How many routers in your shop?

Rich: I just have two routers, Both Porter Cable. I use the 690 hand held in my dovetail jig. The 893 goes in my overarm pin router.

Now that I have the 10,000 rpm Shopsmith speed increaser, I’m using it in shaper mode rather than use the router table. It can take 1/4” and 1/2” router bits as well as shaper cutters.

Hey. The weather here in the U.P. has been fantastic.

-- "Heaven is North of the Bridge"

I have a friend who is professional woodworker … he told me once he had 13. He has each one set up with a specific bit for specific cuts and profiles. To him, time is money, and he can justify the expense.

I have four … a Ryobi laminate trimmer, a Skil plunge router, a PC6902 in the Bench Dog router table, and a PC694VK kit with both the plunge and fixed base.

The Ryobi (1/4” collet) is used mostly for roundovers and chamfers. The Skil (my oldest router) is also 1/4” collet and pretty much never gets used.

The two Porter Cables, on the other hand, get a lot of use. They both have 1/4” and 1/2” collets, but I never use the 1/4” collets in them … like you, I prefer 1/2” shank bits. They cut smoother, and I think they are safer.

-- Gerry -- "I don't plan to ever really grow up ... I'm just going to learn how to act in public!"

Until I have one of every tool I need I probably won’t have two routers. I got a DeWalt 3 base combo so I have one mounted to my router wing on my table saw. Then a separate fixed and plunge base. I don’t do production work or rails and stiles every day so I can set the router up for each task. This topic has been brought up before and plenty of people on here have more than 5, 10 and 15 routers.

-- some day I hope to have enough clamps to need a clamp cart!

8iowa – I wish you well with the Shopsmith speed increaser. I had one and the gears busted up when I subjected them to (what I considered) moderate stress. This note is to suggest that you not push your shopsmith too hard.

-- Rich, Cedar Rapids, IA - I'm a woodworker. I don't create beauty, I reveal it.

Four routers. A Porter Cable trim router, a heavy duty Porter Cable for my router table, a Bosch plunge router and a Craftsman fixed base router. They all see use.

-- Ohh mann...pancakes and boobies...I'll bet that's what Heaven is like! ♣ ♣ ♣ ♣

Right now I have 3.

2 Hitachi KM12VC fixed / plunge base 2.25 HP kits. One fixed base is on my router table.
1 B&D Firestorm FS1200RP, which works amazingly well, but has parts fall off of it frequently enough I am scared to use it. I want it GONE…

I am wanting to get rid of the B&D, and get a 3+ HP router for the table. I am thinking another Hitachi. Every Hitachi tool I have bought so far has been a hard worker, and down right pleasant to use….

I used to have a small 1.5 HP Ryobi fixed base that spun 1/4” shank bits that I somewhat regret getting rid of. But my Hitachis have both 1/4 and 1/2” collets…

-- Manufacturer of fine quality sawdust since 1984. Comments and advice on my shop welcome. Check it out at http://lumberjocks.com/dbhost/workshop. Gladly accepting shop build donations!

Only two, but I’m a novice.

-- Optimists are usually disappointed. Pessimists are either right or pleasantly surprised. I tend to be a disappointed pessimist.

One Porter Cable 2-1/4 HP with two bases, fixed in the table, plunge used freehand.

However I’ve switched to using a couple of plough planes and a router plane for most groove, rabbet and dado tasks in SMALL workpieces. Once I figured out how to use the joinery planes they seem safer to me than pushing small parts around on the router table.

But I still enjoy using my router, especially mounted in the table for things like pattern routing or running long lengths of molding or frame-and-panel doors. I know how to do them by hand (and sometimes do it by hand) but the router is generally faster. I work them by hand if I don’t have the right profile bit, don’t want to buy another bit or just need to tweek the look I’m getting from the router bits. That way it doesn’t look like what everybody else produces since they have the same profiles!

-- Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.

Got Four. Porter Cable 890 in my router table, a Botch trim router, an older Craftsman and a cheap-O Tool Shop plunge router. I use them all for various jobs.

-- Dave Haynes, Indiana, http://www.oldaveswoodshop.com

Got four too. One 2 1/4 triton router, 2 Mastercrafts routers , 2 Bosch trim router. All serve me well

QuangFromCalgary. Is my math goofy or what?
“Got four too. One 2 1/4 triton router, 2 Mastercrafts routers , 2 Bosch trim router”

1+2+2=5 last time I looked…

Seriously though. Since I got rid of my little Ryobi, I have been wanting a trim router. Is that Bosch easy to use? I am in the air between the Bosch and DeWalt…

-- Manufacturer of fine quality sawdust since 1984. Comments and advice on my shop welcome. Check it out at http://lumberjocks.com/dbhost/workshop. Gladly accepting shop build donations!

Does a drywall cutout tool count. I set it up on an adjustable carriage for fine work until I picked up a trim router. The final answer is four plus the cutout tool. They all have their own uses and all work well.

-- "Man's ingenuity has outrun his intelligence" (Joseph Wood Krutch)

Rich,
I have 3 but only use 2 of them. I am just one of those guys than can’t get rid of tools. I still have my first router I bought back in about 1988. It is Black & Decker fixed base and I think it is 1-1/4 hp I haven’t used it in a long time but it still works. After that I have PC 2-1/4 hp setup with plunge base it also has a fixed base but I don’t really use it. And, then there is the big boy for the table the PC 3-1/4 hp.

Well, I guess if you want to count the little guy I have 4 – the little guy is a Dremel in router base.

-- Ron - Any day that I don't learn something new is a wasted day.

I have four routers. A Dewalt 2 hp plunge router, Craftsman 1.5 hp fixed base that I keep a dovetail bit on, a second Craftsman that is mounted under a router table and a Roto Zip trim router. Both Craftsman routers are at least 25-30 years old and are still going strong.

I’m confessing to 4, but I’m always on the look out!

I can’t wait to see what a1Jim claims….................
Now there is a Router Man!
(Check out picture #3 in his workshop pictures)
But if you see the nice stuff he turns out, he sure knows how to use them!

-- Eric