#7.1 - Festool OF-1400 Router Review - Part 1

[@EvilBillz]

Thanks Paul for the thorough review. I am looking to purchase the OF1400 and you answered many of my questions. You really did a great job showing some of the versatility of the router and it's addons. Great job!

[@HalfinchshyWWing]

+EvilBillz Thank you for the compliment :)

[@Mr2at]

I bought a OF-1400 a couple of weeks ago and then bought the guide adaptor a week later. For the life in me i could not workout what the little black foot was for. Thanks for explaining.

[@jsabados]

Paul, thanks for all your great videos, including this one. I was looking online for an edge guide for my of1400 but the pictures on various websites look just like the edge guides you are using. You say you have the old beefier model but I don't see that much difference in the photos of the new ones. Do you think they just haven't updated their photos?

[@rosevan5485]

Merci Beaucoup Paul ! From Quebec, Canada.

[@KJ-yq5gm]

Hi question does your 1400 slide quietly? I just got one and when I plunge it makes a weird high pitched noise.

[@HalfinchshyWWing]

Ooh, that sounds weird. Mine slides quietly; it does take a bit of force to get it started on sliding then it slides quietly. If it is new, take it to your dealer to see what they can do. Another good option is to record a video with your phone and send that in to Festool service. They may have an easy fix for it like re-lubing the cylinders (which is explained in the supplemental manual btw)

[@KJ-yq5gm]

Thanks for taking the time to reply and the words of wisdom. Have a great weekend.

[@wmcrash]

Yo PM! Got a question for you regarding a possibly extinct OF1400 base. The guy at Woodcraft described it from memory as a base where half the plate area is thicker than the other half by exactly the thickness of the guide rail. That way when you have the router with the bit somewhere around the edge of the rail, the router is nicely balanced part on stock and part on the rail. You know anything about a base like that? The guy looked in catalogs two years back and could not find it, but clearly remembers it.

[@HalfinchshyWWing]

Ah, you're remembering a newer base that is for the OF-2200. In the base accessory kit, there's such a base. There was never such a base made for the OF-1400. The only other base for the OF-1400 is the "table widener" base that has a longer base to help prevent tipping. It also has a thicker base (5mm thicker) so you can use it off the guide rail with the guide stops on the rail. The bases for the OF-2200 can't be fitted on an OF-1400. I love that base for the guide rail use.

[@wmcrash]

***** Thanks much! That sounds like a good explanation why the Woodcraft guy could not find the said base for the 1400. That base sounds so cool that I am probably going to send my "table widener" to a guy with a CNC to remove the thickness of the rail for half of the base surface.

[@HalfinchshyWWing]

So it's still me even though this forced G+ comment thing now has me replying as Half-Inch Shy… oh it's such a mess… Anyway, when I was replying to you, I was thinking of the same idea: shave off 5mm on part of the base. Don't do 'half', though; you only want part of the base on the rail. The center of that base has connections for guide bushings plus you want to be certain the bit stays square to the stock so don't give it a means to tip :)

[@ThekiBoran]

@@wmcrash Not sure you'll get this, but when I do rail-guided routing I add an additional polycarbonate base that's equal to the thickness of the track. It's a full base plate so naturally the router is completely off/not riding over the track. I gotta take care that there's no deflection as I move along the track. Using 2 hands is helpful.

[@GLYNCURTIS]

Hi Paul, does the dust shroud for the edge guide com with the router or is it an add on? Cheers

[@HalfinchshyWWing]

Hi, Glyn... the edge guide is an accessory and it comes with the dust shroud. The router, though, comes with the rods you need for that edge guide. Those rods are also used for the guide stops used to run the router on the guidetrack.

[@billybastar4022]

Hey Paul, where have you been? Everything good?

[@jamiemcgannon3737]

I like the garage door guide rail storage!

[@ThekiBoran]

That's how I store 2 of my rails.

[@attybinary2278]

Haha, you meant to say "which means the systainer USED to come very well packed." No thanks I'll continue to buy my Euro ordered Bosch tools, which do come a in well packed L-Boxx, for 1/2 the price and 100% same functionality and cut quality. Festool makes great tools, but they are certainily overpriced. *note i'm referencing the European ordered tools shipped to NA. The NA Bosch tools are also watered down verions of Euro models unfortunately*

[@terrancemckenna6663]

You would do better if you worked on your hand skills and not rely totally on machines. You over complicate things! Just a heads up, it's easy to. Be critical