Advice or comment on router table options

[grainoftruth]

:?: I am in a quandary as to what it is worth investing in a router table set up. I am a hobby woodworker and need a flexible set of kit.
Here's my thinking and confusion so far:
Having got to the desperate stage of needing to rout some long edge details to finish a project I turned to ebay. There's a nice Record RPMS-R coming up tomorrow that has been well looked after - I set my mind to try and buy this yesterday.

Then I started looking at what I will want to do with my router once I mount it and it all got more complicated. On the Axminster website there is a nice Kreg with a high quality fence and the reviews are really good. Then a chap says he's dropped a Woodpecker Unilift into his Kreg and the result is a dream. I can definitely see the advantage of easy height adjustment.

That got me thinking that maybe it's not so clever to get a cast iron top, no opportunity to drop a lifter in if I want one in the future and the fence is only OK

A little bit more research on the deadly internet and I see an INCRA LS fence that borders on unbelievable in terms of accuracy and flexibility but that with a good table top and a Woodpecker suddenly looks like £900. About 4 times what I paid for my DeWalt 625.

Thoughts? #-o

 

[Harbo]

Make your own - plenty of plans/ideas on the net.

I made one based loosely on Norm's (Yankee Workshop).

I use a RouterRaizer with my DW625 - a much cheaper alternative to the Router Lift and it works fine.

Rod

 

[grainoftruth]

Thanks Rod,

I have thought about making my own but I seem forever to be making something to for the toolkit/shed rather than getting on with projects for the house or just pleasure. I work full time so have limited time and am tempted to buy just so that I can get on. You pays your money and.........RouterRaizer seems like a good idea.

I'd still like to hear from anyone who's invested in a fancy fence

Thanks

Steve

 

[Recky33]

I have a Jessem fence and lift on a home built table, both are excellent and will last my life time, mind they were a lot cheaper when I got them 5 years back, I also have a table like they have on the router workshop where the plate is lifted every time the router needs raising or lowering and thats just as good and nearly as quick and a hell of a lot cheaper

Regards

Allan

 

[Mike Wingate]

Make your own. I have 2 homemades at present. They both take a Jessem lift, one has an Incra Ultra fence, the other a self build dust extracting split fence with T track and all the stops and fingers, so I can keep mine. I use a Trend Pro at school, Horrible!

 

[greggy]

hiya steve, i agree with rod and mike.... make your own.
i have made two so far and i am always looking to make it better as and when the situation arises.
gooooooogle is your friend, there are thousands of plans for a router table and i am sure you will find one you like.
you can also check out youtube for router tables too, and all you need to buy is a router plate.
and its the best feeling in the world apart from sex lol that you made it yourself.

 

[Jensmith]

Hi Steve, I know what you mean about wanting to buy or else you spend too much time making and no time enjoying! I've done a bit of both.

I know most of these guys will suggest making your own and having looked at the options myself a while ago I do think you probably get more for your money. A lot of the modern tables are a bit flimsy.
It's no use to you but I got a small Dewalt one that's no longer made. But I do small scale stuff. It's really good but a bit small for you!

It sounds like you have money to spend and I've heard great things about the Incra fence! Could you compromise and make a table but buy the fence?

Kreg is expensive but seems to get good reviews.

Not sure if that's any help to you.

 

[The Wood Butcher]

To offer the opposing view, I bought the cheaper Jessem table in the recent Rutlands sale, mainly because I had several hundred metres of skirting to profile before I could even think of making a homemade anything. It's a great piece of kit once you fit the insert to the table with a metric sh!tload of edge sanding and the fence is excellent. I stuck a large Triton router in there, which I'd consider a rubbish router in general but excellent as a table router.

 

[grainoftruth]

Thanks guys,

Decision time tomorrow and I'll let you know what I do - right now I'm going to sleep on it.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Eric The Viking]

Probably too late to help, but I'm with TWB above:

I use my table mainly for profiling (skirtings, simple architrave, etc.) at the moment, but occasionally for odder jobs:

I've recently made a couple of jigs - one to cut small circles in MDF and ply, without a central through hole (limited success - not ready to show off until the mk II version!), and another to convert said cut discs to pulleys, with a v-groove on the edge. That's mainly to fix the flush handle in the upstairs toilet! I can't think of another way to achieve what I needed, without a lathe (wot I haven't got).

I've also made a jig to enable me to cut inside bevels on 22mm brass plumbing fittings at a fairly precise 30 degrees (for compression olives). It saved me about £160 in spares for a cr@p boiler (service valves leaking, again), and fixed an otherwise recurring, expensive and worrisome problem.

I wouldn't be without a router table. I'd be torn between it and a well-set-up small bandsaw for usefulness, but on balance the router table wins. Mine is an inexpensive Axminster one, to be modified soon with a replacement table top as the original isn't flat enough and heavy enough.

Like others, I'd recommend a semi-permanent setup, otherwise you waste a lot of time setting up. I've got the Trend T11 in mine, and I really like its built-in height adjuster. Having said that, once you've got the table, you can drop in pretty much any router just by swapping the plates over.

One word of advice: the table tracks (for adjusting the fence) on my Axminster table are in the middle, only about 4" apart. This isn't robust enough for working with heavy boards, and I have to put clamps behind the fence at the ends to stop it pivoting about the centre. You don't absolutely need tracks at all really, but if you're buying a made-up table, I'd go for one where the tracks are wider apart.

Hope you get what you need.

Cheers,

E.

 

[devonwoody]

I have had the Triton table and Triton router (1/2") now for 8 years and it is still going strong, a lift system makes life so much more comfortable.

I would make my own if I ever needed a replacement together with micrometers like Rocker of the Australian forum made 7 years ago.

 

[goldeneyedmonkey]

+1 for make your own. I'm still using a RTI plate dropped into a recess in some MDF, with a fence that is screwed or clamped down. I am in the process of making a new one, but this will be generally the same construction, albeit with a fence that runs on embedded T-track that I got from Rutlands. You'd be surprised at how good a simple setup like that will be. Then upgrade it when you know which other features you actually need after using your fisrt basic router table.

Hope that helps. Cheers _Dan.