Every woodworker seems to collect routers. Forsome reason we can never have too many routers. One style missingfrom my collection was a good d-handle router. With one of theseedge routing should go much faster.

The model the community wanted to see the most is the DW618Drouter. This model is part of the excellent DW618 series. It shouldperform very well, judging from the reviews it gets online. Let'stake a look at how good the DW618D really is.

The DW618D Router

In standard d-handle fashion the DW618D

The router I use most frequently in my shop isthe Bosch 1617EVS. I have given it little thought, because therouter always does what I need it to do.

The 1617 router series is one of the most widely used series ofrouters amongst woodworkers. The fixed base version in particularis universally lauded.A 1617 router found its way into my shop totake care of medium duty routing tasks. Let's take a look at thelegend that is the Bosch 1617 router.

Bosch 1617EVS Fixed Base Router

The Bosch 1617EVS is a fix

The DW621 is DeWalt's general purpose plungerouter. It was designed to handle most routing tasks in the shop.Not only can it be used as a plunge router, but due to itsrelatively small size, it can also be used as a fixed based router.Add built-in dust collection to the package and we have onepowerful router. Let's take a look at how it performed in myshop.

Motor

The DW621 has a 2HP motor. This puts the router into themid-size category. During a cut the router certainly feelspowerful. I have not encountered a situatio

Routers have a speed setting for three reasons:safety, quality of cut, differences in wood species. Dialing in theright speed for the task at hand can save you a lot of time spentsanding. Safety is the primary concern, so lets talk about thatfirst.

Safety

Larger router bits need to spin slower. The outer edge of a 3"router bit travels at well over 100 mph in most routers. A 1/2" bitclocks in at a pedestrian 30 mph. The larger bit also takes largerbites out of the wood. If the edge catches there is a lot moreener

The instructions that come with the plate statethat the plate comes from the factory with a slight crown to resistthe down force created by the router. I was surprised to find outabout this in the manual, and not on the site when I bought theplate. Since I have only simple operations in mind for my setup Idecided not to send the plate back. For a dedicated table I wouldmove on and pick a metal router plate.

I knew installation would be tricky, and opted for theinstallation template. The packaging states that the template willcrea