Routers Reviews

This is a moderately priced router attachment. It's easy to attach and relatively easy to adjust. The adjustment is fine enough for most work on flat surfaces that fully support the router base.
If your trying to route something like the front end of a cabinet (thin, isn't wide enough to support the router base) the method you use is to extend the guide is to screw a piece of wood to the adjustable plate. This plate can be thrown off because the guide plate shifts up and down because it doesn't meet the base of the router. I solved this by attaching a piece of plywood for a guide and making sure it was fully up against the router base otherwise the fence can shift.
I've had the more expensive magic circle router jig (I can't remember the exact name) and it did more things that I never used. It dropped it. It broke and I looked for something else, less expensive. This jig is reasonably priced and does the job.

Aside from using a router table/fence arrangement, this edge guide does a great job. Like any other tool you have to make note of the direction the bit is rotating relative to the piece so that it pulls the guide tight to the edge of the work.

I used it on my PC 890 (yes it fits the 890 even though it doesn't say so in the item description) and was very happy with the prescision of the unit.

This is a very sturdy, accurate, and versatile piece of gear. My only wish is that it should come in a protective case.

In this category of saws, I have a friend with a PowerMatic, and it IS a little heavier built saw (I even had a WMH Tool Group rep admit to this). Mine has performed great though, I added Jet's sliding table later, and this is one super combo. It has had daily use since Dec. 02, when I started my cabinet shop. I have another friend with a Delta, and I prefer this one over a Delta any day.

For the last 2 years I'd been using a contractors saw in a shop that a friend and me shared. After building my own shop I started looking to replace a few tools and a "cabinet" grade table saw was first on my list. For a month I researched magazines, Amazon reviews, questioned woodworkers, and so on. Finally, I decided on the Jet and MAN what table saw. I drove 2 hours to pick up my JTAS-10XL (Amazon was sold out) and paid an addition $100(Ouch). Brought it home and began to assemble, BY MY SELF (not a good idea, the cast iron top/motor is quite heavy). Some people see assembly as tedious labor; I view it more like a child standing in front of the tree on Christmas morning. Assembly took about 3 hours and plus an addition hour to dial it in. Everything went together smoothly as a matter of fact I don't recall opening the instruction book. Having used a contractor's saw for 2 years it was like trading in a Yugo for a Ferrari. This saw is solid, little or no vibration and accommodates all 13/16 of my dado blade stack. The biggest surprise to me was the quality of the router as well as the lift. Honestly, as with most "bonus" items I expected a so-so router and a lift that I would have to replace in a year or so. The Bosch router runs smoother than my DeWalt 618. The other saws I seriously considered were the Grizzly and the X5 but the router table pushed me over to the JTAS-10XL and boy did it pay off. If you must have a con I not real fond of the magnifying bubble on the fence. (There I said it) Seriously, this might be best purchase I've made to date. Solid, smooth and accurate you get you money's worth.

Top notch system and a great price ($1,599 w/ $100 refund in April 2004). The saw is very powerful and accurate. With the included router setup you just can't go wrong. A great saw for the money ...

I recently purchased this router and within days of receiving it tried it out cutting mortise and tenons. While many of the features were nice I found the accuracy and ruggedness of the router to be lacking. The plunging action was fine except that the bit will move off of perpendicular due to lack of rigidity in the plunge mechanism and the rods the router moves on. I also own a Hitachi M12V and do not have a bit of problem with its plunging accuracy. I noticed this when I was using the router on my new Leigh mortise and tenon fixture. I have since put my Hitachin back on the jig fixture and am back in business.

Other features like the soft start are very nice. The micro adjust is ok but somewhat stiff to set. I have not spent much time looking at this feature and will see if I missed something in the instruction manual. The machine works fine as a pattern cutter and I have decided to keep it since I need a router for run of the mill operations.

I did a lot of research prior to buying this and am glad I did. I've had it for over 2 years now and really love it. After using various power tools from Bosch, Makita, Porter Cable, Milwaukee, Dewalt, Ridgid, Craftsman, Skil, Black and Decker, and Ryobi...only the first 3 I mentioned are in my top tier of toolmakers I really trust to make a good tool. With Bosch in particular, I know the tool will be well engineered to meet users' needs for: 1) comfort, 2) precision, and 3) performance.

The 1/2" and 1/4" shank adapters help because it give more flexibility in buying bits. When possible, buy 1/2" shank bits to minimize the vibration.

The variable speed is essential to control the velocity of the actual router bit cutters -- which will vary based upon the diameter of the bit itself and the RPM speed selected. Hence, for bigger diameter bits, lower RPMs are necessary. Speaking of using larger bits though, that is the only negative of this router, as a result of the opening in the base. That opening is around 2-1/2" so it makes it difficult to utilize the entire plunge distance with very large diameter bits (raise panel bits, etc.) that are bigger than the hole. It also makes it harder to change the bit and forces you to install the bit while the router is plunged. I knew if this before I bought it and still bought it over the Porter Cable 693VSPK which has a larger base opening. However, if large bits are used with the Bosch, it can be very dangerous if the plunge mechanism isn't tight.

I also use this occasionally in a router table. I suggest users that will use this router in a router table or with large diameter bits readjust the spring/plunge mechanism. I would disagree with one of the previous reviewers that said the plunge was ineffective. It is very effective when not used upside-down in a router table PROVIDED you tighten the plunge. However, by readjusting the plunge mechanism, you can make it even tighter and safer for router table use. Do a web search on how to make this adjustment, but it basically involves the loosening and repositioning of the plunge handle. It takes some trial and error...but it's worth it. Just be careful to control the plunge handle once you take off the handle screw so the handle (internally) does not detach from the end of the plunge spring completely like I did or it will turn a 10 minute task into a 25 minute task. After making this adjustment, the router's 13 lbs. of weight plus another 20-30 pounds of my pulling force weren't enough to budge the router at all in my router table.

Overall, this is my favorite tool and has turned me into a Bosch loyalist. I would buy this or the Bosch 1617EVSK if I needed to buy another router. If those weren't available, I'd get the Porter Cable which is comparable in price, a little better in performance, a tad less in precision, and a little worse in comfort, but unlike the Bosch, will work with most generic router accessories.

It was either this one or the Dewalt DW621, the two best routers in this class. For the readers sake I will compare its features to the Dewalt. Both machines are 2HP, both have a smooth plunge but the Dewalt wins in this respect. They both have dust extraction, Bosch via an attachment and the Dewalt built into one of the plunge posts. If you do not hook up the Dewalt's dust extraction you will inhale the dust and eat the chips. They both employ Soft Start and are variable speed with constant speed technology. As for motor noise the Bosch certainly wins, it has half the noise of the Dewalt, and is comfortable to operate without hearing protection. Both machines have micro adjustment knobs, the Bosch's can be adjusted while the plunge is locked, the Dewalt's cannot. The micro gauge reading on the Bosch is much easier to understand than on the Dewalt. I like the 1/8 step graduations on the depth stop rather than the three post adjustable on the Dewalt. This feature is a user preference you can make your own assumption. The base on the Bosch is larger and more conventional than the Dewalt's. As for quality you can't go wrong with either, time will tell. Bosch makes an excellent product, take the quality for the best and study the features you need.

Can you cut bevels with this guide? If so, how do you compensate for the offset?

The smart base provides two tracks. One for the straight cuts and one for the bevel cuts. The smart base provides anti splintering protection on and off the guide rail.

This tool is great for someone who doesn't have the time, patience, and/or skill to make their own saw guide. Many people have written that they could achieve the same results with a homemade guide made of a straight board and some scrap plywood, but that would take a level of precision and workmanship that I simply don't have (and where are you going to find a "straight" board nowadays!?). I also think the integrated clamping is very convenient and effective. The Smart Guide itself has proved to be extremely precise-to the point that I use a drafting pencil carefully sharpened before making a cut line and get results that are within 1/64" every time. That kind of easy repeatability (precision) makes it possible for me to produce square and correctly sized panels that I was never able to get on my table saw. Don't let my long list of caveats deter you-even knowing what I know now, or maybe because of it, I'd buy this tool again.

A few caveats:
1. Initially, I used this with a cheap DIY-quality saw and got horrible results.
a) Because it was a "small" base saw (versus a contractor grade "large" base...nominally 1.5" from guide edge to saw blade and 5" from the blade to the other edge of the base) it required a lot of time to properly align the saw to the base (Smart Base).
b) I also discovered that if I wasn't careful, the Smart Base would flex and the saw blade would lever away from the cutting line. This was because it was a "small" base saw which didn't cover a good portion of the Smart Base. Bottom line: don't use this guide system with a "small" base saw. Make sure your saw base is at least 6.5" wide.
2. I mounted the saw to the Smart Base using the provided machine screws. This was a bit of a pain (see above 1a) and required that I use a Dremel to get the nuts to sit flat (think about some of those saws with ribbed bases). However, I was glad when I later gave the cheap saw away and was able to easily remove the saw guide base. The other way to mount your saw to the Smart Base would be to use double sided tape (included). Hopefully the manual has been updated because it doesn't match the hardware provided with the guide. The machine screws that came with my guide required a 1/4" hole in the Smart Base and a 1/8" hole through the saw base. I think the manual recommends 11/32" and T-nuts which apparently, was the old way of doing it.
3. When making the first cut along the guide, you're cutting through a plastic strip (the "EAC-1") mounted to the aluminum guide and assuming you don't change saw blades this line should be your cut line from here on out. The first time I did this, I put both lengths of the guide together and clamped it to a 4x8' sheet of plywood-bad idea. The guides, when put together are 100" long, so unless you clamp the guide along a diagonal, some of it (the guide) will extend beyond the plywood. Any other time except this, this would be fine. But, when you cut through the EAC-1 it must be supported underneath so as to get a precise and clean cut that you can easily align to your planned cut line. My EAC-1 was jagged at the ends where it was unsupported and it projected the wrong cut line. I ordered a new set of edges and expect to have much better success next time (see below).
4. Another thing about the EAC-1 is that when you make this first important cut you need to be pretty steady in order to produce a nice clean cut and hence a nice clean cutting line. I recommend taking the EAC-1 off and making 2-3 practice cuts so that the first time you use the guide you're not trying to carry out any kind of accuracy dependent operation that will affect every future cut you make. I think my first attempt at this would have gone better if I'd had a better sense about how fast to push the saw along the guide, knew how much resistance I could expect, and whether there were any sensitive motions to avoid (i.e., flexing the Smart Base perpendicular to the cut line). Oh, and don't forget to use the Anti-chip insert...you'll want the EAC-1 to be really cleanly cut.
5. Finally, get a good blade to put in your saw. I assume the reason you'd be willing to shell out the dollars required for this guide is that you are serious about achieving a good result. Don't let a dull blade keep you from that. The recommended Freud Diablo (~$15) was a winner for me.

spendy for chunks of brass, but they work well thank you.


Dani

I couldn't tell from the picture but I had hoped the storage block was one of those 1x2x3 blocks,but it's not. Too bad. One of my other sets (aluminum) has this feature, its real handy.
This is a nice set, had to clean em up a little, like the other reviewer, but no big deal. I use em for setups on the router and table saw, makes life so much easier. Combined with larger blocks, you can set fences exactly where ya want em every time.
Rated this four stars because of the lack of the 1-2-3 block. Recommend this set as a second set, because of that shortcoming.

These bars work great for setup. The PBS show the Router Workshop uses them all the time, it makes for a very fast setup.

Router works fine. The only caveat is that these are now made in Mexico. Porter Cable 690-series routers were among the last American-made power tools of which I was aware, and that was in large part why I bought this kit.

But, since all the other brands are now made overseas, I guess it really doesn't matter. I would still get this model; it has just lost some serious bonus points.

I have been using this router for the past year and half and have been very pleased with its operation. The variable speed control allows you to fine tune the speed of the bit to prevent tear out and burning of the wood. I recently helped make a platform bed frame for a friend and we were unable to make a rabbit on the table saw because the side support boards were nearly 7' long. With a chucked up a ½" rabbit bit we were able to plow out rabbits on the end of the boars that were nearly 1 ½ " deep with only two passes. I was humbly surprised at the quality of the cut the Porter Cable left behind. I have not used the plunge base yet, but have a few projects anxiously awaiting this great router! I have had absolutely no problems with this router at all. I would consider getting a different base because some 1/2" bits will end up hitting the sides of the base when fully extended. For the price on Amazon.com you can't beat it!!!

Great router for it's designed purpose, easy to use.

I purchased my DW610 about 5 yr ago as my first router. My only regret was when I gave it away to my brother-in-law after I upgraded to a Bosch 1618 (he's a nice guy and he deserved it). I gave it up after about 2 years as my primary router and it never had any identifiable wear and tear (it's essentially all metal).

The tool had plenty of power for 90% of typical routing needs (roundovers, beads, ogees, and other edge work) and never bogged down even when using the largest bits it could hold. The only limitation to how much wood you could take off in one pass was the wood itself (try hogging off a big chunk and you often get splintering) but if you are in a hurry you could probably do a 1/2" roundover in domestic hardwood without the motor bogging down. The neck of the motor is small enough that I could one-hand it (I have a slightly larger than average male hand) and since I don't yet have a bench with holddowns I did this frequently. The motor does not have soft start and the torque is substantial on startup so I always held it off the work when starting it one-handed.

My only complaint is that the rack and pinion depth adjustment has enough lash that the depth is hard to tweek to the nth degree. I'm really fussy, however and am often trying to adjust router depths to the 1/100 inch range. You can comfortably set it to 1/32 inch accuracy as it's designed.

My 1st router was a Black & Decker Industrial fixed-base. It was the Dewalt 610's father. I have been using the 2 routers for 30 years and I sell power tools. The Black & Decker was a Christmas gift from my wife. At the time saws and drills were the extent of my tools. This was the second best gift in my life, the first being my daughter.
When the Black & Decker finally had a field failure, (meaning the armature), I was compelled to replace the tool. I called Black & Decker and was told it was no longer available.... AAHHH! But, they did offer the Dewalt 610. Which was pretty much the same design tool. The armatures were not interchangable and the Dewalt had 1/4" & 1/2" collets!
My 1st thought was, "this tool just keeps getting better".
Now, check this out, the "D" handles provide excellent control when freehand routing, and the motor size is perfect for one-hand routing. I'm saying control and versatility is 5 stars.
Setting the depth-of-cut has never been more accurate with the rack & pinion adjustment. Again, 5 stars.
This router is made of metal, not plastic! It's rock-solid so don't drop it on your foot or fingers. I've used it on the job site and in the shop, and it is "the" WORKHORSE for light to medium chores. You can go from doing inlays to trimming laminates to ogee edge routing to dovetailing and box-jointing.
Durabillity? Again, 5 stars.
I now own many routers, including the soft-start, variable-speed monsters and a few, under ...routers that performed sloppy.
IF YOU HAVE NEVER OWNED A ROUTER, START WITH THIS ROUTER!
If you own and use other routers, add this one to your stable. It's like the less complicated way to rout. OMMMMMM

I use this router for my Dovetailing and drawer fronts. I like the light weight and feel of the handles. When using with the Porter-Cable Dovetail jigs, you can quickly make the dovetails, then use Knob like handles to smoothly turn the router on end to sit down.

It seems to have plenty of power for most bits.

I bought a 7116 omnijig and a adjustable through dovetail template from Tool Crib and the first one came to me with a grossly deformed aluminum casting. I don't know how it ever made it past quality control because I noticed the defect as soon as I opened the box. I called Tool Crib and they had UPS come and pick it up at no expence to me. Fed EX delivered the second one and a look at the box had me worried. It was badly damaged, and upon opening it I saw that the styrofoam packing was completly destroyed. Luckly there was no damage to the omnijig.
I watched the video (it seemed intimidating) but I started to play with it and get familiar with it. After about 4 hours of set up and making test cuts I made 8 drawers.They came out OK for my first attempt. I think if I buy some good measuring instruments to make set up more precise and easier and after getting more familiar with this jig it will become easy to use and will produce quality joinery.

The Porter Cable OmniJig is simple in it's design, and is substantially made. The dovetail template is a fixed design. The spacing of the dovetails, are not adjustable. If you have a drawer that is 5 3/8" tall, you will have an odd spaced pin. The ideal are pins that are balanced on the top and bottom. Preferably a half pin top and bottom. With the Porter Cable jig, you could have a tail instead of a pin at one end, or odd balanced pins. The Leigh D4 dovetail jig on the other hand gives you infinite spacing capabilities. That kind of adjustability comes with a price for additional set up time. I want complete adjustability, so I can make the outside pins perfectly matched, and then balance the interior pins and tails to whatever spacing I choose. Additionally I have complete control over the size of the pins and tails themselves. It also accepts specific yet different degree angle dovetail bits.
I'm not a yeah this, and a boo that. I like the speed of the omnijig, and the adjustability of the D4. If I was building drawers in a production shop, and time is of the essence, then the PC is the choice. If I was building a custom order, with choice woods, and an even choosier customer, the Leigh would be my choice.
The Omnijig is a well made heavyweight piece, designed to do half blind joints. Through dovetails require a different optional, and expensive jig. Still not with adjustable capabilities. The Leigh D4 is lighter and also well made, comes with through, half blind, and sliding dovetail capabilties right out of the box, all at the price of the base Omnijig unit.
The PC dovetail machine was proudly pictured on the front page of the October 2002 Woodworkers Journal magazine announcing their ultimate guide. They reviewed the different jigs. With the Omnijig, they mentioned, that like, almost all half blind jigs, they are designed around a 14 degree dovetail. In order to get the depth of cut needed at that angle, the jig uses a 3/4" bit. The reviewer stated, "To me, the resulting dovetail looks rather coarse". On the other hand WJ magazine, states, " The jigs that go both ways, especially the super flexible Leigh jig, earn a space in my shop."
Myself, I bought the Leigh D4 with a complete 15 piece set of Leigh factory special router bits, that are custom designed for dovetailing (many different sizes and lengths, and shaft size) for less money than the cost of the PC Omni and optional PC Through Jig. I would also strongly advise you to get their 8mm and 1/2" collet set, instead of the 1/4" and 1/2" shaft size bits, because of the substantially increased strength, yet giving you the capabilities of the smaller pins. You will need an optional 8MM collet for your router to use them. Smaller tighter joints requires slimmer bits, and instead of 1/4" bits with more vibration, which is solved with 8mm bits that give you substantially more shaft size, while still maintaning a small enough size for the smaller template, yielding tighter spacing, and smoother cuts. That is why the international standard for the smaller shaft size is 8mm instead of 1/4". Back to the OmniJig.
If my needs grow to production standards, I will be adding the PC Omnijig to my arsenal. Quite simply the advantage to the OmniJig is that you can take your project and put it in the jig, and put out evenly spaced dovetails pre set to the restricted size of the template, without having to run sample cuts to set up the machine. If your running odd lots all day long, that is a major speed difference.
If you making large lots of the same size, the initial set up for the Leigh is no longer important, and will result in a balanced job, without the loss of time.
I really like my Porter Cable equipment, it is well made, I just think that something as relevant as the contained information should be explained, in addition to the well deserved 5 star reviews.

This jig is great. It cuts perfect dovetails. However, it does take some time to set it up. Unlike others who say they were making perfect dovetails in 15 minutes, it took me about three hours. I consider myself an intermediate woodworker, but had never used (let alone, seen one up close)a dovetail jug before this. Definitely watch the complimentary video PC includes. The manual doesn't come close to the value of the VHS tape. In fact, I watched certain sections 5 or 6 times and kept going in and out of the shop between viewings ! Everytime I had it about perfect, I'd screw it up by fine tuning it some more ! My biggest problem was getting the left & right side the same (template & router depth adjustments). Backing in/out the 9/16" nut spacer is a little bit like a guessing game. However, after about 10 test cuts I got it just right. Simple tip: It's true that you might need several scrap pieces for test cuts, but it's easy to simply use 2 approx. 16" long stock and keep cutting off an inch of unwanted/non-fiting test cuts and repeat the process.

It is also important to remember that your stock must be in increments of 7/8ths to have a half pin on top and bottom of your joint. While others here have expressed regret over this restriction/requirement, I don't see any problem with it. You just have to remember this before you design your project.

The cam locks work great. They are easy to adjust. After spending a few "quality" hours with this jig I feel like I've been using it for years. It would be great for mass production jobs.

Used this template guide set with my router and sign crafter. Worked well as expected, Bosch makes great tools.

Using products made specifically for other products, particularly from the same manufacturer, has always proven to be the right thing to do and these guides are a good example. There are "fits all" guides available but require some form of modification to the router. Not the Bosch guides. They install and interchange easily and quickly without tools or base replacements. If you need guides for your Bosch router you can't go wrong with this set. You'll even like the plastic case they're stored in.

It is a very nice set of template guides. Much easier to use than other guides because of the turn and snap in feature. But the main reason I bought this set of guides is because of the RA 1100 adapter which allows you to use porter cable and other 1 3/16" template guides. That was the main selling point for me.

After reading all of the reviews here I bought the 2700XL for my Makita 2703. I thought that it would be an improvement with regard to the fence and add some much needed table space. So far it has been nothing but frustration. I just can't believe that it has gotten the positive reviews I have seen so far. Here are the issues:

Rather than attach to your table saw in any stable fashion it is designed so that your table saw rests on nylon ring mounts. This might work well if there was any way to adjust the height of the nylon mounts to get the 2700XL flush with the saw table...there isn't.

My instructions said that this table came pre-set for the Makita 2703 - it wasn't. My saw didn't fit at all and my first task was readjusting all of the nylon rings. When that was done it was apparent that the two table beds were not flush - the 2700XL sat below the saw table making the fence unusable.

Which leads me to the first MAJOR DESIGN FLAW: there is absolutely no way to level the 2700XL to your table saw. The only way to do it is to remove the two mylon mounts where the tables join and put shims there. Well that took me the first 2 hours of setup time. When I was done I had a level table but it was not mounted solidly and would tend to slide around since I was forced to bypass two of the mounts. If this table had been designed with an extra $.10 thumbscrew to level it I would not have had to go through this hastle.

The other issue with this is that you now no longer have a truly portable solution if you have to re-shim and level your table every time you take the bloody saw out...so consider this to be a stationary solution rather than a portable one as advertised.

So now I had a level table and I put on the fence. I slide the fence across and notice that the fence is not square with my saw table. Hardly believing my eyes (since that was the whole reason I bought the table in the first place) I slide the fence back over to the 2700XL table to find that the fence IS NOT EVEN SQUARE TO 2700XL TABLE ITSELF. The whole contraption is manufactured such that that the fence is not even square to the 2700XL and the table it mounts on. SLOPPY, SLOPPY, SLOPPY. And, again, I find that there is absolutely no way to adjust the fence or table to fix the problem.

The only positive thing I can say about this product is that it seems sturdy when the legs are unfolded but that's about it.

So now I am faced with the choice of either living with a $300+ off-square table/fence on sloppy mounts with homemade wooden shims leveling it, or packing it up and sending it back. I would recommend saving your money and buying a better saw. Buying this thing is definitely throwing good money after bad. Rousseau needs to send some folks to a seminar and learn about QA.

Addendum
I found an easier way to level the tables without sacrificing stability. I took out all of the screws supporting the 2700XL's table and added a plain metal washer. This raised the table a few millimeters to bring it into level with the saw table...much easier than shimming.

This table is a delight. The cutting accuracy is incredible. Having recently retired, I'm catching up on 30 plus years of "honey-do's", including house remodeling. The large table space and the ease of operation are features not found on other saws I've owned. The portability is a major plus. Highly recommended.

I've used this stand with other saws in the past and found it to be outstanding. However, I would not recommend this stand for anyone who has the DeWalt DW744 table saw. You have to remove the entire existing rack & pinnion fence system (quite a bother) and then try to set the stand up to hold the saw tightly in place. This was not easy either, nor were the instructions helpful. Also, the table to the side is lower than the surface of the table saw and must be shimmed up to match. While I think this is a great product for most saws, I'm not pleased so far with how it fits my DeWalt.