Router question

[tippie53]

Tools are investments and not costs , Cheap tools are often just costs . Poor quality tools are not useful when you have to do accurate work . Buy the best you can afford . You will allays gripe about a tool that won't perform but you soon forget the cost of a good tool and sees it value.
It is not what the tool costs , it is what it is worth .

[msanch24]

I just bought a bosch colt and I am glad I spent the extra. The dremel works OK but it doesn't have the power. You will use it for saddle slots, rosette channels, truss rod slots and maybe even for the neck joints. So get the best you can afford. As my late dad used to say "Buy cheap, buy twice".

What do you think the minimum HP i should be looking at is?

[msanch24]

Tools are investments and not costs , Cheap tools are often just costs . Poor quality tools are not useful when you have to do accurate work . Buy the best you can afford . You will allays gripe about a tool that won't perform but you soon forget the cost of a good tool and sees it value.
It is not what the tool costs , it is what it is worth .

I'm very much thinking along these lines. Being 20 and just getting started on all this, I want something that will do the job well - for years to come.

-matt

[mike789166]

My palm router is 600W and is fine for making guitars, for mould preparation etc I use a larger 1300W model but I am sure I could use the smaller one. It is a lot more manageable and a pleasure to use. I made a controller to control the heat of my heating blanket for side bending and it also controls doubles as a speed control. If you need details let me know.

[msanch24]

After reading numerous reviews and doing a good deal of research, I keep coming back to the Rigid laminate trimmer. Great price, and I know rigid makes good quality tools.

-matt

[msanch24]

Yeah it seems to me that if you're looking for a good tool that will be an investment, HF is not the way to go.

-matt

[kencierp]

When using the Harbor Freight trim router, if you don't "put the washer" between the base and the tighting knob --- the knob will wear, the height adjustment will slip, likely the first thought is to crank on the knob to get it really, really tight --- then the sometimes base cracks. I have contacted HF to have them make special note of this concern -- nothing so far. But if you own one of these make sure that washer is in place.

[Tarhead]

I have contacted HF to have them make special note of this concern -- nothing so far.

Don't hold your breath. I think a customer request that doesn't involve a profit motive or threat of serious lawsuit expense will fall on deaf ears at HF. Here's a quote that sums up my tool buying philosophy:

"There's hardly anything in the world that someone cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper. The people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey. When you pay too much you may lose a little money, that is all. When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do. "
(Quote attributed to John Ruskin but sources disagree)

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I ALWAYS want the best tools, but most often can't afford to purchase them. Now, I am not destitute by any means, but there are priorities in my life that I must fullfil. My guitar making is a spare time hobby in reality, and therefore does not qualify for a large portion of my budget. I will generally try and make do with what I have, can build, or can buy inexpensively. That is not true in every case, but in most cases. I have to weigh many aspects of what I want to accomplish, how much the tool will be used, and the result I need to obtain. In my knifemaking, I have some very expensive tools, and some very cheap tools. The same so far has applied to my guitar making.....mostly cheap tools.
I do plan on obtaining some better quality tools, but the hobby has to support the hobby.
All that said: I have actually been thinking about going to cutting and chiseling by hand for the binding and purflings. I can make the cutter, and the chisels I have (cheap ones at that).
Has anyone on the forum done this task by hand? You may ask, "Why would you"? That is a good question, but wouldn't it be fun to try??
From the proceeds of my next build, I am planning on purchasing a good bandsaw, perhaps a drum sander, a quality set of chisels, maybe a bench top joiner, and a good bullnose hand plane.
And hey, I might even bite the bullet and buy me a quality trim router too. :>)

I'm just sayin, and didn't mean to hijack this thread.

Kevin

[msanch24]

didn't mean to hijack this thread.

No problem, Kevin! I got what i needed out of this thread.

I definitely understand where you're coming from. Even as a broke kid in college, I find a little money to try out some hobbies. Lately it's been tuning up my little tin can of a car. As much fun as that is, I just can't withhold myself the opportunity to purchase the materials to do something that I have always wanted to do (that would be build a guitar, of course). It's all about distribution of funds. Whaddaya know, I'm learning budgeting already!

You guys have been very helpful in my first thread here. I'll be around for quite a while I'm sure.

-matt