# Trim Router v. Regular Router



## BillyBatson (Dec 10, 2011)

Greetings All . . . FIRST POST NEWBIE HERE !!! 


VERY MUCH a beginner in the world of woodworking. I'm getting ready to start a project to build my own arcade cabinet (i.e. "MAME" .... I'm sure many of you have heard about/seen projects like these). I'm planning on using 3/4" MDF for the cabinet construction - which will involve applying/trimming laminate to the outer cabinet sides.

I have a 2hp Craftsman fixed based router ... which I believe will work fine when I'm flush trimming each side of the cabinet so that they're equal (right?) But for trimming the laminate, would using the full router be a bit overkill versus using a smaller trim router to do the job more cleanly and with less chance of damaging the sides of the cabinet?


Sorry if this is a simplistic question ... but I figure if I don't ask, I don't learn. 



THANKS !!!

TOM


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Tom, for a single project there is no need to buy a trim router... unless you want to. 

Your router will handle this job with no problems.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Welcome to the forum Tom.


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

Hello Tom. Welcome to the forum.

Your existing router should handle to job with the correct cutter.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hey, Tom; welcome!
The advantage of the trim router is it's light weight and very compact footprint. That makes it ideal for getting close to obstacles like walls and gables. My little (old) Ryobi is a 1/4" shank collet so I can't use my 1/2" shank bits in it, ie two sets of bits. 
Having said that, I'd replace it if it died on me; I like having the option of using the smaller machine when possible.


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## Willway (Aug 16, 2012)

Welcome Tom, some years ago (at least 8 yrs) I bought a cheap Harbor Freight trim router. I have used on jobs where I did not expect it to last. It's been thrown in around the truck, beaten up and neglected. I CANT KILL IT. It is now in the shop with a chamfer bit on it and is used for nothing else. I have used it for all kinds of edge treatment from laminate trimming to full ogees on 3/4 stock. I consider it to be worth the $30 they get for them. 

1/4" Trim Router


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## RTexasCwby (Mar 7, 2009)

Welcome Tom. Your current router should do the job for you. However, I come from the "Never waste a good excuse to acquire a new tool" school of thought. Just sayin'

Dan


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I'm with Dan. I find it a bit difficult to hold and control the larger router, but that's because my hands and joints seem to be aging faster than my brain. But I do like tools and nearly any excuse will do.


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## BillyBatson (Dec 10, 2011)

Willway said:


> Welcome Tom, some years ago (at least 8 yrs) I bought a cheap Harbor Freight trim router. I have used on jobs where I did not expect it to last. It's been thrown in around the truck, beaten up and neglected. I CANT KILL IT. It is now in the shop with a chamfer bit on it and is used for nothing else. I have used it for all kinds of edge treatment from laminate trimming to full ogees on 3/4 stock. I consider it to be worth the $30 they get for them.


As a professed novice home-hobbiest/DIY'er, I absolutely LOVE Harbor Freight and the ability to (cost-effectively) acquire most tools I want to learn to use in my home/garage/weekend-workshop/man-cave. I'm even more fortunate to have no less than FOUR physical Harbor Freight store locations within 20-30 minutes of where I live. 

I love the fact that you "can't kill" your HF Trim Router ... quite a testament to a HF product (where many others often aren't the biggest fans of HF products).

:sold:


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## BillyBatson (Dec 10, 2011)

RTexasCwby said:


> Welcome Tom. Your current router should do the job for you. However, I come from the "Never waste a good excuse to acquire a new tool" school of thought. Just sayin'
> 
> Dan


Great Point, Dan !!! ... Perhaps I will give the Harbor Freight Trin Router a try and see how I like it. At $30, it's not going to result in foreclosure of my home and - like others have said above - it will be another handy-dandy tool to have for certain appropriate projects.


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

If all you want is a cheap small router, then the Harbor Freight is probably a good choice. If you want a good versatile trim router, then you want a complete laminate trimmer kit. The kit contains several bases that will allow you to do many more things with your laminate router than you could possibly do with the Harbor Freight laminate trimmer router. 

My DeWalt laminate trimmer kit contains a fixed base, an offset base. a seaming base, and an adjustable angle base, plus several size base plates. 
With the offset base the router can turn a bit that is outside the diameter of the router motor via a timing belt and separate collet. This allows trimming as close as 1/2" from an inside corner. The angle base lets me put a an angled bevel on an edge 
at any angle that I choose to. The straight base lets me use the motor much like any light weight router and I have several different bases to use on it. One of these bases will take a Porter Cable type bushing. The seaming base will let me trim one piece of laminate so that it perfectly buts against an existing piece of laminate. None of these attachments are available for the Harbor Freight laminate trimmer. Of course, my Dewalt laminate trimmer costs more than the Harbor Freight, but I can do so much more with it that the $200 that I paid makes it a very worthwhile purchase for me.
It all depends on what you want to do with it.

Charley


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## BillyBatson (Dec 10, 2011)

Thank you for the additional insight, Charly - very much appreciated.

Might you be able to provide me a link to the DeWalt laminate trimmer router you are referring to?


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## papasombre (Sep 22, 2011)

I agree with you, Dan.

I had a lightweight skil router that I used as trimmer laminate but it passed away and I decided to buy a Colt kit from Bosh. Meanwhile it arrived from US I bought a cheap chinese brand and few days latter I found two PC trimmer in a garage sale in pretty good conditions. I didn´t waste the chances.


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

CaptainMarvel said:


> Thank you for the additional insight, Charly - very much appreciated.
> 
> Might you be able to provide me a link to the DeWalt laminate trimmer router you are referring to?



CaptainMarvel,

This is a newer model of the one that I have, and I can see that the "seaming base" is not included. This seaming base is probably the least likely base to be needed and you may never need one. They may still offer a seaming base, but it's not included in the kit. The other 3 bases should do just about everything you will ever want to do with it.

Amazon.com: DEWALT D26670K Heavy-Duty Laminate Trim Router Kit: Home Improvement


Laminate trimmer kits are also available from the other major US router manufacturers. 

Here is one from Bosch

Bosch PR20EVSNK Colt Variable-Speed Palm Router Installer Kit

And Porter Cable

Amazon.com: PORTER-CABLE 97311 Deluxe Laminate Trimmer Kit: Home Improvement


Charley


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## OutoftheWoodwork (Oct 4, 2012)

I have both. I use my full size router for trimming the sides of my work, 
but my trim router is what I use for all my detail. 

While I like harbor freight, I would check a pawn shop for trying tools first. 
You can get a better quality tool for about the same price, and you can 
find out if it's something you want to stick with or not. That's where I got 
my first router (and a few other of my tools) to see how I felt about them. 
It's a good way to try before you put any serious money into anything. As 
for problems, the ones in my area, if one dies shortly after you get it, they 
exchange for another one, as close as possible (and sometimes better) than 
what you had.

Just my opinon... y'all know how I love to give it... :laugh:


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