Porter Cable 894PK Router Kit Review
2 1/4 Peak HP, Multi-Base Router Kit w/GripVac™
By Joseph Fusco
I was looking forward to doing my review of the newly redesigned
Porter Cable 890 family of routers. I had great expectations
the day the routers were delivered. As I opened the box I could
see the black cases that the router components came in. The
combo kit model number 894 PK. contains the D handle router
base and the plunge router base. The plastic cases are designed
to stack neatly together creating one large carrying case.
This makes transporting the router/s and its components easy.
D-Handle & Plunge Base:
The carrying cases are made of plastic and have two clips
(one on each side) that hold the top and bottom sections together.
To open the case you have to release both clips. Opening the
first case revealed the new 891 D-handle router with its sleek
new design. Contained with the router was the manual, wrench,
1/4" and 1/2” collet and a disk from Porter Cable. To
my dismay the CD wouldn’t load to my computer so I have no
idea what’s on it.
Opening the second case revealed the newly redesigned plunger
base model number 8931. Seeing the plunge base my first instinct
was to “play” with it. You know, hold the lever push up-and-down
see how it feels see what it does. It felt good and worked
OK.
Locking Lever:
The locking lever on the base was unique in that it has what
Porter Cable calls the “free plunge mode”. If you move the
lever to the right as far as it will go it will “click” or
lock into a stationary position and while there will allow
you to move the router up and down freely. If you move the
lever slightly to the right it frees the locking mechanism
so that the router can move freely up and down the struts,
if you release the lever it springs back to lock the router
where it is.
Knobs & Plunge Slide Action:
When I started playing around with the route the first thing
I noticed was that the knobs were “loose”, I don’t know if
they were designed that way, but I didn’t like having them
move around in my hand so I tightened them. I needed a 5/16" allen
key which was not supplied with the kit. The locking lever
only locked the router one or twice and then it simply did
not work after that. It seems that whenever I released the
lever the router would just shoot directly to the top. I thought
I had broken it by playing around with it. This proved not
to be the case for once I read the manual and it gave detailed
instructions on how to go about adjusting the locking lever.
After spending about 10 minutes fiddling with the locking lever
and needing 3/32" allen key (that was also not supplied)
I was finally able to get the locking lever to work correctly.
Motor:
The new motor is rated for a “peak” H.P. of 2-1/4 and is12
amps. When it’s time to removing the motor from any one of
the bases available, it’s pretty simple. You open the clamp
clip and then depress the small trigger release to allow the
motor to slide freely out of the housing. The motor slid nicely
into the plunge housing and the “clamping clip” worked well
that is until I shook the base, the motor moved in the housing
and bit and I had to adjust the nut on the lock clamp to prevent
the motor from moving. When I had it adjusted it worked fine.
The new motors can also be adapted to fit the older Porter
Cable 690 bases that you may have. You simply remove the rack-n-pinion
gear by removing the two screws that hold it on.
Route Performance:
The router motor had a great soft start and ran well and with
little vibration. It did have a tendency to increase and decrease
the speed, but I believe this is due to it maintaining the
correct speed setting. The variable speeds works well too.
All in all the motor is well powered and comfortable to use.
Dual Switch:
The dual switch feature is also new to the 890 motor base.
It is and excellent addition when using either the 890 or 891
base because it gives you a place to easily turn the router
off and on.
The placement of the switch when using the 8931 plunge base
is a bit more awkward because you need to slide the switch
“up” or away from your thumb and it’s difficult do while holding
the router. In my opinion a button or toggle would have been
better choice.
Single Wrench:
Older PC router are of the two wrench style meaning you need
to use two wrenches to remove the bit from the collet. The
890's are now of the single wrench design. I like this since
it solves the old problem of “busting your knuckles” when you
tried to remove the bit. The router also comes with a “nib
or tab” that you can use to depress the pin that holes the
shift so you don’t have to. This works fine as long as you
don’t have the vacuum base plate attached. If you do the router
can’t move down far enough for the nib to work. I had just
found it easier to remove the motor from the base to change
the bits. Holding the pin in with one hand and using the wrench
in the other worked just fine.
Dust collect:
Is also new to the redesigned 890 routers.
The 891 and 893 come with a modified base to allow dust to
be vacuumed up the handle on the 891 and a port on the 893.
The 893 had its adapter plate installed, but you need to
install the plate on the 891. I routered some 3/4" MDF
lite as a test because as many of you know, this generates
lots of dust. I used my PC vacuum as the source of dust control.
The dust control on both 891 and 8931 was excellent with the “solid” base on the 891 preforming a bit better then the open holed base of 8931.
Stops:
Working with the newly designed stop setup was a bit challenging
as well. There are now only 3 adjustment nibs where there used
to be 6. Where you would once turn the turret, you now turn
a knob located at the top of stop indexing rod. Where you were
once able to index through about an 1" you can now barley
index a ½".
The Verdict:
Overall I’d say the 890 routers are nice tools and worthy
replacements for their predecessors. At it’s current price
the kit is also a good value. Unfortunately my good impressions
were somewhat soured by the loose parts mentioned earlier--I
think these things should be taken care of on the assembly
line, not in the field.
For a complete photo essay on this router
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