1400 guide bushings...again

[clisbyclark]

So I ordered the Milwaukee set of bushings from Amazon with their recent sale.  When I tried them on today I noticed the flange of the bushing sits about 1 mm proud of the Festool adaptor plate.  Is this normal?  It seems that the bushing guide should be flush or higher than the adapter (and the router base the adapter connects to) in order for the router to sit flush on its base while in use.  All input will be appreciated.

 

[Dave Rudy]

After I posted a reply I thought some more about this question and decided to delete the reply and say this instead:

I'm not sure exactly what problem you're describing.  The guide bush itself has to protrude below the router base.  Could you either do a diagram or send photo that depicts the problem?

Thanks

 

[clisbyclark]

Sorry, but I have no camera or computer drawing skills, but I'll try to describe it better.  The bushing has a flange that seats into the Festool adapter provided w/ the router and is secured by a threaded lock ring on the other side of the adapter.  The thickness of the bushing flange apparrently is greater than the recess in the adapter resulting in the flange slightly protruding from the plane of the adapter plate and the router base that the adapter plate snaps into.

 

[Daviddubya]

It is my understanding that the "industry standard" bushings that are intended for use with the OF1400 router are Porter Cable bushings.  Perhaps the Milwaukee bushings are a bit different???

 

[Dave Ronyak]

Can you return them to Amazon?  Do so if you can, and then take your Festool adapter ring with you when you go to purchase a set of bushings.  With my 1400 adapter ring, I found that Whiteside's bushing supplied with their inlay kit would not fit through the Festool adapter ring.  The OD of the male threads was too great, so I filed them to slightly reduce their OD.  Since my Festool adapter ring when mounted does not center on the router shaft, I intentionally removed more material from the Whiteside bushing to offset the Festool misalignment, and marked all parts so they can be mounted with the same orientation each time I use them.  In contrast to the Whiteside bushing, the set I purchased from Woodcraft at one of their sales fit into the Festool PC bushing adapter ring with a little radial slop, so they can be centered relative to the router shaft.  They are flush with the base plane of the Festool adapter ring where they should be.

Dave R.

 

[Jim McFarland]

I had a similar problem and found a small "bump" on the rim of the guide bushing adapter.  Some bushings (e.g., those I purchased from Leigh) actually have a notch in the flange so FAIK this "bump" is a feature to prevent the bushing from spinning (I did call Festool and was told no one else had reported a similar problem so assume just a manufacturing flaw).  None of my other bushings (from Whiteside, PC and Woodcraft house brand) have such a notch so I used a Dremel tool to grind the "bump" off the rim of the Festool adapter.  All fit fine now.

FYI, the thickness of the bushing flange ranges from 2.4 to 2.6mm on the various bushings I own.  The depth from the flat surface of the bushing adapter to the bottom is ~2.9mm and the installed bushing adapter is a "bit" below the router base so I would estimate bushings with a flange thickness >3mm (slightly < 1/8") would cause the problem you describe.

 

[Dave Rudy]

Sorry we didn't warn you about Milwaukee the first time around -- I guess none of us had experience with those particular guides.

Sounds like they have to go back.  Woodcraft sells PorterCable set, individual chrome and individual brass, all of which work fine on my 1400.

Dave

 

[clisbyclark]

tonight I installed the bushing in the adapter then installed the adapter to the router and found that the adapter was a bit inset from the plane of the router base.  I held the router to a flat board and the bushing and router base were coplanar (? sp.) so I guess all is well.  Thanks for all the input.