So far the router has performed its job well with the 1/2" collet and poorly with the defective 1/4" collet. I have found that with the new router I needed to re-adjust my dovetail jig.
I have also used the router with my PC dovetail jig to make the drawers for the saw station.
So far I have used this router to trim and bevel the edges of my saw station top, flush up the dust port and install the "T-tracks" in my top. Speaking of collets the MLCS router has a collet similar in design to what Porter-Cable uses see pictures 917 and 916 This is a good design IMHO and should do it's job over the years that I own this router. Ryobi on the other hand would have just quickly shipped a new part! MLCS asked me to ship the bad collet to them and they would gladly replace it. I'm so used to dealing with customer service on par with Ryobi that I was disappointed with the "service" I got when I called MLCS about this problem.
Only after using a flush cutting bit to flush up my dust extraction hole in the back of the new cabinet did I notice that the 1/4" shank bit (a know good quality bit) seemed to wobble in the router! Out comes my Universal centering-alignment tool, it seems that the 1/4" collet supplied with my new router was milled incorrectly and as such has a noticeable amount of runout! I checked the 1/2" collet and it is fine. I normally use 1/2" bits whenever possible. At the time I just assumed that it was just due to the 1/4" shank bit. I noticed that the cut was somewhat rough because of bit chatter.
So I did this but when I went to attach the router to the mounting plate I discovered that it was no longer centered! I now have two sets of mounting holes in my brand new expensive router mounting plate! Only later did I discover what went wrong! Since I needed to trim the laminate on my new saw station I chucked up a bevel bit in the new router and trimmed away. I first install a bit centering tool in the router and a template guide in the base plate and then plunge the router onto the plate so as to center the router to the plate, then I carefully draw an outline of the router's base, remove the router, affix the router's sub base to the mounting plate with two sided tape and then drill the mounting holes. When I have done this in the past for other routers on a different plate I've not had any problems. When I recieved my new large aluminum mounting plate from Rockler's a couple days after the router I used the supplied clear plate as a template to drill the new plate to accept the router. The main reason for my purchase of this router was to mount in my saw/ router station as my dedicated table mounted router with capabilities of spinning my 3 1/2" flat panel raising bit. Some may find that they actually prefer the metric scale so this may actually be a plus. The router was shipped with a metric scale on the plunge depth rod along with a note of sorrow from MLCS and a replacement inch scale sticker which I've yet to attach. MLCS claims that this router is suited to heavy daily useage in a production environment whatever that means! Fit and finish of the micro-adjustment devices on both the edge guide and plunge rod is very poor IMHO yet they do what they are supposed to do as long as the user is paying attention and makes sure both parts turn together. I was disappointed with the collet wrench, thinking that it is way too thin and may prove to be not very durable. Still it's nice to know that when the time comes I'll not have to wait a week for parts before I can continue my project, but we are talking years down the road. I was really impressed with the fact that MLCS includes a spare set of brushes even though I've yet to need to replace any brushes on any of the power tools that I own. The day after placing my order Thom2 posted the link to MLCS also including 10 1/4" carbide router bits with purchase of the MLCS router, a quick phone call and those were also on their way but in a seperate shipping carton, thus thay were not available at the time of the picture, but I have since recieved tham and have even used one of them.
Browsed through the users manual and then layed out all of the contents on my saw station as pictured above. I opened the box, well actually I opened two boxes since they ship it in a box inside of a box. It arrived in good condition via Airborne Express less than a week after I placed the order over the phone. Several weeks ago I posted a question about this router and due to the responses that no-one has used this router I thought that I'd be the guinea pig so to speak and order one.