DEWALTRouter Motor, 2-1/4 HP (DW618M)

This router replaces an identical model that finally failed after about 15 years of heavy use in a router table. I saw no reason to change brands after being so happy with its predecessor.

I goofed. I was too over zealous and got carried away tightening down the collar on my favorite, most useful power tool. If you do not have a high powered plunge router that accepts large and small collars, you havent even begun finish carpentry. Ok... maybe some old schooler can replicate routing by hand, but I've never met one who actually does that.Over tightening seems to be one of the biggest enemies to the at-home DIYer. We tend to teach ourselves just enough to make our newest tool work -enough- and pretty much figure we have our newest, most complex gear completely mastered.If that statement made you smile, read on. If you truly believe you are the master of all woodworking hand and power tools- read no further. You don't need me. Close your laptop, unplug all the cables, bring it to the top floor of your house, open the nearest window, and frisbee that laptop as far and high as you can launch it into tour yard. Try to hit a tree or, better yet, a pond. You don't need that computer anymore, as you're some kind of carpentry & tool master, and hardly need reccomendation for regular Joe's on this website. Let's face it, after reading this, you're going to get targeted advertising in your email and on the side of your web browser for the next year just because you read this.Bottom line is this. If you have used a router once or twice, this is the one. Its smooth and responsive and does what it is supposed to do. If you've never used a router, but know you need one- this is also the one for you. You will want help. You want someone to show you the proper way to tighten a bit. You want them to demonstrate a pass, dragging the router center bit along the corner, in order to create a rounded edge. You can watch the experienced user use the router jig to position it so one of the handle holes acts as a fulcrum, rotating all the victims to the outer edge of the area of the building, where less injury can occur.There is really no co test between metal and wooden bats. The argument against aluminium bats is that more people would die on the road than normal. Reporting has show than to be completely false. Period.

Love this motor. I bought it so I don't have to take off the motor that's on the router table. Many reviews mentioned that Dewalt failed to include the 1/2 collet and only the 1/4 collet. In my case, the 1/4 adapter is inside the 1/2 collet. I simply had to push out the adapter to use 1/2 router bit. Good product overall.

This motor is great, has soft start and fit into my router lift just fine. However, in order to save a couple of cents Dewalt decided to put both wrench sizes on one wrench. How am I supposed to use both ends of the wrench at the same time Dewalt? I relize that is has a lock button, but if it's used on a router table it sure is a pain in the ass to tighten the collet from the top of the table while holding the lock button from underneath. So you'll need to provide your own wrench if you want to tighten from above the table. For this they get dinged 1 star, otherwise it's a 5 star product.

I like the product. I probably have five different Dewalt routers And have been using them for years they all work great. I got this to put in my router lift Because I got tired of switching from my router table to my plunge router. I finally got a beautiful full size router table and install this in the lift. Everything went fine and then when I looked for the speed adjustment, I couldn’t find it. It’s been working great but I can’t locate the speed control. Is that my imagination am I getting senile

This is my second purchase of the DW618M. I needed another so I can also have a plunge router. Yes I fell for the 2nd collet problem but reading the reviews I saw that they nested the two sizes together. WOW they saved 2 cents by doing that.About needing 2 wrenches when mounted in a router table ------ I drilled a hole in the plastic plate so I could use the table lift wrench to push in the collet locking button.Bring the router to the top and then you just need one wrench.BTW - keep your collets very clean! A dusty collet could cause the bit move up or down. Not a good outcome.

Probably the best plunge router I've used.

If you are intending to use these motors in the plunge router, then they are good to go as is. The plunge router has its own depth control mechanism. To use these motors on the fixed base or D handle router, you will need more parts , which youcan get from DeWalt. One is the "depth adjustment ring" $5.00 Part No. 396311-00. The other one is used achive accurate depth settings; called the "adjustable scale". $2.00 Part No.612054-00. The scale ring that I recieved did not fit well into the adjustment ring. Its too loose! I have a support request in with DeWalt on this matter. The scale ring has to fit snug on the adjustment ring in order to hold the setting while the depth is being adjusted. I have had my DeWalt 618 since 2003.Its an excellant mid range router with several features that make it easy to use.