Triton Routers

[Brad Seubert]

I saw Menards had the 3 1/4 hp Triton router on sale for $200 and am wondering how everything likes them for use in a table.

I currently have a 2 1/4 hp Rigid mounted to a plate and it works ok. The above the table height adjustment sucks on the rigid though so I was thinking about buying a lift. A lift alone is $150-$200 so for about the same price I get the functionality of a lift and a nice powerful router.

Does anyone have a Triton router in a table and wish they would have gotten a lift?

[glenn bradley]

I use dad's 2-1/4 HP Triton in his table often enough. If you are not going to go for a large motor in a lift then the Triton has to be the next best thing IMHO. I would certainly take it over a lightly constructed lift. I have had other routers with "above the table adjustments" in the past and they were a lot like your Ridgid; not bad really but, far from ideal.

I run Milwaukee 5625's in Woodpecker lifts and of course, there is a difference. The Triton should serve you well. A couple places where a well made lift excels for me is when very precise changes from a current setting are needed or I am raising a large bit into material or other "heavy" work. I'm sure there are others but, the coffee hasn't really kicked in yet.

A good lift is designed for greater stresses while the plunge mechanism on a router is designed for allowing the motor to go up and down with gravity in its favor. There are also good and bad plunge mechanisms and the Triton is quite smooth. As a real world example; dad has never done anything where he wished for a lift that he has spoken of. When I use his router table I notice the differences. My car gets me to work just as well as a nicer car but, the nicer car may do some things better. As a consequence, the nicer car is more expensive.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Brad,
I have the utmost respect for Glenn. He's been a great help to me ever since I came to SMC.

Having said that..

I just went through the same thing with the Triton. Most of the comments I read about it said it had a nasty habit of "slipping" during use.
Easily three to one (IOW - for every great comment, there were three comments about it slipping or moving).

FWIW - I skipped the Triton and as a matter of fact, I just got finished placing an order for a Milwaukee 5625-20 from Tyler not 3 min ago.
The big Milwaukee also has above table adjustments.

[joseph f merz]

Wow two posters who did not rave over it . I once gave my assessment on a router forumn and got blasted .This router has a cult following .This is a get what you pay for deal .It will do most anything just fine .But it is made of plastic . Big bits chatter .Dang thing started smoking one day -but it is still working .My plunge mech failed twice [plastic gears] replaced with a router raizer . I do use it often .How do you intend to use your this router ,do you have a back-up .What do you expect from it? After I got it I found the above table feature not as important .I generally just get down on my knees and use the nob under the table to raise and lower it -need to be there to see the bit height anyhow .Turned out to not be such a big deal .But the above table bit change can be real handy .

[Rich Engelhardt]

Wow two posters who did not rave over it . I once gave my assessment on a router forumn and got blasted .This router has a cult following

Exactly.
To add to the confusion - Glenn was talking about the smaller Triton and the OP was asking about the big 3.5HP one.

The smaller one seems to be a good tool.
There's a couple/few people here that will show up soon and rave about how great theirs is and how it's rock solid and dead on.
That's fine - I'm already into my table router too deep to take another chance on a bargain tool.

[Mark W Pugh]

I have the big Triton on my router table. The only thing that I do not like is that, during routing, the height adjustment mechanism will drop (back off). So, if you want to make an above table adjustment, when you release the carriage lock, the router falls a little. And yes, I have emailed Triton twice with NO reply. I would not recommend this router if this would be a problem for you.

[John Coloccia]

I got a lot of use out of mine. You can get them on sale for $269, they run very smooth and perform well. it's probably still my first choice if I don't want a lift. When I finally get into my new shop, though, I'll be getting a proper table and a lift. I had the Triton mounted in my SawStop's extension wing, on an aluminum router plate.

[Harold Burrell]

I have one in my table and it works well.

[Tom M King]

Someone gave me one of the first models of the big one in a cast iron table saw wing. If I had paid anything for it, it would have cost too much. There's nothing that I like about it. I'll take a 7518 any day.

[Reinis Kanders]

I only use mine occasionally, but I am not that impressed with it. Collet is rather shallow and I had some weird chatter with it when running some bigger bits. I tried muscle chuck with it and vibration was not acceptable while muscle chuck works well with my Bosch router. Musclechuck inventor said that Triton collets are not that great because threads are not precise or something like that.
All in all I have not felt that comfortable with this router, it also had extra spring in the mechanism that locks the collet for a bit change thus making bit change messy until I took it apart and removed the spring (they were stuck together).
Router does work well as far as easy height adjustment and bit change.

[glenn bradley]

Rich and Joseph have got some good input here. I would definitely factor it into your decision. Back when dad got his smaller Triton, the larger version did not offer the cool above the table controls so it was not even a contender. The smaller unit has a manual carriage lock and although I have heard people say they do without it, I have found that it needs to be locked. I am not sure how the current large router offering handles the carriage lock. The Tritons do have a learning curve as they do not use the western-style router controls that we are all used to and some folks really dislike this difference. Again, I have no experience with the larger model.

I do look forward to Rich's review of the 5625. I bought my first one back in 2006 IIRC. This was right after they had a run of bad bearings that Milwaukee fixed for anyone who brought their router to a service center. Mine had the improved bearings at purchase. I used mine so much that I picked up another on sale a year or two later. Both of mine have never done anything other than run. I hope this is still true today as other maker's quality just seems to keep on slipping

[Brad Seubert]

Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like a case of if its to good to be true it probably is.

I am slowly learning that I am better off spending more money on a quality tool that will last for years, instead of always taking the cheap way out.

I think I will make do with the Rigid until I can afford a nice lift and a new router.

[Kevin Womer]

I have one in my table and it works well.

I second that, small model is a good tool, no problems with slipping here.

[ken masoumi]

I alway liked my 2.1/4 hp Triton and praised it at every chance I got, but,,,,it started slipping when used in a router table,I changed the plastic worm gear to a metal one but still it slips,it sort of "unwinds" the moment you turn it on ,until it bottoms out.

The only solution is to lock it in place after the height is set using the plunge lock.never needed to do this before but now it is the only way to ensure that the router won't budge.
Other than that I have no complains,still like the router but won't buy another Triton if this one breaks down.