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OPERATOR'S MANUAL
ELECTRONIC PLUNGE ROUTER
RE180PL
VARIABLE SPEED – DOUBLE INSULATED
Your new router has been engineered and manufactured to Ryobi's high standard for dependability, ease of operation,
and operator safety. Properly cared for, it will give you years of rugged, trouble-free performance.
WARNING: To reduce the risk of injury, the user must read and understand the operator’s manual.
Thank you again for buying Ryobi tools.
SAVE THIS MANUAL FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ■ Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................2 ■ General Safety Rules .....................................................................................................................................3-4 ■ Specific Safety Rules..................................................................................................................................
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GENERAL SAFETY RULES ■ Dress properly. Do not wear loose clothing or SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS jewelry. Contain long hair. Keep your hair, cloth- ing, and gloves away from moving parts. Loose WARNING: clothes, jewelry, or long hair can be caught in mov- Read and understand all instructions. Failure to fol- ing parts or drawn into air vents. low all instructions listed below, may result in electric ■ Avoid accidental starting. Be sure switch is off shock, fire and/or serious personal injury. before
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GENERAL SAFETY RULES ■ When servicing a tool, use only identical replace- SERVICE ment parts. Follow instructions in the Mainte- ■ Tool service must be performed only by quali- nance section of this manual. Use of unauthorized fied repair personnel. Service or maintenance per- parts or failure to follow Maintenance Instructions formed by unqualified personnel could result in a risk may create a risk of electric shock or injury. of injury. SPECIFIC SAFETY RULES Hold tool by insulated gripping sur
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SYMBOLS Important: Some of the following symbols may be used on your tool. Please study them and learn their meaning. Proper interpretation of these symbols will allow you to operate the tool better and safer. SYMBOL NAME DESIGNATION/EXPLANATION V Volts Voltage A Amperes Current Hz Hertz Frequency (cycles per second) W Watt Power min Minutes Time Alternating Current Type or a characteristic of current n No
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SPECIFICATIONS Plunge Depth 0 - 2 in. (0 - 5.08 cm) Collet 1/2 in. (12.7 mm) Adaptor 1/4 in. (6.35 mm) Peak Horsepower 2 Input 120 Volts, 60 Hz, AC Only, 10.0 Amperes No Load Speed 15,000 - 23,000 RPM Power Cord 10 ft. (3 m) Net Weight 8.5 lbs. (3.86 kg.) UNPACKING INSTRUCTIONS PACKING LIST Your router has been shipped completely assembled. Plunge Router ■ Carefully remove the tool and accessories from the Collet box. Make sure that all items listed in the packing Adaptor list are included. 15/1
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FEATURES Your plunge router is a versatile woodworking tool that will give you years of trouble-free performance. It is engineered with the professional in mind, but its ease of operation allows the amateur to produce work that is beautiful and precise. As the name implies your plunge router can be used for making plunge cuts in workpieces, routing grooves, edge routing, routing circles, and freehand routing. When used with recommended accessories, such as a UL listed router table, depth adjusme
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FEATURES FRONT VIEW OF ROUTER SPEED SELECTION SIGHT WINDOW VARIABLE SPEED SCALE CONTROL SELECTOR ZERO RESET INDICATOR OPERATION HANDLE LOCK KNOB SPINDLE LOCK STOP BAR TM ACCU-STOP MICRO-ADJUSTABLE CHIP SHIELD DEPTH STOP O EACH 90 ROTATION EACH COMPLETE O OF DEPTH STOP KNOB ROTATION (360 ) OF EQUALS 1/64 in. DEPTH STOP KNOB (0.4 mm) CHANGE IN EQUALS 1/16 in. (1.6mm) DEPTH OF CUT CHANGE IN DEPTH OF CUT Fig. 1 8
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FEATURES REAR VIEW OF ROUTER POWER CORD PLUNGE LOCK LEVER HEX NUT(S) COLLET NUT SUBBASE ROUTER BASE 1/4 in. (6.35 mm) ADAPTOR 15/16 in. (23.8 mm) WRENCH Fig. 2 WARNING: Do not attempt to modify this tool or create accessories not recommended for use with this tool. Any such alteration or modification is misuse and could result in a hazardous condition leading to possible serious personal injury. 9 16 15
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ADJUSTMENTS SPINDLE LOCK WARNING: Your router should never be connected to power supply when you are assembling parts, making ad- TO LOOSEN justments, installing or removing cutters, or when COLLET NUT not in use. Disconnecting your router will prevent accidental starting that could cause serious injury. CUTTER INSTALLATION See Figures 3 and 4. ■ UNPLUG YOUR ROUTER. WARNING: Failure to unplug your router could result in acciden- COLLET tal starting causing serious injury. NUT TO TIGHTEN COLLET N
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ADJUSTMENTS WARNING: Do not use cutters with undersized shanks. Under- sized shanks will not tighten properly and could be HEX NUTS thrown from the tool causing injury. TO UNLOCK TO LOCK WARNING: Do not use cutters that are larger in diameter than the opening in router base. Use of such cutters will come in contact with the router base and damage PLUNGE both the cutter and router base. This situation could LOCK LEVER also cause possible loss of control or create other hazardous conditions that c
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ADJUSTMENTS TO INSTALL OPTIONAL DEPTH CONTROL KNOB ■ Lock plunge lock lever to position cutter at "zero" See Figure 8. depth of cut. ■ UNPLUG YOUR ROUTER. ■ Adjust hex nuts until they come in contact with stop flange. This will provide a position stop at “zero” depth of cut. WARNING: ■ Make sure the hex nuts are securely tightened against Failure to unplug your router could result in acciden- each other. tal starting casuing serious injury. ■ Rotate depth stop to desired position, loosen lock kn
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ADJUSTMENTS TO ADJUST DEPTH OF CUT USING OPTIONAL DEPTH CONTROL KNOB See Figure 9. OPTIONAL DEPTH ■ UNPLUG YOUR ROUTER. CONTROL KNOB WARNING: Failure to unplug your router could result in acciden- tal starting casuing serious injury. ■ Loosen lock knob and raise stop bar. ■ Unlock plunge lock lever and raise cutter to its up- permost position. PLUNGE ■ Plunge router until cutter reaches the approximate LOCK desired depth of cut. LEVER ■ Lock plunge lock lever, temporarily locking cutter at DEPTH
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ADJUSTMENTS WARNING: SPEED SELECTION CHART Always wear safetey goggles or safety glasses with side shields when using your router. Failure to do so CUTTER SIZE could result in dust, shavings, chips, loose particles, MATERIAL 3/8 1/2 1/4 3/4 or foreign objects being thrown in your eyes result- ing in possible serious injury. If the operation is SOFT E-F D-E A-B A dusty, also wear a face or dust mask. MEDIUM D-E C-D A A TO SET DEPTH STOP HARD C-D B-C A A ■ UNPLUG YOUR ROUTER. VERY HARD D-E C-D C-D
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OPERATION SWITCH MOTOR See Figure 13. HOUSING To turn the router ON, toggle the switch to the I position. To turn the router OFF, toggle the switch to the O position. I = ON CAUTION: O = OFF We suggest that you practice with your router before installing a cutter and making cuts in wood. ROUTING See Figure 14. For ease of operation and maintaining proper control, your router has two handles, one on each side of the router base. When using your router hold it firmly with SWITCH Fig. 13 both hand
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OPERATION ROUTING BY FREEHAND See Figure 16. When used freehand, your plunge router becomes a flexible and versatile tool. This flexibility makes it possible to easily rout signs, relief sculptures, etc. There are two basic techniques for freehand routing: ■ Routing letters, grooves, and patterns into wood. ■ Routing out the background, leaving the letters or pattern raised above the surface. When freehand routing, we suggest the following: ■ Draw or layout the pattern on workpiece. ■ Choose the
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OPERATION PILOT BIT EDGING ROUTER See Figure 17. Rabbets and molded edges can be cut using piloted cutters. The pilot extends below the cutter. Some pilots are solid extensions of the cutter. Others are ball bearing guides that are fastened to the end of the cutter. The pilots allow the cutters to turn while the pilot follows the PILOT edge of the workpiece. Arbor-type bits with pilots are excellent for quick, easy, edge shaping. They will follow workpiece edges that are WORK either straight or
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OPERATION PROPER FEEDING ROUTER FEED DIRECTION The right feed is neither too fast nor too slow. It is the rate at which the bit is being advanced firmly and surely to produce a continuous spiral of uniform chips. A feed to fast produces large, individual chips and a feed to slow creates sawdust. If you are making a small diameter, shallow groove in soft, dry wood, the proper feed may be BIT as fast as you can travel your router along your guide ROTATION line. On the other hand, if the bit is lar
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OPERATION RATE OF FEED In addition, it is more difficult to control a router when the bit is scraping instead of cutting. With practically no load IMPORTANT: The “secret” of professional routing and on the motor the bit will be revolving at close to top RPM, edge shaping lies in making a careful set-up for the cut and will have a much greater than normal tendency to and in selecting the proper rate of feed. bounce off the sides of the cut (especially if the wood has The proper rate of feed depen
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OPERATION DEPTH OF CUT As previously mentioned, the depth of cut is important DEPTH because it affects the rate of feed that, in turn, affects the WIDTH OF CUT quality of the cut (and, also, the possibility of damage to OF CUT your router motor and bit). A deep cut requires a slower feed than a shallow one, and a too deep cut will cause you to slow the feed so much that the bit is no longer cutting, it is scraping, instead. Making a deep cut is never advisable. The smaller bits — especially thos
