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RB4

A very big box has arrived in the post!!

A little before Christmas I received a message from Lewis Stepp to say that a customer in France had decided that he did not want a Router Boss after all and that his delivery was going to be forwarded to me to try out. Exciting news! Well two days before the twenty fifth a red faced and panting delivery man was standing at my door holding a large and heavy (25kg) package. Some damage to the box was apparent. "Sign here to refuse it" he said. No! No! I will accept this time says I. Anything to pay? " No." Really?
With a struggle I man-handled the parcel into the workshop. There were more delivery notes and Customs inspection notices than a piece of Afghan lost luggage!
The end of the box was torn open and  and a few puncture holes. With my heart in my mouth I opened the box to find nothing missing and only a few very minor dings to the alloy. The front plastic dust collector was cracked but repairable. What a relief!!

A brand new shiny Router Boss 470. Wow......... there really is a Santa Claus!

Now a full review is going to take some time and a good deal of work so in response to the increase in visits to the Router Boss pages I am initially going to invite you to share with me the fun of opening and examining the box contents. More detailed inspection photos will follow as soon as I can and then some assembly shots and notes before the actual tryout.

OK Let's open the box!

	Well here we are, one very large box 52" long by 17" wide by 6 1/2" high. Weighs 25 Kg.
This box has travelled a tortuous route to me via France and passed through a number of carriers and customs inspections. This is the worst of the damage which had me quite worried.
	Inside the packaging is substantial and has proven to be sufficient for safe travel. Maybe some extra card on the ends would provide  insurance against similar damage.
There is no other real damage but the box shows evidence of  customs inspections.
	All well laid out but the bag containing the plunge assist bars has been punctured. The box section has some very tiny bruising and the sliding bar of the 470 is much longer in real life than I imagined. The sliding bar is well protected for transport. A closer look at the box section and sliding bar will be coming later.
One long card box contains separate parts. Most of which are in self-seal poly bags.
	The punctured bag. I am sure that it is tough enough for normal carriage. Remember that this box has survived several carriers.
Here is the plunge assist kit complete with instructions. The kit is designed to fit the DeWalt 625 or 621 routers.

	Some of the parts. From left to right, two alloy mounting brackets with mounting lag bolts. Four green plastic 'wings' ( five in my kit!) Green cam-lock with a centre release button. Above the black anodised alloy fixed fence is the sliding fence which fixes to the cam-lock. Included in the kit is a set of imperial ( American) allen keys to fit most of the bolts. That is a little disappointment when  the rest of the world has gone metric. Two green stops with locking knobs and two smokey plastic cursors. Some of the screws are small Philips so a screwdriver will be needed for assembly.
Various self-seal bags containing bolts and various sized oval T-slot nuts. The nut bags are labelled but it is not clear from the notes which are used where. The larger bag contains some strips of very sticky tape and two screws to fix the router to the base plate.
	Here is the rear dust extraction tube and front dust removal mouldings. The only damaged part in the whole kit was the lower plastic part which suffered a crack which can be seen on the left. Not a major problem as I am sure it can be glued and is not a stressed member. The circles are rare earth magnets which holds the assembly onto metal strips attached to the plate.
Here is the the alloy plate. A very substantial part of superb quality (and weight). All the threads and machining are exceptionally engineered. Note how wide the router bit slot is!
	The two plain black steel strips fit to the underside of the plate and provide something for the dust extractor magnets to hold on to. The painted white steel strips can be used as marker or story board strips and slide into the box section upper recess if required. The two slotted adjustable black rules are screwed  into the recessed slots on the upper surface of the plate. The long black rules number from right to left and can be fixed into the same recess as the story board strips (but not at the same time). They are used in conjunction with the cursors. The moulded black plastic pieces mount onto the plate and are used to either guide the router plate directly or to support the green 'wings' for angled cuts.
Here is the laminated acrylic router plate which is rather thicker than I expected. It is pre-drilled for the DeWalt 625. It holds two red lasers for the cross hairs and two blue/white LED lights for illuminating your work. Power is fed from the black battery box which has a three position switch. Lights/ off/ lasers+lights.
	Included with the kit is the first draught of the instruction manual. Fairly comprehensive but not complete nor in colour. The manual is frequently being updated and I chose to download the updated version from here and printed it out. That is in colour by the way and rather clearer.

Well there we are. Now that I see it for real the most astonishing impression is the quality of the alloy parts.

 I am relieved that the contents were good even though the box suffered a little. In the next chapter I will be looking closer at each part with a number of photos of the box section and sliding bar with it's linear bearings.

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