Dedicated plunge routers (right) were once standard issue. The sub-base’s smooth face also protects workpieces from marring during routing. The goal here is that you can feed the sub-base along a straightedge or other guide surface consistently. Router bases and their sub-bases will either have a round footprint or a combination of round and flat edges. Any router worth its salt should have a sub-base that accepts them.īelow the metal router base, there’s a smooth plate called a sub-base that fastens to it with screws.
Sub-bases & Guide Bushings A set of guide collars turns a router into a templating dynamo. A few manufacturers even outfit their routers with LED lights that shine down into the bit area to help you see what you’re cutting - it’s a wonderful feature to have. Dust collection capabilities have improved, too, thanks to plastic shrouds that fasten or clip inside the base to corral the debris created by the bit a port on the shroud connects to a vacuum hose.
Some routers have spindle locks, so you can change bits with one wrench instead of two. Top quality routers also feature electronic feedback circuitry, which keeps the bit spinning at a consistent speed, regardless of the load being applied to the bit. Many motors have “soft start” that ramps up power to prevent jackrabbit starts that can jerk the tool in hand. Almost all new routers have variable speed - and you’ll need to dial the speed down to operate large-diameter bits safely. Today’s routers are chockfull of good features that give them the edge over predecessor machines made 20 or more years ago. Mid-size and larger routers often include both collet sizes. Collets are sized to accept either 1/2″- or 1/4″-dia.
A nut surrounds the collet and threads onto the spindle to tighten bits into place. A slotted, tapered collet fits into it and grips the shanks of router bits around their circumference like a vise. The bottom end of the motor’s spindle that holds the cutting bit is tapered on the inside and threaded on the outside. You’ll need one or two wrenches to tighten the nut. A nut surrounds the collet and threads onto the spindle to secure the bit. They were once commonplace, but most routers these days are modular: a removable motor pack fits both fixed and plunge bases to maximize versatility.Ĭollets: the Business End Bit shanks are held inside the router motor’s tapered spindle with either a 1/2″ or 1/4″ collet. Manufacturers still produce a few dedicated plunge routers where the motor and base are integral. Each click of the turret changes the cutting depth incrementally by about 1/8″, and those changes can be read off of a depth scale behind the rod. You control cutting depth using an adjustable rod that makes contact with a stepped and swiveling turret. “Plunge” bases turn that relationship on its ear: the motor clamps into a top housing on the base, and the housing can be raised or lowered on two spring-loaded metal posts to adjust the cutting depth - here, the motor is “fixed,” but the base plunges it to different depths. Once you set and lock the motor where you want it, the base remains otherwise “fixed.” A plunge base’s depth-setting features include an adjustable rod, depth scale and a stepped, rotating turret below them. The “fixed” base has a large collar, a threaded rod or other height adjustment feature that enables you to move the motor up or down inside the base to change the cutting depth of the bit. A sharp bit attached to the end of the motor’s spindle does the cutting work. A universal motor points downward and is held in a base that typically has a couple of handles to help you steer it over a workpiece. The reason a vintage router or a brand-new one work almost equally well has to do with the tool’s simplicity: strip away the advanced electronics and feature enhancements made over the past two or three decades, and all routers really boil down to a few basic parts. It can even surface plane, joint edges flat, carve lettering, cut circles and bore holes. Need to duplicate a bunch of parts? That’s no problem for a router and a template. It will machine dadoes and grooves, rabbets, dovetails, mortises, tenons, box joints and more. If you’re a woodworking novice, I’ll go so far as to say it should rank near the top of your “short list” of tools to buy first, even ahead of a table saw - routers are that useful.Ī router can help you turn sharp edges into decorative profiles of all sorts. Whether you use a router made long before you were born, like the 1950s Stanley or one of the technologically advanced models built today, either machine can perform a range of essential woodworking tasks that can’t be bested by any other power tool.
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