What Small Router for guitar and pickups routing?

[tedmich]

course really fancy routers do all the work for you...

from Kozm guitars Digital Lutherie pages
KOZM Guitars - Digital Lutherie - CAD/CAM technology

[copperheadroads]

I actually own a Sears Craftsman router that I bought back in about 1980 that sill works great.

I had a Sears 800 (I think ?) & one called Sears Best & the circuit board on top shorted out on both of them not the motor or anything

[walcen]

Hi there Terry, I reckon if you just want a router to serve most of your wood shop needs a 1200 to 1400 watt plus 1/2 inch plunge router will do. I have several routers and I'd have to say that my favourite is my little 550 watt plunge router because it's a little smaller, lighter and easy to manage. some of those big buggers can really make you work. StewMacs sell a beautiful little Bosch trimmer router at a very good price, less that half what they sell for here in Aus, unfortunately they don't come in a 240 volt model.

regards to all

Walt

[David Schwab]

I had a Sears 800 (I think ?) & one called Sears Best & the circuit board on top shorted out on both of them not the motor or anything

This is probably older... I have no idea. I must have gotten is in about 1980? I guess it's the 300 series (model 315.17550). I wouldn't doubt that the newer ones are poorer quality. I had a really crappy WEN router before this. It was red, and the bits used to slip out of the collet!

This is the Sears:

[the great waldo]

Hi Walcen

Yes they do Bosch GKF 600 060160A100 220V 1 Hp Palm Router

But I am well happy with my Makita RT0700c

Cheers

Andrew

Hi there Terry, I reckon if you just want a router to serve most of your wood shop needs a 1200 to 1400 watt plus 1/2 inch plunge router will do. I have several routers and I'd have to say that my favourite is my little 550 watt plunge router because it's a little smaller, lighter and easy to manage. some of those big buggers can really make you work. StewMacs sell a beautiful little Bosch trimmer router at a very good price, less that half what they sell for here in Aus, unfortunately they don't come in a 240 volt model.

regards to all

Walt

[big_teee]

I have always been partial to bosch and Dewalt Tools.
I have never wore out a Dewalt tool.
So the bosch and dewalt routers got my attention.
T

[walcen]

Man that's old David, I dunknow how old this thing is but it still works well.
Regards
Walt

[copperheadroads]

course really fancy routers do all the work for you...

from Kozm guitars Digital Lutherie pages
KOZM Guitars - Digital Lutherie - CAD/CAM technology

Showoff

[David Schwab]

course really fancy routers do all the work for you...

from Kozm guitars Digital Lutherie pages
KOZM Guitars - Digital Lutherie - CAD/CAM technology

That's cool and all, but seems like a wasteful use of wood, unless they are getting two of those bodies of that blank!

[Eastbville]

Which Router?

I use a Bosch Colt 1 HP PR20EVS Palm Router. It needs a clear base plate that I'm going to install asap. I'm a repairman and had a run of Clapton Route "boost" electronics and humbuckers into single coil bodies during the summer of 2011. It worked perfectly. In fact, I've used it for the last two years with no problems.

[big_teee]

I'm thinking about routers again.
Anyone got any new ones to add to the list.
I still don't understand the big difference between fixed and plunge routers?
I guess the fixed has micro controls that stay adjusted, and the plunge is a spring loaded type, maybe?
T

[copperheadroads]

There are quite a few router kits that have both plunge & fixed base .this is very handy when you can leave the fixed base attached to a router table & do other jobs with the plunge ,it only takes a couple of seconds to swap bases on most of the style routers

[big_teee]

There are quite a few router kits that have both plunge & fixed base .this is very handy when you can leave the fixed base attached to a router table & do other jobs with the plunge ,it only takes a couple of seconds to swap bases on most of the style routers

What is your brand of choice, of modern routers?

[David King]

Terry,

I think all the top self brands are pretty good. Some like Makita are a little quieter generally. LED lighting seems to be the only new thing in the last few years.
Consider:
Milwaukie
Bosch
Porter Cable
Triton
DeWalt and it's spin-offs
If you have money to dump out onto the ground then you might want to look at Festool.
There will be subtle differences between them that might make a big difference to you if you knew exactly what you were going to be doing.

Plunge routers are for pocketing, you can easily set them up to take incremental bites in depth until you reach the bottom of your pickup, neck or control cavity.
Fixed bass routers are handy to things like round-overs where you might only be taking a single pass but you want to leave the thing set up for that job and not have it budge between sessions.

[big_teee]

Thanks DK.
I went back and read your post #4.
Lots of good info there, but being a Newbie to routers, a bit more than I can swallow!
T