Bosch 1617EVSPK Wood Router Tool Combo Kit - 2.25 Horsepower Plunge Router & Fixed Base Router Kit with a Variable Speed 12 Amp Motor

Product Information

The Bosch DIY range is pretty solid, even though it falls at the cheaper end of the price spectrum. Just don’t expect it to withstand hours and hours of daily use. For that, you’ll need to look towards the blue professional stuff. Overall, the DeWalt DWE625 is a very good precision router as one might expect from a premium power tool company and given the cost of the machine. Although it is not a router to turn away from and diehard fans of DeWalt tools will likely be happy with it, overall build quality could be slightly better especially when compared to similar priced premium routers from other well-established power tool brands. This is a simple to use, light yet powerful palm router that makes the most of its 710 Watt soft start motor. It can turn cutting bits up to a massive 30,000 rpm. You can select different speeds with the control dial and even use it one-handed if you’re confident. The Bosch POF 1200 AE is one of the best 1/4-inch plunge routers available in the UK for the DIY-routing newbie. It has been well designed, making it easy to change the router bits and bushings, and is perfectly balanced for ease of use. It has plenty of power with a variable speed setting and can chew through any type of wood in no time. It is well-built and accurate up to approximately ±0.5mm in depth, which is usually sufficient for any woodworking job.

Budget tool brand DEWINNER have worked out a clever way to make decent quality power tools at remarkable prices. Their electric palm router set is ideal for someone who’s just starting out on their woodworking journey. It includes everything a budding DIYer will need to try out one of the most versatile tools out there. There’s a 710 Watt motor on board that can spin ¼” or 3/8” shank bits up from 13,000 to a maximum of 33,000 rpm. Its speed-adjustable as well by turning the wheel on top. DEWINNER have included the normal accessories such as a straight and curved guide, but they’ve gone a bit further than the competition.The DWE625 is DeWalt’s contribution to the 1/2” router category. Unsurprisingly for this premium power tool company, the DWE625 is an expensive tool but with a lot of good features. First and foremost, it comes with collets for both 1/4” and 1/2” router bits, particularly useful if you are already using a 1/4” router and have a selection of router bits that you would like to use in the DeWalt router as well. It has a powerful 2000W motor with electronic speed control meaning that the speed of the motor will be maintained no matter how tough a wood you throw at it or if one overdoes the hand pressure when routing. The DeWalt motor also has soft start to prevent any inadvertent movement at start up, important both for safety as well as for routing accuracy. The motor speed itself can also be adjusted anywhere from 8,000 to 20,000 RPM using a dial at the top of the machine, useful for setting the ideal cutting speed for the material being cut. Taking its power from a 12V Lithium-Ion battery, the GKF means you can work at any angle or in any place without worrying about tripping over cables. It’s ideal for working above your head or in awkward spots. It’s incredibly light at just over 1 kg, compared to other palm routers like the DeWalt D26200. One of the most respected names in routing tools, Trend have produced one of the best plunge routers for DIY that I’ve tried out. Our wide selection of routers offers a selection of different styles and options to suit any budget, so you can find the best fit, whether you’re looking for a Bosch or Makita router. The power of the motor inside your router and the variable speed controls work together to spin the bit from anywhere between 6,000 and 32,000 revolutions per minute, or rpm. Being able to control the speed of your router bit accurately really helps to make clean cuts and avoid chips and tear out.

You can drop the cutting head down to an impressive 68 mm. That’s 13 mm deeper compared with the DeWalt D26204K or the Bosch POF 1400! Weighing in at 6.4 kg, it’s a heavy tool but attached to a table it doesn’t matter. That’s where the TRA001 really shines. Fix it to a table and you’ve got a capable table router as well. For the money this is pretty good as a first router. I've bevelled a few oak boards and shelves with it and made an oak headboard so far. Fine adjustment and control is a bit fiddly and requires some workarounds but at this price you have to expect some compromises. It suits my purposes so I'm not complaining. It will not do heavy duty cycle work, you will need a larger collet and cutters if you intend to work with a lot of hardwood and using big cuts.” What makes the plunge router such a versatile tool is the wide range of bits available for performing many different tasks: The power of an electric router (given in Watts) goes hand-in-hand with the maximum size of router bit that it is able to accept and the maximum depth of cut the power router is able to make. Typically, routers with wattages of less than 1500W will not accept the bigger router bits that have a 1/2-inch shank. These lower powered routers are for lighter work and more precision cutting. Routers that accept 1/2-inch-shanked router bits will have enough power to handle just about anything you can throw at them. Router-Table CompatibilityHowever, the good news stops there. The build of the machine is not up to the standard of competitor professional machines, with reports that some of the plastic controls can break off if they are not handled with great care. The plunge mechanism can also be a little temperamental, jamming if pressure is not applied evenly across the router when plunging. It’s useful to note that different routing jobs require different speeds – there are guides available to help you get your head around this, but the rule of thumb is the wider the router bit, the slower the speed. Always practise on scrap materials before using a new router bit. Difference Between Palm Routers and Plunge Routers A table router is another versatile tool for creating mouldings, or when you want to work on narrow or awkward shapes of wood. They work by turning the router upside down so the cutting bit extends through the surface of a table so you can trim or shape long workpieces with ease. You can buy purpose-built router tables or mount the fixed base of a router to a workbench to make your own DIY version as well. Different Bits for Different Jobs The 124799 has a fine depth adjustment, variable speed control and a soft-start, and comes with 5 different collets (1/4", 1/2", 8mm, 10mm, and 12mm), two different guide bushes, parallel, circular and roller guides as well as a measurement bar all within a reasonable-quality plastic case.

The RP0900X router is also a relatively low-powered router using only a 900W electric motor to power a single rotational speed of 27,000rpm. It comes with a collet for 1/4-inch router bits but can also accept a 3/8-inch collet. However, the usefulness of the larger collet size is debatable given that router bits with this shank size are not particularly common. Importantly, the Makita router will not accept a 1/2-inch collet or 1/2-inch router bits, nor does it have the power to run these larger bits effectively. So anyone planning to use this Makita machine for heavier routing, such as cutting kitchen worktops or similar, should look elsewhere. Dust Collection: Wood routers can create a lot of dust and wood shavings, which can create a frustrating mess to clean up. If you plan to do a lot of routing, or just want to cut down on cleanup time, make sure to choose a plunge router that is compatible with your current dust collection capabilities, whether that’s a shop vacuum or a dedicated dust collection system.Plunge travel on the Makita RP0900X is also a paltry 35mm which is at the low end of the scale. However, this correlates with the low power of the router and emphasises the lighter routing and more detailed work that this machine is designed for. Accordingly, the Makita RP0900X router is one of the lightest plunge routers on the market with a weight of only 2.7kg, providing the main reason why it easier to handle than most other standard routers. At 3.4kg, the POF 1200 AE Wood Router is fairly weighty and starts to show its heft when you are using it handheld for any period of time. Some users have bought or made their own routing tables, which takes some of the strain out of it. The Trend T7EK plunge router is the middle member of a family of routers of increasing size belonging to the reputable Trend brand. The T7EK is a 1/2” router with a powerful 2100W motor and variable speed control that can be set to run from 11,500 rpm up to its maximum speed of 28,000 rpm. These specifications work together to let the Trend router run a range of sizes of 1/2” cutters, including some of the bigger bits. As might be expected from a good quality router, the motor has soft-start functionality, allowing for a more gradual ramp-up to speed and preventing the machine from jerking around in the hands of the operator when powered on. That said, I can happily report that getting used to this Bosch POF 1200 AE doesn’t take too long and the results are impressive for a tool at this price point. I found accessing the bits to be fiddly and a bit frustrating, while that plastic guard is most definitely flimsy. The brittle plastic that attaches to the unit is very easy to accidentally break.