GMC three-base router $49.95

[Hooligan]

My first post. And my first router.

Total woodworking newbie.

I ordered one of these yesterday and was wondering what those who have received theirs and actually used it, now think about the GMC router. Went to their site for a manual but it looks like whats available is only for the Euro versions.

is also what may or may not be a bushing. It's metal and round but doesn't exactly look like a bushing

Think that might be the Template Guide.

[woodworker1]

I believe this router is a fantastic deal with one caveat; I don't have any idea how long the motor will last. Maybe that is not a big deal anyway since it has a two year full replacement warranty.

Mine arrived Thursday evening so I tried it out on Friday. Frankly, I was shocked at how good it is for the price. There is a more plastic than I would like to see, and the fit on some of the parts is not the best. The guide seems somewhat rudimentary but functional. I was very plesed with the soft start, the micro adjust, and the plunge mechanism seems quite good; will have to see if stays easy to operate throughout it's range of travel. All in all, this could be the best power tool deal I have seen. I useed the router with a 1/2 roundover bit on some hard maple and it seemed to cut just fine.

When you consider you are getting 3 bases, 2 collets, soft start, variable speed, edge guide, wow! Like I said, we just need to see if the motor holds up

I also bought the jigsaw. While it seems ok for the money it's not as good a value as the router. I had to take a file and sandpaper to the bottom, and grind off the screws that hold the plastic shoes on just to get it where it did not scrape the wood I was cutting with bottom of the jigsaw.

[padboy]

GMC Tools

I recently bought the GMC sliding miter saw from Amazon. I liked it's features and the attractive price and what I thought was a good warranty. Man, was I ever wrong. The machine arrived minus one of the linear travel bearings on the left side tube and minus one of the two required laser light assemblies.
When I sent a email to their head "customer service" person requesting they provide the missing parts, they told me that since I had bought the saw from Amazon, I should contact them, which I did. I was told to return the saw which I did not do. I wound up fabricating a plastic bushing to replace the missing bearing. The laser I don't need anyway as a pencil line is far more reliable and much easier on the eyes. So my advice to all is: their tools may have a lot of good features and be bargain priced, but their warranty service is virtually non-existent.

[conxol]

For those that purchased earlier, request a refund for the difference

I purchased this past weekend and now noticed they have dropped the price again. I emailed Amazon and requested a refund for the difference. Sure enough they have already offered the refund.

[gwyneth]

What did you pay and what is it now?

Never mind. I just looked at it's at 47.49--did you ask for 2.50 back?

The rotary tool is now $24 something--I bet so many people bought at the $13 price they decided, hmm, this is more popular than we thought...let's raise the price.

[Marlin]

Yea I got the router as well.

As others have said for $50 its a great deal. No its not a dewalt, but it beats out the no-name ones by a mile for about the same price.

There are only 20 left as of now.

[conxol]

What did you pay and what is it now?

Never mind. I just looked at it's at 47.49--did you ask for 2.50 back?

The rotary tool is now $24 something--I bet so many people bought at the $13 price they decided, hmm, this is more popular than we thought...let's raise the price.

They gave me what ever the difference was. I also got a whole dollar back for the jigsaw as well!

[messmaker]

They were selling it for a short time for $39.95 last week.

[Hooligan]

Anyone know if it's true that because of the size of the opening in the baseplates that you can't use a bit over 1" in diameter. Forinstance:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?O...B3&RMSID=Z5000

if "A" is over an inch?

[Papa]

Base Plate Hole

Holligan,

The size of the baseplate hole is 1-3/8". The hole in the dust collection shrowd is 1-1/4"

I guess you could always cut the baseplate hole bigger. It's only plastic. If you did so, however, you'd lose the mounting holes for the dust shrowd. This could be worked around. I mounted my fixed base in the router table extension. I had to fabricate a little fitting to hold the dust shrowd and drill and tap 2 holes in the aluminum mounting plate to bolt it down. If you use a bigger bit than would fit, you could temporarily remove the dust shrowd.

My earlier rant about the stiffness of the height adjustment ring was premature. After a little lubrication and a lot of turning to spread it around, the adjustment works easily.

Warren

[Hooligan]

Thanks Warren.

Just stressing out and obsessing. Never owned a router myself and am going by what the one negative review on Amazon said.

Mine should be here by weeks end or early next week.



Lance

[gwyneth]

You probably shouldn't use the really wide bits anyway, until you become comfortable with routing. By that time, you'll know if you want, and how, to make suitable modifications.

[Hooligan]

You probably shouldn't use the really wide bits anyway, until you become comfortable with routing. By that time, you'll know if you want, and how, to make suitable modifications.

With my schedule it'll be next month before I even open the box. I still haven't finished setting up my new Ridgid 3650 and its been in the shed two weeks Got the extension tables on tho...

[wdreamsmaycome]

hmmm, my postal box company people in the US emailed me that the GMC stuff has arrived however ominously the code on the status page is 'box was opened in transit', anybody else had that happen to them? I've never had issues with UPS (which is what amazon usually uses) but it seems the GMC stuff was shipped via DHL for some reason.

[gwyneth]

One of the advantages of having tools shipped in cases...unless the case got opened, things should be fine.

Anybody else who's already gotten one surprised by the size of the case?