Router for acrylic

[ballinnmiami]

I want to start building my own tanks. What kind of router would you sudjest? Price and durability are a factor when making my final decision. I want to start building a few sumps and eventually build a tank.

I was looking this one from HD. http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDU...ID=ccdcaddjjefigifcgelceffdfgidgkg.0&MID=9876

 

[northbay-reefer]

any decent router will work, I like the dewalt though

 

[ballinnmiami]

Which dewalt would be good?

Is the DW616 good enough

 

[rcgates]

I like my Milwaukee router for woodwork, it'll make it's way through most anything. But you might not need that much power for acrylic.

 

[MinibowMatt]

are you going to do production work, or just a tank for yourself?

For production, I would go with Porter Cable.

 

[ballinnmiami]

The PC is nice, but i dont see my self paying The $300+ for a router. My only intent at this point is to use it for around home projects and my be help out a few other fellow reef club members with small project.

 

[rcgates]

for a general purpose router, look at a black and decker or mikita, with B&D being the lower price of the two. Either will work for low rate work and soft->medium material.

If your looking at doing cutting on a lot of hard woods, then buying the higher priced P&C or Milwaukee which are better bets since they have heavy duty motors and will last longer.

I started out doing woodworking with a lowend B&D and was very happy with it, but love my Milwaukee for it's torque and speed in cutting.

 

[ballinnmiami]

Wood working is probably the last thing i want it for. Sumps and custom acrylic DIY project are the main purpose for this router.

Acrylic DIY'ers....... where you at?

 

[rcgates]

I understand what you are looking for, just telling what handles load.

Doing acrylic is simular to wood, though you can not take as big a "bite" out of acrylic since you have to be careful about causing the acrylic to crack.

If you are routing think enough acrylic, you'll need a little torque behine to router bit. You also have to be careful about the speed of the bit. Too fast and you will cause too much heat, which isn't good for the acrylic.

 

[ballinnmiami]

Which model do you recommend? So many to choose from.

 

[BrokeColoReefer]

I bought the high end PC plunger. I think it was $350. It has a half inch collet and makes very accurate cuts. Its heavy, which i like when i have a powerfull tool in my hands. Could i have gotten away with a cheaper router? probably, but i wanted quality results and was willing to spend a extra 100 bucks. I like it when i limit my skills, not the equipment. The router is the number one tool in my basement acrylic shop, and the way i figure it, if i booger up one pice of acrylic with a sub par router i just cost myself the price of the better one.