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All of the Porter Cable routers created a chattered result. The worst had.015" run-out, so it was thown out. I have 35 routers. It's a shame the collets were so short and gripped bits so poorly. 7518s. The bit was turned 180 dgrees and the collets retested at 180 dregrees, but the run-out remained the same. The motor arbors were fine, but all 7ea.
I owned and regulary used 7 Porter Cable routers, including 3ea. The collet run-out vibration sometimes caused bits to loosen in the collet while routing. I'll be replacing them all. 1/2" collets averaged.007" run-out at the top of a 1 1/2 double flutted bit.
Porter-Cable 7518 Speedmatic 15 Amp 3-1/4 Horsepower Fixed Base 5-Speed RouterVERY GOOD MACHINE I WOULD RECOMED TO ANYONE
Have bought and installed 5 of these routers. With the router lift and table you really need the switch Bench Dog makes to mount on their router tables. It is heavy. I think you buy this one for its power. A very good, powerful router.
We use this router motor in conjunction with the Bench Dog lift and table to make a "mini shaper" for some special machining. I just use the motor in the lift. The soft start takes a little getting used to. No way to see the switch on this router when it is upside down in a lift. Good for big bits and heavy cuts.
I have not used the router on a base free hand. Bench Dog sells a switch for their router tables that I will try. I would reccomend this model more use in a router lift or for a heavy duty operation like sink cutouts or pattern cutting.
When it comes to woodworking, Porter-Cable is my choice of tool. This router is another fine example.
The cuts were so precise that no sanding was required where the rails and stiles were joined. Since this was my first major router project, I attribute this to "operator error" hence the 3 pass recommendation for the raised panel cutter. They are a lot more expensive. Besides, I more than covered the cost of the equipment in the savings from not having to buy or have someone make custom wainscoting.
Also shapers are not easily moved from the basement to the garage for a project. This set up breezed through the rail and stile cuts like butter with 1 pass and made very smooth cuts. After blowing the circuit breaker a few times (using the panel cutter), I moved the vac and work lights to a different circuit and that solved the circuit breaker problem. I selected the PC 7518 router because of the power, favorable reviews and other recommendations.
I was using the set-up on a 15 amp line in the garage (it is a 15 amp tool) with a shop vac to suck up the dust and boy does MDF generate dust. All and all, I'm extremely pleased with the PC 7518 and have no reservations in recommending it for use in a router table.Relative to the recommendations of some that a used shaper might have been a better approach, have you ever priced shaper cutters relative to router bits. Since I'm not, the router table approach is the more flexible and cost effective approach for me. MDF board. The end result is that I have a very happy wife who loves her wainscoting.This router is pretty heavy and is primarily intended for a router table which is where I plan to leave it.
raised panel bit with a back cutter. I wanted to make about about 60 feet of raised panel wainscoting (over 25 panels) for my dining room using 3/4 in. The raised panel bit also generated very smooth cuts but I would recommend 3 passes for safety and a better result. However the router still shut down if the cut was too heavy or the feed too fast. If I were a production shop, then a shaper makes sense. I'll use a different and lighter router for hand held router work.
I mounted it in a Bench Dog Pro Lift and mounted that in a Bench Dog ProTop router table and used Freud bits including a 3.5 in. It was easily re-set by simply unpluging and repluging the power cord. However if your looking to do a raised panel with 1 pass in MDF, get a shaper. That cutter really pushes this router to its limits and once I got the hang of it, it performed really well.
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