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by Peter Brett - October 2006
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Puts the Guts into Routing
I admit, when I got the Freud FT3000VCE out of the box, I took hold of the handles and felt as though I was getting to grips with the handlebars of a Harley Davidson. This did not bode well. But being a dutiful reviewer, and not inclined these days to let prejudices get too much of a grip, I set to a few tasks. As it happens, I had the prefect task in hand:- I am making a door frame and doors for my wife’s studio under the deck, and a powerful router is ideal for cutting big mortices, grooves and rebates.
Having marked out the first set of mortices, I got out the FT3000VCE and got to work. Bit by bit I found myself starting to like the machine very much. First of all, it has all the right bits in the right places.
The switchgear is comfortable, easy to use and very practical. I like having a separate lock-on button for the motor, not only because it makes life easy if you use the router under a router table, but because I like to lock the router on for longer passes through the material. The depth control and standard three-stop depth turret work like clockwork, and fine adjustment is a dream. It is easy to adjust and the lock on is positive and secure. All these controls are large, robust and accurate, not in the least bit fiddly or liable to break off in your hand.
The fence is also incredibly easy to set up accurately, with a very useable micro adjuster system.
A small gripe here - I would have liked the fence trammels just an inch or so longer as they would have made my tenon cutting just a little easier. When using the fence, there is no play or anything that would give concern that your cut is going off line a bit - as long as you remember to tighten it all up tight before you start that powerful 1900W motor.
It all helps that the mostly circular base is large, made of quality cast alloy with a durable sub base to help the movement of the router over the material.
The base also has tapped screw threads to accommodate the various modes/additions that you might want on your router.
Mounting a half- inch cutter into the collet was easy using the big collar lock under the motor. and the 18mm spanner supplied. Another small gripe - as a rule, I don&Mac226;t like pressed steel spanners, I prefer drop forged ones, but this bright steel spanner isn’t going to break or bend easily , so I may have to give up this particular preference. Or is it prejudice?
I then felt I was ready to set about a bit of morticing in some 50mm by 75mm softwood. I chose the right speed via the speed control and set off.
Suddenly, using the machine, the handles felt just right. They gave very good control, quite close to the centre of gravity, and were a very good shape for my hands to grip easily. Within a few short minutes I felt as though I had been using this router for years.
It felt like an extension of my hands and was so comfortable and instinctive to work with that from then on I regarded it as a V.U.F.M. - a Very User Friendly Machine. The best kind of machine to work with.
The mortice cutting went well for a few seconds until I realised that the chippings were blocking my view as they were being produced at a frighteningly efficient rate. I had not bothered to fit the chip extraction gear before I started because I have not had a very good experience of chip extraction on routers. But I needed chip extraction now, otherwise I was going to overrun my mortices into trenches.
Well, it took all of a few minutes to fit the extractor nozzle with a couple of wingnutted screws and connect it to my faithful Makita extractor.
The next pass astonished me - the chips literally flew up the spout, very little ended up on the floor or on my trousers and the pencil markings on the wood were easily visible enough for me to have an accurate mortice. Another preference/prejudice upset perhaps?
With all my mortices cut, I made a simple jig to cut all my tenons. This relied heavily on the large base and accurate fence to work well, but my experience of, and faith in the Freud FT3000VCE paid off. In an hour and a half I had cut all twelve tenons for a pair of doors, and they were all right angle accurate and the correct thickness so all I had to do was clean them up a tiny bit and fit them to the mortices. The Freud impressed me hugely with its sheer power, allowing me to push a 20mm cutter through the softwood at a rate that I would not have thought possible. The electronic speed control on the motor kept the set optimum speed and I never felt the motor labour no matter how hard I pushed.
I haven’t really done the anoraky bits, mentioning the specifications etc, but somehow its enough that this machine just works very well. It is really powerful and you don’t really notice that it weighs 6Kgs because it handles so well. All the controls work smoothly, and on top of it all it looks good with its bright red body and grey castings. One last little feature that really appealed - there is a plastic handle with a hex key on it and using this on the top or bottom of the machine you can screw it down to finely adjust the depth settings. This is perfect for when the router is mounted on a table, and I found it dead handy when I was cutting rebates on my doors and the dust extraction obscured the cutter, making it difficult to plunge accurately for depth of cut.
The Freud FT3000VCE is a timely reminder that the most obvious players in the router market shouldn’t necessarily enjoy a monopoly. This is a very good machine and if you are in need of a big router, go and have a good look at one.
Independent Review by Peter Brett
Airstream Communications