# Great price...great router?



## WoodTinkerer (Dec 17, 2009)

Can anyone give me advice on this router? It seems like a great deal, thumbs up or down? I would like a router to table mount permanantly. larry


http://www.toolsoutlet.com/08020101.html

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001HK22VM...e=380333&creativeASIN=B001HK22VM&linkCode=asn


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## drasbell (Feb 6, 2009)

I cant say yes or no, I have not ever herd of that company before, the price is right but will they hold up to normal work? will they stand behind you if you have a problem with the router. Don't know...in cases like this I have to revert to the old saying "You get what you pay for" But I do know at 119.00 you can get a great combo deal form craftsman on a 2hp. and you know they will at least stand behind the product..
just my thoughts....


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## tigerhellmaker (Sep 13, 2009)

I have it
Tools & Hardware > plunge routers
Ok this same model but different company.
Topex Graphite 59g715








Cheap (70$ in my country) and poor quality router but work really nice in table. Its ok for Sunday woodworkers .


1 . Save switch you must change it.
2. I damage screw ! When I try open engine cover.


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## dawziecat (Dec 8, 2009)

Your first link is a router that is a clone of the Makita 3612.

It is imported by at least one other company that I know of . . . King Canada.
See link: Power Tools, Woodworking and Metalworking Machines by King Canada

Link showing the clone along with the pricey Makita: http://www.routerforums.com/attachm...6d1265231811-mounting-3612-makita-routers.jpg

Who knows how many other companies may have their particular name stamped on it?

I bought the Canadian branded version last December for $99CDN plus taxes and have it mounted in my table.

I removed the springs and the non-switch containing handle. The springs were a horrible nuisance in a table installation and the machine was too wide to be removed through the table insert with both handles in place. It was easy enough to do both these things.

The bolts that mount the base plate are M4 metric . . . uncomfortably small for supporting its 13 lb weight hanging from the table insert plate but they seem to be holding . . . so far, at least. In fact on two occasions, the depth clamp released unexpectedly resulting in the router banging down under the table. The little bolts held. I removed the height adjusting knob and use a nut on the shank to adjust the height and prevent a recurrence of this very undesirable event rather than relying on the clamp alone. It not only works more reliably and safely than the clamp . . . it is far faster too. Much easier to spin the nut up and down than use that long black knob. The right hand panel in the image with the Makita shows my King as "stripped for action" in table duty.

I am happy with the machine . . . have just finished refacing my kitchen cabinets with it (18 raised panel doors and 8 drawer fronts).
Where else are you gonn'a get 3 1/4hp and variable speed for that price?

Your second link, the amazon listing, seems a totally different machine. I know nothing about it.


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## istracpsboss (Sep 14, 2008)

Interesting to see bigger routers now coming in cheaply. Formerly it was mostly the less powerful ones.
I take Dominik's points, although most are fixable and if your budget is tight, it's affordable and the cost of fixing it if necessary can still be worth it. It's obviously not for someone earning their living from it, but if you use one once a week and even then not continuously and need a bit of power, I'd say it was worth a go.
Over the years I've had a lot of s/h or cheap machinery that for the sake of a couple of hours work has become worthwhile kit.
A good example were the cheap metal cutting horizontal bandsaws that appeared from China 20yrs ago. Parts of them, like the bearings, vice and stand were poor, but hobby mags soon ran articles on how to upgrade them and an afternoon's work turned them into something very useful, at a time when anything comparable was three and four times the price and most of us wouldn't have dreamed of buying.
Cheap power tools have transformed home workshops. 50 years ago a lathe like a Myford was a couple of month's wages and magazines of the time were full of articles showing you how to make it do the job of a lathe, milling machine, drill press and press tool, in the same way that not so long ago, you could get all sorts of accessories to make your power drill do everything. It was obviously very inconvenient, particularly if some jobs needed switching back and forth between adapters. 
Nowadays, we all have a string of dedicated tools at prices, which when compared to wages, are way cheaper than 50 years ago and enable us to achieve things undreamed of then.
I'd be interested to see whether stuff is still as cheap in five years. Much of the availability has been from cheap economies. I bought an East German lathe, when East Germany was desperate for hard currency. The engineering was good. The switch was crap but hey, what does a switch cost? 
These days it's Chinese stuff, but as the Chinese standard of living improves, costs will rise and their home market will absorb more. We are running out of cheap countries to get stuff from. I can remember cheap stuff from Hong Kong, then it was cheap stuff from Japan, then the Japanese got into R+D and started doing good stuff, so Korea was next. My car is Korean, I've a Hyundai Santa Fe and it's better than any British car I ever owned. The Koreans have moved on. Now it's China.
Just because something is dear or cheap doesn't matter the way it did 50 years ago. Cheap tools truly were rubbish in the old days. Unfortunately a lot of dear stuff now costs very little differently to manufacture from the cheap stuff and the difference is QC and marketing. Expensive tools probably get individually checked by the QC guys. Cheap ones get every hundredth one checked. The odd dud might slip through. 
There is a market for dear tools. A lot of people don't feel happy unless their tool cost a lot. The marketing boys know this and a lot of top end stuff is no better, just dearer, to meet expectations.
Ownership of so called quality brands can change. New owners look to squeeze extra profit out of them to cover their purchase costs. The prices don't come down but once the bean counters have run their slide rule over it, castings get thinner. metal becomes plastic, etc., Some of it is not obvious because technological developments offer improvements at lower cost, but things like service levels and investment in spares availability go. Just because a brand is good today, doesn't mean it will be good tomorrow.
Personally, I've invested in a mixture of tools, even if I can't really justify them yet, because I've a feeling that in the not too distant future, they will be unaffordable again.

Cheers

Peter


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## istracpsboss (Sep 14, 2008)

As a follow up, this morning I needed an 8mm die. I've collections of taps and dies for most thread forms that I've accumulated over the years, kept in dedicated metal boxes that came from a tap and die maker that closed down. 
As they were mostly acquired at different times, their external diameter varies. I've usually got die holders to suit but, of course, sod's law yesterday was that I had the right die but no suitablly sized holder. The local tool shop wanted an arm and a leg for one. 
Fortunately, Lidl, our local supermarket with a penchant for running one off sales of inexpensive tools, (i.e. they batch buy and once they've gone, they may or may not run them again in a couple of months) had got sets of taps and dies this week. The marketing was laughable. Their flyer mentioned the dimensions of the box, but not the sizes and not whether they were HSS or carbon steel! They are actually 2mm to 12mm with, curiously, a 1/8" NPT as an extra. I'm assuming they are carbon steel, but they are not marked and I'd need to spark test them to be sure. The whole set, including second taps, dies, tap holder and die holder was less than the other guy wanted for a die holder. They won't be getting heavy use, as I've duplicates of most of them anyway, but if I've got to buy a die holder I might just as well have the benefit of the rest. I'm only using them occasionally on mild steel anyway.
I'd love to know why the 1/8" NPT tap and die were thrown in with a metric set. Maybe the sets were originally planned as a service set for a particular customer and Lidl picked up the surplus. It's not an accident. The set is neatly laid out and the NPT stuff has its own place.

Lidl's flyers are regularly strange on information for their tools and clearly their marketing people haven't got a clue. Another current offer is a rechargeable drill with quite a smart bag. The flyer neglects to mention voltage, battery technology or chuck capacity. They are actually 18v and I think Li-ion,which for roughly 40 bucks is OK. Their little 3v Li-ion one with a quick release chuck and an LED spotlight that they ran previously gets a lot of use.
Cheers

Peter


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## Santé (Jan 14, 2010)

Hi Peter
I tap Lidl too!
I have 2 18v rechargeable drill They are very good! powerful, battery keep the load for very long time, but they are not li-ion. The only thing I find fault with it are a bit heavy.
Cheers
Daniel


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## istracpsboss (Sep 14, 2008)

Hi Daniel

Lidl prices must be good for you. HM-Diffusion seem very expensive even on their special offers. Are power tools normally so expensive in Belgium and France ?

Cheers

Peter


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## Santé (Jan 14, 2010)

istracpsboss said:


> Hi Daniel
> 
> Lidl prices must be good for you. HM-Diffusion seem very expensive even on their special offers. Are power tools normally so expensive in Belgium and France ?
> 
> ...


Hi
Yes Peter. The same tools are more expensive in Lidl Belgium than in Lidl France! (15, 20 and 25%) Why??

Cheers
Daniel


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## WoodTinkerer (Dec 17, 2009)

Terry... I went to the link in Canada but no pricing or place to order was shown. Can you tell me how to find a dealer selling this online? Thanks a million.

To all the rest: What a great bunch of guys...this is really great how much info was given me. It really helps to know some of this before I spend my money. I will be mounting it in a table and am not a pro. Thanks to all. Larry


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## dawziecat (Dec 8, 2009)

Hi Larry:

King Canada tools are pretty common in Canada but, no, I do not know if they are sold online at all. Maybe some other CDNS could jump in here if they know otherwise.

There are listings on ebay.ca:
One for the router at $99 CDN: King Canada Tools 8367 PLUNGE ROUTER 15A 3-1/4 HP on eBay.ca (item 350331001046 end time 19-Apr-10 19:56:24 EDT)

The one at your toolsoutlet link is likely identical and, after shipping, any cost differential is likely negligible.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Here's tip off about the quality of the router
" extra set of carbon brushes " with the router, 
you can almost bet you will need them,many HF elec. tools come the same way.

=====


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## dawziecat (Dec 8, 2009)

All King tools I have come with an extra set of brushes. It is a leap to somehow blame the company for supplying these. They come with heavy plastic storage cases too BTW.
The router also comes with a 1/4" collet adapter, dust collection attachment, edge guide and trammel point set as well as with a guide bushing and a set of extra length M4 bolts which were very useful for mounting the router to an insert plate. 

All my King tools have served me well but, no, I am not a professional putting them to hard use everyday. I have an 18V cordless drill (which HAS seen pretty heavy use), an 8-1/4" chop saw,air compressor, biscuit cutter and cut out tool. No complaint with any of 'em although only the drill has seen heavy use over a period of several (more than 5) years.

The company also has a wide network of service centers in Canada and a liberal warranty.

Specifically, as regards the router: King 8367 vs Makita 3612.

http://www.kingcanada.com/Files/8367.pdf
http://makitatools.com/en-us/Assets/Images/Products/_PartsBreakdowns/PB_3612C.pdf

I don't know what the differences really are. I do know the Mak would have cost me at least three times the $100 price of the King. Even the numbering on the parts list is all but identical.

Yes, you "get what you pay for." But, sometimes what you pay for are cosmetics and advertising. It would take someone with both machines at hand to test them and see how one fares compared to the other.


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## Tommyt654 (Apr 5, 2009)

Looks very similiar to this one at HF,but more H.P.,.., - Harbor Freight Tools - Quality Tools at the Lowest Prices


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## WoodTinkerer (Dec 17, 2009)

Thanks all...I think I'll try it as I won't over use it and only in table. larry


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## wpxdesign (Feb 21, 2011)

Are there instructions somewhere on how to remove the springs? Also I have tried to mount the King router on a freud baseplate and the bolts are too short -having trouble finding the 4mm bolt to fit it to replace the bolts. Seems the ones I did find could only get about 5 or 6 turns on the bolt and it bottomed out so not sure how long a bolt to get.


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## Tommyt654 (Apr 5, 2009)

bobj3 said:


> Here's tip off about the quality of the router
> " extra set of carbon brushes " with the router,
> you can almost bet you will need them,many HF elec. tools come the same way.
> 
> =====


Yup,Every power tool I have ever owned has at one time or another needed to have the brushes replaced,Craftsman Routers especially. But that being aside if you find that router wotks for you then good. I'd be interested in hearing about how well it does after a yr or so. I have a lot of Ryobi,Ridgid,Craftsman ,Delta, Porter Cable tools that all have brushes and most all have been replaced at 1 time or another from usage. Brushes are designed to wear out over the course of use. Not to be concerned with the quality of a tool by any means whatsoever.


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## allthunbs (Jun 22, 2008)

dawziecat said:


> Hi Larry:
> 
> King Canada tools are pretty common in Canada but, no, I do not know if they are sold online at all. Maybe some other CDNS could jump in here if they know otherwise.


Hi Terry and Larry:

Tegs sells anything they can make a buck on. They've got the King 8367 on for $99 until the end of February, 2011.

Tegs Tools Online Catalogue

Once of the few places I've found that really knows their stuff.


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