Official Luthiers Forum!

I've found DeWalt products to be in general total cr@p in the long run...I'm a professional trim carpenter and swear by my 2 PC routers, and curse those few DW tools I have....well, the orbital sander is nice for what it costs, though I've already had to replace 3 pads...I'm still using the same PC laminate trimmer I bought over 10 years ago and its still running strong...I've used for everything from 1/8" roundovers to ogee bits, and am even brave enough (barely) to put a 1/4" spiral bit in it to cut MDF arches (OK, I'm 'smart' enough to make 2 passes)

The PC 310 is a great trimmer; sturdy, low center of gravity, good height control. I have a pair of Bosh 1300W plunge routers, one lives in the router table the other is for carpentry and jigs. I have a couple of Hitachi lam trimmers that I use for guitar making, but they are now single purpose tools, their adjustments are not as nice as the PC.

I took the advice from Colin and got a large 'site transformer' from the UK. Because of their high RPMs, routers and laminate trimmers have universal motors and will typically run on any currency between 25 - 60 Hz, which means US (60Hz) models can be used in European (50Hz) countries without problems; the voltage has to be transformed from 110 to 230 of course. With the favorable exchange rates (for us, anyways) these days, buying these things from the US makes a lot of sense...

_________________
Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I have a Bosch Colt and I'm happy with it.  I picked it up at CPO Bosch on the web (reconditioned).  Plenty of power and the variable speed control works well.

_________________
Jim Howell
Charlotte, NC