Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site rlgvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!rlgvax!toml From: toml@rlgvax.UUCP (Tom Love) Newsgroups: net.rec.wood Subject: re: most valuable tools & other matters Message-ID: <828@rlgvax.UUCP> Date: Mon, 4-Nov-85 11:34:38 EST Article-I.D.: rlgvax.828 Posted: Mon Nov 4 11:34:38 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 5-Nov-85 07:16:28 EST Organization: CCI Office Systems Group, Reston, VA Lines: 47 someone said that if they could only have one power tool, it would be a router. since i am in the middle of a project for which i will soon need a router, and currently have none, i will likely be buying one. therefore i would like to hear from one and all regarding routers. brand name recommendations, classification of type and purposes for which they are appropriate, most useful bits, router tables (and plans for same), etc --- dump your raves and flames out for everyone to hear. this is a low volume group, so i imagine we could get away with a posted discussion rather than mail-and-summarize. other matters: i recently bought a sears table saw, pretty near their top of the line, as i recall. i bought mine after using my father-in-law's 25 year old sears saw for some time. his was a nice saw. i find now, $400 later, that the new saws have several flaws. the fence is lousy (and mind you, this fence is better than the one on 90% of their other (cheaper) saws). it has no positive interlock, i.e. gearing, on either end. you basically slide it to position and clamp it down. this means using a combination square every time you move the fence to square it up. my father-in-law's saw has a positive gear drive at the operator's end, so that you can turn a wheel and move the fence. not a flawless mechanism by any means, but it works out far better than mine. anyone have experience with the paralock fence mechanism? they're very expensive, something like $600 as i recall, but it sounds great. is there a cheaper alternative available? two other significant problems: the removable plate with a slot in it, thru which the blade projects (sorry i don't know the name of the thing, i call it a throat plate) is not at all flat - rather it slopes downward from the sides to the middle, at the slot. this leads to lots of inaccuracies. i haven't yet, but i plan to try to get them to replace this. the other problem: the motor is 110v, and when it starts up, it makes the lights flicker badly in the house and the barn. i have 220v available where i use the saw. henry's saw ran at 220 and never caused problems. it appears that the motor can't be rewired for 220 - no extra terminals. possibly a bad starter capacitor? just picked up the new "fine woodworking", with an article on james krenov in it. if you haven't read "a cabinetmaker's notebook" by krenov, i highly recommend it. much of it reads like a woodworker's version of "zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance", one of my all-time favorite books. check it out. tom love computer consoles inc - office systems group reston, va {seismo | allegra | ihnp4} !rlgvax!toml