOF97 (which would be the competition for the 1400), which has great balance and superior dust collection (and similar power to the 1400).

The downside of the 177e is the absence of dust collection. The DeWalt DW625 is the model which replaced the 177e, and it is possible to fit the dust insert to the 177e (which I did on both of mine).

The Festool 1400 is lower powered than the 177e, and the 625 is the most powerful of all. If you are looking especially for a large router, the DeWalt may be it. I do like the fact that the Festool power tools are part of a system (if you have others, as I do).

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[dickm]

Agree with everything Derek Cohen says. But that's probably because he is repeating my onw setup. Advice to OP would be to get to know any elderly local woodworkers who have lightly used 177E and watch the obituary columns!
I'm not local, but exactly fit the description!

 

[pgrbff]

Curious to know what makes the Festool 1400 better?

I have two Elu 177es (one is in a router table). The Elu I like especially is the Elu MOF97 (which would be the competition for the 1400), which has great balance and superior dust collection (and similar power to the 1400).

The downside of the 177e is the absence of dust collection. The DeWalt DW625 is the model which replaced the 177e, and it is possible to fit the dust insert to the 177e (which I did on both of mine).

The Festool 1400 is lower powered than the 177e, and the 625 is the most powerful of all. If you are looking especially for a large router, the DeWalt may be it. I do like the fact that the Festool power tools are part of a system (if you have others, as I do).

Regards from Perth

Derek

Dust collection primarily and I find it comfortable to use. I suppose to some extent the 177e and 96e I had both became stiff and difficult to adjust smoothly after more than 30 years so it was a relief to replace them with a 1400 and 1010 respectively. I never checked the power ratings but I'm not sure a direct comparison is that useful, I have never felt the 1010 couldn't cope and the largest festool, the 2200? is a little to heavy.
To be honest I'm not concerned about the "system" element, the quality is good and they work well, especially the dust collection aspect. Given the choice I don't think I'd choose the elu again just because of the dust issue.

 

[recipio]

I've had the Makita 2301 for a couple of years and can't really fault it. I use it hand held and in a home made table, I particularly like the above table adjustment with the long screw. I would buy the same again if it broke or got lifted.

+1. All Makita routers are exceptionally smooth to operate and the 2301 has a soft start as well. Makita make their own range of black bushes - very useful for template routing.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Agree with everything Derek Cohen says. But that's probably because he is repeating my onw setup. Advice to OP would be to get to know any elderly local woodworkers who have lightly used 177E and watch the obituary columns!
I'm not local, but exactly fit the description!

****, I purchased my first 177e new in 1989/90. The second 177e was purchased about 2 years ago from eBay (UK). There are usually several for sale, and they are generally good to go as they are built like a tank.

The one for the router table was stripped down and given a Router Raizer (above table adjustment) and Muscle Chuck (for above table bit changing). These are relatively quiet, powerful routers with smooth soft start and reliable speed control.

Gerry, did you consider having yours repaired?

pgrbff, the Festool 1400 has such a fantastic reputation. If I did not have the Elus, I would seriously consider one. Regarding the stiffness in your Elu, stripping and cleaning both springs and rods (xxxx wire wool) and a silicon "moisturiser" should have sorted it (did wonders for my wife's wrinkles! ).

Elu 177e with DeWalt DW625 dust collector (some slight modification needed to align screw holes) ...

As mentioned, this is on both of mine. It makes a very significant difference.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Spectric]

If you cannot get an ELU then the Dewalt 625 is a good option, I believe based on the ELU machine just not Swiss.

 

[pgrbff]

+1. All Makita routers are exceptionally smooth to operate and the 2301 has a soft start as well. Makita make their own range of black bushes - very useful for template routing.

I bought the RT0700C before the Festool 1010. I couldn't work with the makita. It felt cheap and whatever the opposite is of 'smooth action'. I sold it on very quickly. I'm not wealthy and these are for my own use, but I guess a poor workman blames his tools. I also had to buy lots of extras with the Makita to make it useful. The guy I sold it to complained that I'd ripped him off because he had to sand the aluminium to get the plunge meachanism to work smoothly.

 

[Mike.R]

It seems the Trend T11 looks very similar to the Elu above.

 

[recipio]

I bought the RT0700C before the Festool 1010. I couldn't work with the makita. It felt cheap and whatever the opposite is of 'smooth action'. I sold it on very quickly. I'm not wealthy and these are for my own use, but I guess a poor workman blames his tools. I also had to buy lots of extras with the Makita to make it useful. The guy I sold it to complained that I'd ripped him off because he had to sand the aluminium to get the plunge meachanism to work smoothly.

mmm..........just to be clear the Makita RTO700C is a 1/4 inch trim router. It has no plunge base unless you buy one as an extra. I have one with the base and really can't fault it. The accessories just make it more versatile in my view.

 

[pgrbff]

mmm..........just to be clear the Makita RTO700C is a 1/4 inch trim router. It has no plunge base unless you buy one as an extra. I have one with the base and really can't fault it. The accessories just make it more versatile in my view.

I was responding to " All Makita routers are exceptionally smooth to operate ". This has not been my experience. I'm sure there are worse ou there but I couldn't describe my experience of the RTO700C as exceptionally smooth, quite the contrary. Maybe I got a bad one.

 

[JobandKnock]

The Elu MOF177/MOF177e was originally made by Scintilla (part of Bosch) in Switzerland. After B&D took over Elu power tools fully in the early to mid-1990s production had to be switched to Felisatti in Italy. This was mid-way through the production run of the typ 4 of the MOF177/MOF177e and was possibly due to Bosch not wanting to manufacture deWalt tools, although it could just have been deWalt trying to cut costs. Either way the DW624/DW625 type 4 was introduced at that time and the Elu brand name was phased out in 2000.

Felisatti also took over manufacture of the OF97/OF97e (also branded DW620/DW621), the MOF131 (DW629), the and of the Elu Germany manufactured B&D SR100 (DW613), basically a MOF96 which Elu had repackaged for B&D. The Swiss made MOF96/MOF96e was dropped at this time. Felisatti also manufactured an orange and black version of the DW625e for CMT called the OF1e for a very short time.

In about 2003 Felisatti and Freud were both taken over by Interskol (Russian), so manufacturing moved again, this time to Perles in Slovenia. The opportunity was taken to "re-introduce" the MOF96/MOF96e in the form of the DW614/DW615. Only they weren't the original MOF96 design, rather they started out as a close copy of the Elu design (sharing many parts) that Perles had made for AEG (as the OF50) in the late 1970s to 1990s and which they continued to make under their own name as well as for Virutex in the ensuing period.

Just to confuse things further, Trend has bought in both the T5/T5e (DW614/DW615) and T10/T11 (both DW625e) from Perles - these are versions of the DW with Trend's own engineering changes to the bases incorporated

I'm a long time MOF177e/DW625 user and love them for portable routing tasks, but the dust extraction is very poor. The 1/2in 1400watt version of the DW621 I have (called a DW622) was a nice tool and matches the Festool OF1400 in dust extraction whilst being markedly cheaper, but they dropped it in the UK as it wasn't selling well. Not surprising as it eas about £75 more than a DW625e last time I saw one. The Makita RP2300 is a nice router and the switch off brake is a great feature, but why have Makita never made an 8mm collet? Not surprisingly the Festool OF2200 is a better router than any of its' contenders with 2200 watts, superb dust extraction, ratcheting collet clamping (like the OF1400) and great ergonomics. But it is massive, doesn't come with a side fence (that's in the extras kit) and costs a mint. Festool slso dropped the router table insert for it as well. So all mine does at the moment is kitchen worktop joints and the odd bit of Corian

 

[JobandKnock]

I was responding to " All Makita routers are exceptionally smooth to operate ". This has not been my experience. I'm sure there are worse ou there but I couldn't describe my experience of the RTO700C as exceptionally smooth, quite the contrary. Maybe I got a bad one.

No, they are noisy little things, but so is the equivalent product from Bosch (Colt/GKF600). They come into their own when you get the cordless model, though. Very handy and not being constrained by a cord is a major plus

 

[GerryT]

****, I purchased my first 177e new in 1989/90. The second 177e was purchased about 2 years ago from eBay (UK). There are usually several for sale, and they are generally good to go as they are built like a tank.

The one for the router table was stripped down and given a Router Raizer (above table adjustment) and Muscle Chuck (for above table bit changing). These are relatively quiet, powerful routers with smooth soft start and reliable speed control.

Gerry, did you consider having yours repaired?

pgrbff, the Festool 1400 has such a fantastic reputation. If I did not have the Elus, I would seriously consider one. Regarding the stiffness in your Elu, stripping and cleaning both springs and rods (xxxx wire wool) and a silicon "moisturiser" should have sorted it (did wonders for my wife's wrinkles! ).

Elu 177e with DeWalt DW625 dust collector (some slight modification needed to align screw holes) ...

As mentioned, this is on both of mine. It makes a very significant difference.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thank you gents for your input it’s much appreciated.

I did think of getting it repaired Derek.
I’ve still got it and I’ve had it repaired before but this time I haven’t a clue what’s wrong with it, it’s just dead as the proverbial Dodo.
I know a guy who repairs them and I’m going to give him a call but I just thought I’d put the feelers out for new models and how folk got on with them.

I’ll get back when I know if the Elu can be fixed.
There’s plenty of the Elu’s secondhand on the Bay and other sites at fair prices so that’s another option.

The Makita seems to get good reviews so I’ll take a look in that direction as well.

As for the Festool…is it really worth the extra cash .
I’m sceptical.
I have a Festool TS 75 track saw and had a TS55, and whilst they’re good I’m not convinced about the price to value ratio over other brands.
I had that TS55 back to Festool twice in twelve months and while the service was excellent it put me off a little about spending more £ in Festool’s direction.

But I still wouldn’t get rid of the TS75

 

[jonn]

Curious to know what makes the Festool 1400 better?

I have two Elu 177es (one is in a router table). The Elu I like especially is the Elu MOF97 (which would be the competition for the 1400), which has great balance and superior dust collection (and similar power to the 1400).

The downside of the 177e is the absence of dust collection. The DeWalt DW625 is the model which replaced the 177e, and it is possible to fit the dust insert to the 177e (which I did on both of mine).

The Festool 1400 is lower powered than the 177e, and the 625 is the most powerful of all. If you are looking especially for a large router, the DeWalt may be it. I do like the fact that the Festool power tools are part of a system (if you have others, as I do).

Regards from Perth

Derek

Huh, Triton's TRA001 should be your first choice! Have one for my Triton router table and one for my Leigh FMT Pro Mortise & Tenon Jig. The TRA001 is a well thought-out router, plenty of guts and easy to adjust. The first one I bought was from before they had the table winder, which is why I got the second one too. And, a Triton SuperJaws XXL Portable Clamping System should have its place of honour in every workshop. The smaller one, SJE 100E, might do the trick, but the bigger one is sturdier.