DEWALT DW618B3 12 Amp 2-1/4 Horsepower Plunge Base and Fixed Base
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of DEWALT DW618B3 12 Amp 2-1/4 Horsepower Plunge Base and Fixed Base
Customer Review: Serious design flaw!
Summary: 1 Stars
The second time I used the router (in 2 years, I'm not much of a woodworker) the magnetic ring that controls the varispeed feature shattered into ~16 pieces that I fished out of the motor and it won't run anymore. Some pieces must still be in the motor since if I spin the tip after turning it on it will start spinning, but stutters never reaching full speed. This will be the last Dewalt product I purchase sadly since much of my tool collection is yellow.Customer Review: Serious design flaw...
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this router in October and it worked well for 5 months until the magnet ring in the motor housing broke while routing. This causes two problems when this happens: 1. The variable speed no longer works, and second, the broken magnet shards get flung into the motor brushes at a very high rate of speed causing damage. I have heard from many woodworkers that this particular DeWALT router is very suceptible to magnet ring breakage, especially when mounted upside down in a router table (like mine was). Other than this problem, the router is very well balanced with plenty of power and comes with a very nice plunge base. It just doesn't like working upside-down in a table configuration.Customer Review: Speed control collar broke after an hour!
Summary: 1 Stars
I had the same experience as Donna M. Freeth below. Something came loose inside the motor and the motor revolutions increased to frightening speed. I opened the yellow top and discovered 3 pieces of what used to be a black ring. I'm pretty sure it's the variable speed control for the motor because it sits right below the top bearing and in front of the speed control module. So much for buying quality for peace of mind!Customer Review: THE router kit to own
Summary: 5 Stars
Okay--you are shopping for a router kit. That probably means that you are looking for the advantages of both fixed-base and plunge based routers. Or you may be asking yourself, do I really need those extra bases? Plunge bases let you get right into the middle of the workpiece without having to start at an edge, and are essential for many router operations. Of course, you can use your plunge base for many fixed-based applications, but a fixed base router is generally less bulky, gives you more control, and gets into tight areas. It's great under a router table also. I had never owned a fixed base router until I used the bases in this kit. Now I'm sold on them because of their control and ease and accuracy of depth adjustment.
So is this kit for you? What sets it apart from other kits?
First, the motor, interchangeable between all bases. Of the routers I have used--Fein, Makita, a 3 hp Dewalt, a Craftsman, and a cheap Grizzly--it rates tops with the Fein. Soft start, and very quiet. Quiet matters--particularly if you have ever used a high-pitched, high decibel router that has your head spinning after every cut. When the router is quiet, you can concentrate on your workpiece, and hear a lot that is going on with your cut. If some wood starts tearing out, you can know before you rip a big chunk out of your edge and adjust your cut. The motor is also very compact. Used with the fixed base, this is one of the smallest routers I have ever used, making it very maneuverable. It's the perfect balance of being solid but not too heavy, and pretty powerful.
(Amendment, Dec 17 2007: I had a problem with the motor that is mentioned in several other reviews: the disintegration of a magnetic ring that controls speed. One reviewer suggests that this may be due to running it upside down under a router table, which I do a lot, though mine actually fell apart while upright. The router would only run on high until I got this replaced. Replacement requires a bearing puller to remove the ball bearing that sits above the magnetic ring. I also had problems with the pin on the collet lock coming loose (also mentioned by others), which I resolved by placing a drop of glue on the side of the pin that goes into the base. I thought I should mention these problems, but it does not affect my overall opinion of the router.)
With a multi-base kit, one thing you are going to look for is how easy the motor moves from one base to the next. With the Dewalt bases, it's a snap--as in, snap open the latch, then squeeze two tabs with one hand and lift the base out. The motor has to be aligned to put it in a new base, a fast eye-ball operation. The whole thing can be done in half a minute with no tools. The 2-1/4 hp motor is quite enough. I've been using it lately on Ugandan Elgon olive, a very dense, cross-grainy wood. It's quite adequate even on the end grains. When I really have to dig some wood, I will go to my 3 hp routers, but this one can do the job. It just requires more passes. The on-off switch is a solid toggle type, positioned such that you can flick it on and off with both hands still on the router--a real plus--and great under the router table, because you flick it, and it's on. The variable speed is nice--I slow the router down to prevent wood burns on edging and rounding operations, which saves a lot of sanding time. And the lower speeds are even more quiet.
Now, the bases. All of them can be used as vacuum bases, and other reviewers can tell you more about that than I can, because I don't like a vacuum hose trailing around, so I never use the vacuum accessories. All of the baseplates (the flat part of the router that glides across the workpiece) are clear, thick polycarbonate. This lets you see your workpiece as you cut, a real essential. The cutting hole is pretty small, accomodating bits of only 1-1/8" diameter. But Dewalt includes an extra baseplate with the kit which can take bits up to 2-3/8". The smaller diameter baseplates are built to take standard template bushings, which are very useful. On my big routers, you have to attach a steel plate to hold template bushings, which blocks the view of the workpiece, and takes time to swap out. That small diameter hole gives you the extra surface area for stability when you are cutting on a narrow surface, such as a chair leg. My monster router baseplate holes are inconveniently large for this application. The larger diameter baseplate is switched out by removing 4 screws. If you need to use bits larger than 2-3/8" diameter, you can just take off the baseplate altogether, and the thing will accomodate huge bits, all the way up to just under 3-1/2". This is larger than even my monster routers. These are the ONLY router bases in my collection that can handle my box miter joint bit, which is 3-1/4". That bit was just sitting around gathering dust until I got this router. Now it's one of my frequently used.
My favorite base is by far the D-handle. Dewalt has wired it such that it is controlled with a trigger, so you turn the motor switch on, which passes the power to the trigger, which you then use to on-off the router for exceptional control, because your finger is always right on it. It has a trigger lock as well--sweet! The router is very easy to control with the D-handle.
The fixed base router is smaller. The great thing about it is that because I have the D-handle base, I can mount the fixed base permanently to my router table, and click in the motor when I need it--30 seconds and no tools, compared to 5-10 minutes to switch in the entire router. That makes using the router table a lot more appealing! Both the fixed and D-handle base (which is also a fixed base) have a fast, accurate, easy-to-use depth adjustment. As for the plunge base--good plunging action, but it could use some improvements on the depth adjustment. You can still nail the exact depths, but it's not exceptional. This is the only aspect of this kit that could use improving.
The kit also comes with a nice edge guide with a fine adjustment. I should mention that if you are going vaccum, the kit comes with one set of vaccum snap-ins that are interchangeable between all bases.
In sum--this router kit is capable of taking care of practically all of your router needs. A bigger router is nice to have for some very heavy applications, but this kit is still capable of doing everything if you don't want to spring for a monster router, and in fact has a better ergonomic feel. There are other kits out there, but none I looked at had all of the features of the Dewalt kit, and they are features that matter: very solid but not bulky, quick base change, fully accessorized with the extra clear base and the edge guide, and a collet lock to boot, so you can change bits with a single wrench (not so on many of the other kits I looked at). Great view of the workpiece, vaccum possibilities if you are into that. Good positioning of the on-off switch, and an overall solid feel, quiet running. Great case too. If you are out to buy just one router, spring the extra money and get this kit. I feel a satisfied grin creeping up my face every time I use it, and I hope it will give you the same pleasure.
Customer Review: This is the one
Summary: 5 Stars
I have been using my router (cheep one) for a long time and been wating to invest in a better one for a while. This was the one I chose and Im glad I did. The three bases saved me money later. I liked that. I was amazed that no matter which base I chose to use I could still put it back in the case with the attached base. Someone was thinking as Dewalt usually does. Fine machine, speed controol, triger features, lots of things I would not have thought of untill after I started using it. Overall Dewalt is still my first choice on electrical wood working equipment.