Good morning, all. I’m in the market for a drywall router and was wondering what works well. The Dewalt and Porter-Cable products I’m sure are nice. Any thoughts? Thanks and stay safe.
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I've got the "rotozip" which is made by bosch. Not many bells or whistles, but it was only sixty dollars and it does what I need it to do. Good luck.
rsquared
I second the bosch rotozip. I bought it on the fly (my dremel took a dive on the first of ninety recessed cans) and have had no problems with it. I got the one that has a grinder adapter that has more than paid for the tool itself.
I bought the Dewalt a few years ago when Home Depot stopped carrying them. I think I paid $50 for it off the clearance shelf. Anyway, it works fine. I've used for cutting drywall, and also wall tile with the carbide bits.
My only complaint is the "bump switch". It's located on the end of the tool, and it's easy to "bump" off when cutting in certain positions.
Are you down with OPP?
The Makita comes with a decent clear plastic dust hood and circle cutter for around $120. It has enough guts to do a good job cutting concrete backer board with a 1/4" carbide burr. The tile setters really like it when I use it to cut out a nice circular hole for the mixing valve in tub/shower enclosures. The dust hood makes cutting overhead much more tolerable if I take the time to hook up to a shop vac.
Had my first experience today cutting outlet boxes with a DW router (PC, about $30 at coastaltool.com). Qn: How the hell do you avoid nicking wires in an electrical box? I tried minimizing the bit height but I kept missing the side of the box. I put a plastic cover over the box and the bit went right through. Finally bit the bullet and just routed and sure enough a couple of the wires got nicked. Either I've going to have live with short conductors in the box or try to feed more cable in. Tried pushing the wires back but only so much you can do with 12ga.I think next time I'm going to try finding the edge of the box with a DW saw first.
Try adjusting the bit depth so the only part of the bit that goes through the drywall is the pilot tip. Might be an easy fixI only golf on days that end with a "Y".
If I have a box crammed with wire, I set the bit so it just barely cuts through the rock. I cut a circle about the size of a half dollar on my mark to see where I'm at, and then lower the bit for the cut around the outside of the box. More time consuming, but avoids nicked wires.********************************************************
"It is what we learn after we think we know it all, that counts."
John Wooden 1910-
Taylor,
I go around the whole job before drywall and push the wires in with a hammer handle. The electricians do try to keep them back - they know what's going to happen next, but I have to check them. You can do it - you might just have to lean on that hammer a bit.
Ron
"How the hell do you avoid nicking wires in an electrical box?"
Go around the outside of the box with the bit. The 1/8" gap it leaves will be covered by the plate... Buic
Push the wire in and up to the left. Acoordian pleat them. Then mark the center of the box on the drywall. Plunge in and go to the right, hit side of box and pull out to go over side and then back in. Use the Guidepoint bit and go counter clockwise around the box. You should miss all the wires easily with this method.
I had a rotozip and it worked fine for a while. But last month, when I was doing some overhead cans, the arbor lock stuck in the lock position. It completely blew out when I tried to free it. I think it wasn't sealed tight enough to keep the dust out when working overhead. I junked it and got a DW (because it was on sale). Don't know if it'll fare any better.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA