Custom Router Tables - depth adjustment and power?

[MatthewKing]

Just been looking at people's custom made router tables, and I have two questions:

1. How do you control power? my Bosch router has a safety button, and a "go" button, the only way I can see is clamping those down, then using one of those red and green button plugs to control power flow to the router? Is that right?

2. How do you control depth? I find that quite clumsy on my router as it is, and I don't fancy messing around upside down trying to do it. Is there any solution to controlling depth from the table?

Thanks,
Matt

 

[RogerS]

Yup...

1/ If you want to use your existing router then most people will use something like a tie-wrap to keep the switch permanently on and use a red/green thing aka an NVR switch to actually supply power

2/ If you search for router lift or similar then you'll find a lot of info.

But if you were to invest in something like a Triton or similar then you'd not need a router lift as it's effectively built in plus you can change the bits easily above the table

 

[Steve Maskery]

If by power you mean speed, then that is done by a dial on the router itself. If your router does not have variable speed then you can't. It's either on or off.

As to depth adjustment, some modern routers, such as the TrentdT11 are adjustable from above when inverted in a table. I have such a router, and the adjustability is excellent. However, the other aspects of the T11 are, IMHO, disappointing. It's excellent as a dedicated router table router, but hte concentricity of the base leaves a lot to be desired. At least on mine. So it is useless as a hand-held router when using guide bushes for example. My ancient Elu 177E is infinitely better.

If you have a router that is NOT adjustable from below (above when inverted) then consider the Router Raizer sold in the UK by Roger Phobe at Woodworker's Workshop. It's not cheap, and all you get is a box of bits, but it works superbly and is worth every penny, because you would have difficulty in making it from scratch yourself. Well, I would anyway. Depends on how much of an engineer you are, I guess. He also sells the Xtreme Xtension, which allows quick change of the cutter and compensates for the thickness of a router table when using routers with limited plunge.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Travis]

Hello Matt

This is what I have in my router table and I like very much,
http://www.woodpeck.com/precisionrouterlift.html

Travis

 

[MatthewKing]

By power I mean in the on/off sense, I do have power level (speed?) adjustment on the router base but that's just like a scroll wheel so its easy to change.

The trend T11 router looks like a beast, bit out of my price range though sadly. I think the Router Raizer looks good, not too bad price wise I'll probably look into one of those if/when I make a router table.

Travis, looks the business but bit expensive!

That's satisfied my curiosity anyway

Thanks all
Matt

 

[Tusses]

on my 1st table, I used the bosh pof ? 500

I fixed it to a home made insert (just a rectangle of 6mm mdf with a hole in the middle ! )

I lifted the whole lot , upwards, out of the table to change bits and adjust hieght as you would if it was hand held, then drop it back into its hole.

the front of the table was open so I could easily reach in and turn the router on and off.

really basic - but very effective and usable

 

[OPJ]

If you follow this link, Ron Fox shows you how to make your own fine-adjuster, which would work from below a router table. Sure, it's not as quick or quite as easy as some of the other methods but, it's cheap and I'm sure it works well.

 

[plug]

Found this in an old bungerlow I was boarding up, it did not look very safe to use so I left it there.