Considering moving from Bosch MRC to Festool 1400.

[taylord22]

Hey everyone -- I seem to have contracted that disease where I'm moving everything over to Festool.

The router has been something on my list for a long time. I like a lot of things about my Bosch MRC23, but the putrid edge guide (and lack of rail option in NA) leaves my wanting. My primary router applications is dados and mortises. I'm less concerned about dados, if only because I can clamp, ride a rail, remove, and re-clamp. But the set-up for mortises feels like an unnecessary time sink. And the edge guide is completely unreliable for precision movements. 

The 1400 offers a lot of new set-up options -- using two edge guides when mortising (for instance), along with all of the other "Festool-y" benefits. But, just as I was planning a purchase, I stumbled onto the MPower CRB7 MHLF attachment. It looks like it has a particularly slick method for mortising into narrow stock.

MPower CRB7

I'm curious if anyone has any feedback on that base? By the time I sold my Bosch set-up, I would be paying about $350 out of pocket for the 1400 and the rail guide attachment. The alternative is paying $150 for the MPower base, and keeping my current Bosch set-up.

I'm stuck. Any/All feedback would be valuable!

 

[jbuss8706]

I battled over the OF1400 for a few months. I kept going back to cost and how I could get 2 really good routers for the price of 1 OF1400 (in my case, 1 for my router table and 1 for freehand). I ended up finding one used with basically every accessory on ebay for $450. However, I can tell you, the first time I used it, I smiled the entire time. It's a dream to use. I have tradtionally hated free hand routing. It's a loud process, a very messy process and just generally frustrating. The OF1400 is super quiet, obviously the dust collection is insanely good. But the best part I found, is the precision you can get when you aren't frustrated and can concentrate. Just a wonderful wonderful tool, its not wonder they haven't really touched the design of this machine for a long long time.

 

[Svar]

The 1400 offers a lot of new set-up options -- using two edge guides when mortising (for instance),

You can do the same with Bosch or any other router for that matter.

 

[taylord22]

The 1400 offers a lot of new set-up options -- using two edge guides when mortising (for instance),

You can do the same with Bosch or any other router for that matter.

I've tried it, unfortunately and it's just not practical. Rails are way too short/edge guide too chunky. Festools are considerably longer.

 

[Svar]

The 1400 offers a lot of new set-up options -- using two edge guides when mortising (for instance),

You can do the same with Bosch or any other router for that matter.

I've tried it, unfortunately and it's just not practical. Rails are way too short/edge guide too chunky. Festools are considerably longer.

You could buy some steel rods of any length for $3 a foot on e-bay or at your local hardware store. Can't do much about chunkiness though.

 

[grbmds]

Depends on how you use the router and what's important to you. The OF1400 can be used on the Festool guide rails for tasks like dadoing. I don't believe I have previously used a router which can match the dust collection of the OF1400. The OF1400 router base indexes the center of the router bit. For me, this is a great feature and just makes router setup much easier. Other than these features, I would suspect that almost any higher end router would do whatever you want it to, whether it's Bosch, Milwaukee, Makita, Porter Cable, Triton, Dewalt, etc. Most routers these days are great tools as they all have to compete with each other.

 

[Dick Mahany]

I adapted my Bosch 1617/1618 EVS to the Festool rail guides for less than $10 US.  Two pieces of all thread and a simple Baltic Birch adapter to join the two different rod set spacings.  Works great.  I did add the Bosch dust collection kit to my router and it works wonders.

Nothing against Festool routers, it's just that I have a few other brand tools that simply work so well that I won't part with them.
[attachimg=1][attachimg=2]

Oh, the reason for the zip tie in the upper photo is for when I use this same router on the LR32 plate which was also easily adapted.