There, it can do its job the best and collect as much dust as possible. This case is especially true if you use your router to profile an edge.įor this reason, if there is no dust collection feature on your palm router, your workplace will become quite dusty in no time.Ī good dust collector should be attached to the side of your palm router. Woodworking is, without any doubt, among the jobs that produce the most dust at the moment. Some of them even have a locking mechanism to stabilize after you find the perfect height. Plunge routers, on the other hand, can make use of a function called depth stop to change their height settings. With this feature, you can clearly observe the change and make sure that there is no mistake.įixed base routers, due to their rigid nature, cannot benefit that much from this feature. Our recommendation is to find routers that offer clear depth adjustment measurements. There is also the issue of the shape changing depending on your cut depth.Ī prime example of this phenomenon is creating a flat-bottomed groove simply by changing a round over bit’s height. The difference between a shallow pass and a deep cut is even more noticeable than you think. On the contrary, setting it too low and there is a high chance that your cut is too shallow. If you set it too high, the router does not work. Setting the correct depth for a palm router is never an easy task, as it is quite a delicate machine. You can use them for dado cuts, fluting, and blind grooves.

Its motor moves up and down with the help of machined spring columns. You can mount them onto your router table, but they can only do edge routing applications.Ī plunge base is capable of everything a fixed base can do and then some. They often have fixed handles and knobs on two sides for guiding. The fixed base is the standard form of base for palm routers. The two most used types of base on the market currently are fixed and plunge. On the contrary, if it is too weak, there is no way for you to cut through the dense materials. If it’s too strong, you will have a hard time controlling it, leading to all kinds of accidents. The best palm router horsepower should be somewhere around 1.25 horsepower. At the end of the day, plunging makes a whole lot more friction and resistance than simply dragging it around. This issue is especially vital if you are doing plunge work. However, it takes quite a bit of time to do so. Yes, you can make multiple passes and work your way across the edge with all routers. The Horsepower tells you how well your trim router can handle dense materials and huge router bits. This feature often is used for the user professional. There should be no issue for you to quickly move to a new bit size without a hitch. To be more specific, the ideal spindle lock can allow at least two wrench bit changes. Routers are inherently dangerous devices, as you can injure yourself easily using them due to the speed they operate at.Ī good spindle lock should be able to let you change your bits a whole lot easier. They are much sturdier, and the huge surface area makes sure that no slipping will occur. On the other hand, 1/2 inch collets are more suitable for timber framing and dense hardwoods in general. If you force it to work with heavy-duty gigs, it can slow down the project or even break. 1/4 inch collets are the best fit with light-duty jobs such as milling hinge mortises or edge profiling. Our advice is to consider your intended use for the router before deciding on the collet size. At the moment, there are two usual bit sizes, ¼ inch and ½ inch.

The bit size that a router can handle should also play an incredibly important role in your decision. On the other hand, those with speed sensors can boost their speed automatically to make no mistake. Normal routers would just go in and achieve an inconsistent result.

The router can then adjust itself accordingly so that it will achieve the ideal speed.įor instance, you make a mistake and start the router at 10000 rpm, but the workpiece has a particularly dense section.

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