I have been using the new DW618 router for a few days and wanted to share initial results.
The motor is a tight fit in the plunge base as people have said recently, but not so difficult to take it back for exchange. The tightness does make it a bit of a fiddle to align the motor though. First impression of the single spanner (wrench!) collet, is that for hand use I don't like it. If the router was in a table then fine there is something to lever against. I have a freud like this and the shaft lock is great. But on the bench you have to brace the router body against yourself to tighten the collet. First use was a deep mortise and the bit came loose! I ended up using a second spanner to tighten the collet and that worked fine. Second issue is one of ergonomics; the slide lock is a little too low for the thumb of my left hand to exert a lot of pressure on it to lock really well without having to move my whole hand around and up, this could result in the router wandering off course during a cut. This problem caused the router to prematurely lift up causing the bit to bite into my routing template on the way up - new template had to be made:BangHead: No real answer to that one yet except to use the fixed base, but that has no dust extraction. Talking of dust extraction; the hand book says "fits "normal" size vacuum hose" like hell it does! no hose I had on any shop vac would fit. I ended up spending $34 on a 2 1/2" kit with various adaptors before I could come up with anything suitable. The hose I got was "pro-no crush" and is a bit heavy so will need to be suspended by a sky hook while routing.
The on/off switch has to go on the right hand side in this base and that makes the "off" operation towards the operator, not an easy thing to do without some more hand contortions, not something you want to do while the motor is spinning over your precious work. The shroud around the switch make this even more difficult as the switch does not protrude, no doubt by design, but not good.
The plunge action is very, very smooth though.
The softstart and the available power is first class.
The fixed base surprised me my not being able to fully retract inside the base a 1" (or close), cutter without the motor disengaging from the anti rotation pins in the body.
I have not tried the D base yet.
I will keep you posted on anymore thoughts.
The motor is a tight fit in the plunge base as people have said recently, but not so difficult to take it back for exchange. The tightness does make it a bit of a fiddle to align the motor though. First impression of the single spanner (wrench!) collet, is that for hand use I don't like it. If the router was in a table then fine there is something to lever against. I have a freud like this and the shaft lock is great. But on the bench you have to brace the router body against yourself to tighten the collet. First use was a deep mortise and the bit came loose! I ended up using a second spanner to tighten the collet and that worked fine. Second issue is one of ergonomics; the slide lock is a little too low for the thumb of my left hand to exert a lot of pressure on it to lock really well without having to move my whole hand around and up, this could result in the router wandering off course during a cut. This problem caused the router to prematurely lift up causing the bit to bite into my routing template on the way up - new template had to be made:BangHead: No real answer to that one yet except to use the fixed base, but that has no dust extraction. Talking of dust extraction; the hand book says "fits "normal" size vacuum hose" like hell it does! no hose I had on any shop vac would fit. I ended up spending $34 on a 2 1/2" kit with various adaptors before I could come up with anything suitable. The hose I got was "pro-no crush" and is a bit heavy so will need to be suspended by a sky hook while routing.
The on/off switch has to go on the right hand side in this base and that makes the "off" operation towards the operator, not an easy thing to do without some more hand contortions, not something you want to do while the motor is spinning over your precious work. The shroud around the switch make this even more difficult as the switch does not protrude, no doubt by design, but not good.
The plunge action is very, very smooth though.
The softstart and the available power is first class.
The fixed base surprised me my not being able to fully retract inside the base a 1" (or close), cutter without the motor disengaging from the anti rotation pins in the body.
I have not tried the D base yet.
I will keep you posted on anymore thoughts.
