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Help me out here. I’m looking to buy a trimmer. All I need are the regular and offset bases plus the motor. I looked at the Bosch and the 5.6 amp PC, and heard them run. I like the Bosch for its sound (quieter) and the more compact offset base and the safer shaft lock, but prefer the PC for its wider standard base, hex (instead of two flats) collet nut, and it takes templet guides. I will use it for general one-handed routing mostly, with occasional laminate work. A friend swears by the old-style PC 310 (squatty 4 amp motor), which is harder to come by, and the tool store guy said PC no longer makes the offset base for that model. True or false?
DW also makes one, about which I know nothing. Any others to consider? Thanks for any and all input.
Bill
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PC 310 as good as they get, offset casting was a product in '99, may still be around. (See Routers for more on 310)
Had to study latest 7 models for chapter on trimmers in new router book. Bosch is good tool, many of the others are designed like Tom Collins tumbler, easy to tip over, squatty 310 clearly has best control, others have more power, however. Have 2 310's, can't wear them out.
*Hi Bill,I have the Bosch deluxe lam trim kit and think pretty highly of it, though I haven't tried any of the other brands.I've used it for installing plam countertops as well as for light edge shaping jobs on cabinets. I,m building a kitchen for a builder that requested Shaker style inset doors and drawers, and this little trim router works excellant for rounding over the door and drawer edges just ever so slightly.Don,t know about the DeWalt other than I do have a 615 plunge router of theirs and am going on my third switch in 3 yrs. I don't know if it's my luck or what, but it seem like every DeWalt tool I get ends up with a switch problem.My Bosch trimmer came with all the accessories, underscribe base, offset base, and tilt base, and all are very handy when the need arises. I'm sure that PC lam trimmer is probably of goiod quality as I have 2 PC 690 routers and have never had a problem with them.
*Routerman, thanks for the info. The control is the thing I want, so the 310 rates high. How great is the power sacrifice vs the Bosch? I have used a friend's Bosch with the offset base for kerfing old sills to insert flashing, and the power did not seem too excessive, if you get what I mean (I was using a 1/8" solid carbide spiral bit in softwood, about 3/16" depth each pass.) My friend did not like the standard base on his Bosch, and it was an older one. I seem to recall also that the slave spindle on the offset base held the cutter shank by means of a setscrew, a design they seem to have updated.Mad Dog, did you add a wider subbase to your Bosch, or does the factory base feel stable enough when rounding over those Shaker fronts? Also, do you use the underscribe base, and if so, do the chips get under the second piece of p-lam? I have only a few Dewalt tools, and have been blessed with no switch failures to date, but bad switches on yellow tools are legion; I read about it here all the time and thank my lucky stars.Thank you both for your responses.Bill
*Bill, I have had the Dewalt trim router abou 2-3 yrs and can live with it but wouldn't recommend it. The switch is still the original but has always felt less than positive, like you were never sure if it is really on or off. I have the same gripe with switck on my DW r.o. Sander. Also the micro depth adjustment on the T.router is via a small (too small) thumb wheel which doesn't operate smoothly and takes forever to move base up or down.
*Bill,I use the factory base for rounding over the Shakers, and it seems to work well if you grip the trim router close to the base.I used the the underscribe base twice to seam some large sheets of plam for a countertop and yes, chips do get under the second piece. If you were using it on a short seam like maybe a countertop edge it would probably be okay, But the longer the seam the more debris gets trapped. Adrian Wilson who also posts here told me about a jig he made up for seaming large sheets of plam consisting of a plywood board with a fence on one side and a trough cut down the middle. You overlap your two pieces of plam, squared up tight against the fence and then you can cut both pieces with one pass for a good tight fitting seam. Some of the seams that I've done on the nebula plams are almost impossible to find. So unless you are seaming narrow pieces, I don't feel that the underscribe base is worth the added cost.
*1/8 x 3/16 deep cut no problem, but tool is a "trimmer" don't expect 690 performance from light tool.
*those WilsonArt nebulas are unbelivable, how well they hide seams. Plus everyone seams to select them when you give them the chain, unreal.
*After doing my research, I have learned that PC has discontinued the offset base for the 310 production trimmer. The 310 is still available bare. As I need an offset base, I will be looking at either the Bosch or the 7310. Thanks again to all who responded.Bill
*Whenever someone asks me what I would recommend for plam tops, I always suggest the nebulas, for the main reason of being able to hide the seams so well.
*An update: I bought the Bosch, but returned it after doing one kitchen counter. The problem was that the spindle bearings in the slave spindle on the offset base got so hot that I had to hold the tool by the motor to avoid a burn. I even tried another new offset base, and it had the same problem. My friend's two 310's live with the offset base always on, and they NEVER get that hot (I have used them with him.) I tried a PC 7310 in the store, and, while it did not get as hot, it had the same problem, plus that shaft lock button gives me the willies.Does anyone have a solution to this heat problem? These were brand new tools! Failing that, how about a source for the 310's offset base? Or some cool foreign tool that is immune to this problem? Thanks.Bill
*Mad Dog- What is a 'nebula'? I've done a fair amount of p-lam work, but I havent heard this term before.Thanks, Mike.
*Hi Mike,It's a series by Wilsonart that has numerous tiny dots. It comes with many different backround colors with these tiny dots mixed in. They have white nebula, which actually looks kinda grey, grey nebula, tan nebula, storm nebula etc.I'm sure you've probably run across it. Other manufacturers have a similar product but probably don't refer to it as nebula.
*Another big thank you to Wilsonart for their Nebula line. Unbelievable. And the best part is, whenever I give a sample chain to a customer to pick out a color, the vast majority choose one of the Nebulas. It's their choice and Mad Dog is exactly right, you can almost make the seams invisible.
*Mad Dog- Yeah I know what you mean now; just hadn't heard of that term before. It is nice looking. I didn't realize that it was the product that hid the seams- here I just thought I was getting a lot better at doing them. LOL. Did a 45 degree diagonal corner seam for a gal who insisted on having hers this way & it turned out almost invisible. I love the stuff too.Mike.
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Help me out here. I'm looking to buy a trimmer. All I need are the regular and offset bases plus the motor. I looked at the Bosch and the 5.6 amp PC, and heard them run. I like the Bosch for its sound (quieter) and the more compact offset base and the safer shaft lock, but prefer the PC for its wider standard base, hex (instead of two flats) collet nut, and it takes templet guides. I will use it for general one-handed routing mostly, with occasional laminate work. A friend swears by the old-style PC 310 (squatty 4 amp motor), which is harder to come by, and the tool store guy said PC no longer makes the offset base for that model. True or false?
DW also makes one, about which I know nothing. Any others to consider? Thanks for any and all input.
Bill