trim router bit selection

Ned Bulken

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Location
Lakeport NY and/or the nearest hotel
OK y'all
for those who have a trim router what bits do you keep handy in it/near it? I've got a little christmas money handy, and along with a new shop vac, I'm going to buy a couple of bits for the cordless trim router I assembled last summer. I got a full 18v ryobi cordless kit from my father, and added the router base to it. I have a PC combo kit, so I'm set on 1/2" bits. If I were to invest in some 1/4" shank bits, how do these sound:
Uses for the trim router that I'm expecting
Rounding over :so 1/8" and 1/4" roundover
flush trim bit for pattern routing
1/4" straight bit for general use
45* chamfer bit (though I do have one of these for the bigger router)

I don't expect I'd find many other nesc bits, think those would suffice?
 
Hi Ned,
You have it pretty well covered for now. As the need arises you can widen your inventory as you see fit. One thing to be aware of is the cutting radius of the chamfer bit. Does it cut into the plastic base plate? If it does okay, unless you have adapters for other functions that need the factory size diameter in the existing base plate. If that is the case, make a new base plate before you proceed and sacrifice that one when needed. Is that understandable to you? :huh: I ask because everything I write is understandable to me but that don't make it so,,, to others...:)
Shaz
 
Shaz,
clear as crystal, actually the chamfer would be the 'last' bit I would pick up, unless I got another of MLCS (or similar) starter bit sets. I have one which I picked up for the Porter Cable, and 1/2 of them were unused (not any fault of theirs, just that I don't use my router much)
 
ned, i have two dedicated trim routers one lives with an 1/8" roundover and the other lives with a 1/2" top bearing pattern bit....all other bits i use in a trim router live in the drawer and come out as necessarry.....not often..tod
 
Mine only has two...

a 1/16" round over and a carbide spiral bit I use with a guide bushing for hinge mortises. I'll probably get an 1/8" round over if I ever wear out the one I bought when I had only a big router with a 1/2" collet. As my trim router is a little laminate trimmer, I might hesitate to put a 1/4" round over bit in it (that one has a 1/2" shaft too, so I've never been tempted).

John
 
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