9 Attachment(s)
Milwaukeee Cordless Router
Woodworking tools are not the first thought that comes to mind normally with the Milwaukee brand and I probably would not have considered this tool except that I have three cordless Milwaukee tools already. They are a drill, an impact driver and a 125mm angle grinder: All are 18V. When an advertisement came through on the emails I had a quick look through the Milwaukee line up to see if there was anything I didn't realise I needed.
Sure enough there was something I didn't need: A cordless router. It was being offered at a special price so I took the plunge.
Actually it is not a plunge router but a fixed base, although there is a plunge base available. I omitted to take just a straight shot of the router by itself but did take one with another laminate trimmer for comparison, primarily for size.
Attachment 476204
I should point out that I purchased only the skin.
It comes with two collets, 6mm & 1/4". neither are marked as such and a little difficult to tell apart. As far as I know I only have bits with 1/4" shanks. Initially the bits would not fit into either collet but with a little more persuasion one of them did fit and I have had no trouble since so I will put that down to newness. It also comes with an additional larger platform base and a dust collection port:
Attachment 476203
Initially I thought a screw was missing to attach the DC port, but it turns out that it is held, quite securely I might add, by just the one thumb screw. It comes with a fence also attached by a single thumbscrew (a larger one). Attachment is simple.
Attachment 476202
So far I have used it with a small rounding over bit, a cove bit and a straight bit and all worked well. This is the job on which I used the cove bit and the straight bit:
Attachment 476197
SWMBO had attended a function and everybody got a presentation cheese knife set with board. However the sponsor had engraved their logo on the top and it was my job to remove it. The middle dish shape is the bit I have removed. I am mentioning this because it did raise another issue: The fence. The fence has no holes drilled ready to attach a timber fence. I wanted to attach a curved fence to make the circular waste removal easier:
Attachment 476198
I was completely unable to drill the fence to take screws. I should have realised that when two centre punches flattened out with only gentle provocation I was going to have trouble. I did not have a drill bit that made even the slightest impression. I ended up using the small cut out in the metal fence to follow the curve. I will try again at some point with the drilling when I am having a brave day.
Depth adjustment is by two means. The clip that locks the body is released and the square black button is depressed so the body of the router can be easily slid up and down. Fine adjustment is provided by the black cylindrical dial above the grey locking device. When the correct depth has been found the grey cam lock device clamps the setting firmly.
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The following comment is probably unfair given that this is essentially a trim or laminate router. The hole in this base plate is about 38mm diameter and ordinarily this would be more than ample for a machine this size. I put a slotting cutter in it, but the slotting cutter was too large to pass through the base plate. I did not really want to use this cutter, although I did. I should explain that I was looking for a single small bearing for my jigsaw project and as this bearing was not running smoothly I thought it could be sacrificed, but it was quite stiff and no amount of rotation by hand was freeing it. My solution was to give it a run, but it was only when I came to insert the bit that I realised this was beyond the design intention. One other thing that I thought was a little remiss and it was that there was no locking spanner for the collett. Luckily I have a small container full of such tools so no problem for me: Just saying.
I found it easiest to remove the base when changing cutters as the clear plastic shroud restricts access. However this is child's play and takes about five seconds.
Inserted from the underside it performed well and I routed a slot on four sides of a piece of timber in one hit. No sign of the machine wanting to slow or be overworked so although I would not recommend using a bit such as this, it was quite a good test of the machine's ability. It worked easily although I did dial down the speed a little. It worked well for the bearing too as it ran smoothly after that as if it was brand new! I had to go looking elsewhere for a bearing as I could not justify pirating the part. :)
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All in all it is a very tidy unit and very nicely made. Quite attractive in resplendent red and polished aluminium it has a speed range of 10,000 to 31,000rpm. With the battery inserted it is a little heavier than a corded equivalent, but a smaller capacity battery could be substituted if this was an issue. 5amp/hr is the smallest battery I have. Clearly this machine would be expensive if you did not already have the batteries and charger. In fact at $364 for the skin only it was not at all cheap.
I like it and it is convenient and will be perfect for my intended purpose.
Regards
Paul
