My wife saw the sale price!

Alan Bienlein

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I stopped by my local Woodcraft yesterday just to look around and saw that they had the freud FT1700CVEK onsale and showed it to my wife with no intention of buying it. When she saw it was almost half price she told me to get it but when I went to get one I said how about this one instead for only $30 more. It was the FT1702CVEK and she said no problem.

I don't know if anyone here has tried one but I'm impressed with it. You can run it at full speed and still have a normal conversation while it's running. I think I might mount this router in my router table since it is variable speed and it is already setup to make adjustments from the top of the table and you can lock/unlock the spindle from above the table.
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Yea, she's been after me for the past 6 months to start the kitchen remodel. I guess I need to get started since I can't use the excuse that I don't have a certain tool to do the work since she buys me what I want:D.
 
It must be a wife thing, that's the same router my wife got for me last month. :)

I've not even used the plunge base on it yet. I took it straight out of the case and put it on my router table. I'm curious as to how well the plunge base works but I'm having so much fun using it in my table (I believe routing upside down is how you describe it ;) ) that it may never come out of there.
 
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The wife and router are both keepers! :thumb: I've had an FT1700 for over 3 years and really like it in the router table. I added a plunge base shortly after they came out, and think it's fine...not best in class, but functional.

FT1700 Epinions review

Scott, with yours setup in the router table, did you drill the holes in the table to give you access to the spindle lock along with being anble to loosen and tighten the motor after height adjustments?
 
Even if she did it thinking about the kitchen remodel, I think it is a great way to motivate you.

Maybe you could pretend that you need some more motivation in a couple of weeks or three!:D
 
Scott, with yours setup in the router table, did you drill the holes in the table to give you access to the spindle lock along with being anble to loosen and tighten the motor after height adjustments?

No....I didn't even realize it had an above table "height locking" device until I'd already mounted it. (I suppose after procrastinating for 3 years, it's time to finally take a look at that feature! :huh: :eek:) The "spindle lock" is automatic when the router is fully raised.
 
The "spindle lock" is automatic when the router is fully raised.

I guess I must be doing something wrong then because I tried raising the router all the way and the spindle wouldn't lock unless I flipped the lever over. I even tried it with the lever flipped in the lock position and I couldn't raise the spindle all the way up to engage the lock:dunno::huh:. Scott could you tell me what I'm doing wrong.
 
Even if she did it thinking about the kitchen remodel, I think it is a great way to motivate you.

Maybe you could pretend that you need some more motivation in a couple of weeks or three!:D

That would be a good Idea Toni except it's like she knows when I'm looking at tools and comes from nowhere to look also. It's like our brains are connected:eek:. sundat she took luke, the newwest shop dog to the emergency vet. I was about to call her to tell her lets just do pizza for dinner but never did because a nieghbor invited use over. when I finally did call her she already had the pizza. Really scares me sometimes.
 
I guess I must be doing something wrong then because I tried raising the router all the way and the spindle wouldn't lock unless I flipped the lever over. I even tried it with the lever flipped in the lock position and I couldn't raise the spindle all the way up to engage the lock:dunno::huh:. Scott could you tell me what I'm doing wrong.

Mine's 3 years old, so it's possible they've made some changes. The auto collet lock is a spring loaded pin that enters a whole in the spindle when lined up....it sometimes takes a half a turn or so to get it to line up. You should be able to raise the router with the height lock on.
 
Mine's 3 years old, so it's possible they've made some changes. The auto collet lock is a spring loaded pin that enters a whole in the spindle when lined up....it sometimes takes a half a turn or so to get it to line up. You should be able to raise the router with the height lock on.

They must have changed something Scott because when I raise it with the lock lever in the locked position it hits the pin on the side that pushes on the spring loaded pin and won't go the rest of the way up until I release the lock then it will go up.
 
They must have changed something Scott because when I raise it with the lock lever in the locked position it hits the pin on the side that pushes on the spring loaded pin and won't go the rest of the way up until I release the lock then it will go up.

Significant typo on my end! :eek: You should not be able to raise the router with the height lock on. With the height lock released, you should be able to raise the router to full height, then turn the spindle until the collet lock engages. Sorry for the confusion. It's a pretty simple device, and if that doesn't do the trick, I'm not sure what will...
 
They must have changed something

Mine doesn't auto-lock when when the collet is fully extended either, I have to twist the lock into place. I did have to modify the plate in my Craftsman router table to get access to the adjustments when it's mounted. Now that I have the above the table bit changes I can't imagine ever having to reach inside to lock the shaft and loosen the collect an 1/8th turn at a time. :thumb:
 
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