Trim Router

[LCHIEN]

Dave (DBHOST) recently mentioned getting a HF trim router.

It took me a few years to get one but I love mine now.
They're great for small jobs like putting an roundover or other edge treatment on a project.
Being able to grasp it fully with one hand makes it a perfect tool to use where a full size router is too heavy or awkward and you can use the smaller bits. Sometimes you get a better feel for what you are cutting with a small router.
Limited to 1/4" shanks, that's not an issue for the small set of bits I keep in the case... two or three roundovers, a 45° bevel bit, a 1/2" flush trim mostly.

The trim (or sometimes called Palm routers) routers are available from Bosch, Ridgid, Makita, and HF of course. Maybe some others I'm missing.

I have the Bosch Pro20EVS(K) "factory reconditioned" unit at a bargain price since about 2014 and its nice to use. A well engineered tool.

I cut the big hole with the full size router, and doing the roundover with the trim router


more info
https://toolstoday.com/learn/trim-ro...e%20and%20wood.

[dbhost]

A lot of the interior cabinet rework I am doing on the camper calls for roundovers specifically in what would otherwise be areas inaccessible to a full size router. I put off buying a trim / palm router for well over a decade because I felt I didn't need it. I found out the hard way i was wrong.

I see from the last few posts that Loring (LCHIEN) has a thing for Bosch routers. That's great, I love my Hitachi full size routers for sure. I wasn't sure I would use the trim router much after the RV repairs are done. I am iffy enough on that subject that the Bauer that I bought which usually goes for just short of $60.00, wasn't going to be had until the coupon deal for $34.99 jumped up at me.

I honestly have way more in bits and the storage bag than the router itself.

My main purposes for this are what I will call close quarters routing on semi completed assemblies where I am doing repair work, and using my signmakers templates where the full size router is just too beastly to handle...

[LCHIEN]

Yeah, i got the trim router 14 years after I got my first real router (not counting the craftsman one I got long before that). Didn't think I needed it, haha.

[dbhost]

That was my thought, But the big Hitachi, which mind you is a fantastic router, is also heavy, and just beastly powerful when I need something with more finesse. Sort of like the difference between using a Sharpie, and a fine ball point pen.

My first router, if you recall as it was in my shop list when I joined here, was a non plunge Ryobi and it did its work well, but lacking plunge capability made it tougher to use. I "upgraded" briefly to a B&D Firestorm plunge router and quickly discovered it would NOT take standard collars, and it vibrated like crazy. Typical B&D junk. And after talking with folks I think it was here I took the plunge, pun intended and got the Hitachi, and then got another matching Hitachi. KM12VC. They still make and sell the same router just with the Metabo HPT name instead of Hitachi. Among my do NOT regret wood shop purchases. Those and the MLCS bits with it...

Using my Rockler signmakers tempates is doable, but a real bear with the Hitachi, again too big of a tool for the job... Inner work like you show for those roundovers, again a basic little palm router does the trick nicely...

I should have jumped on this years and years ago.