Has Jessem & Incra (et al) been caught napping?

[Bristol_Rob]

I've been looking at Rutlands new router lift with electronic display and digital rise & fall.
Comes with a Life Time Warranty - If any router lift fails due to a material or manufacturing defect, the component will be replaced free of charge
But really, it eliminates the need for setup blocks and appears very accurate as you would expect to 0.01mm increments

Router Lifts | Next Day Delivery

Premium Electronic Router Lift & Motor. Digital Router Lift Control Box. Keypad Control 1. Keypad Control 2. Powerful 2400W (3 1/4 hp) Motor. Variable Speed Control Dial. Soft Start Technology.

www.rutlands.com

Powerful motor (2400w) with digital variable speed control (Not seen that before) Operates between 10,000 to 22,000rpm

My concern is that this is a short run product with limited lifetime support?

Does anyone have one of these?

Thoughts?

 

[Garno]

Rutlands do some decent stuff but are usually more expensive I suppose that's for the lifetime warranty they put on a lot of their stuff. I am undecided as to that router lift being a good deal or if it is expensive, I very much like it though.

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

It's a chunk less than the Jessem with an AUK router, even more less than the Incra, and neither 9f those has the readout - you have to kludge a Wixey DRO onto them.

The flipside is that it's impossible to trust Rutlands because they remove all critical reviews. Occasionally they'll let a 4-star through.

 

[deema]

Rutlands do some decent stuff but are usually more expensive I suppose that's for the lifetime warranty they put on a lot of their stuff. I am undecided as to that router lift being a good deal or if it is expensive, I very much like it though.

I love the stated lifetime warranty. They forgot to add design as well, which as they are stated on their web site are all lifetime warranties they neglected to state are enshrined in UK consumer law, so, it’s your rights anyway!

 

[Droogs]

Have a dig around Banggood and Aliexpress, you will probably find the exact same item far cheaper. I noticed about 18 months ago as BG rose in popularity with their woodwork tools Rutlands suddenly had the same tools in a differnt colour for a fair bit more in price. Knowing someone who bought the same tool as me the mitre for a router table from Rutlands we did a comparison to my BG one and we couldn''t tell the difference apart from some paint

 

[Bristol_Rob]

I wonder why the likes of Jessem & Incra hasn't developed an electrical control for their lifts?

 

[Mooose]

Grizzly in the US seem to have the same lift:

Automatic Router Lift with Touch-Screen Controls at Grizzly.com

This router lift takes table-mounted router height adjustments to the next level. Make all your precise adjustments at the touch of a button. Specific height settings can be keyed in and saved for repeatable cuts, or jog up/down to the desired cut height to match a pattern piece; either way, put...

www.grizzly.com

Reviews are ok but only 3 of them currently. Nice idea if it works well but I would like to see how easy it is to level the bit with the top of the plate. Digital controls can be a bit hit and miss

 

[Mooose]

Found this version too - Sherwood, and it seems to be the same again

 

[Ollie78]

I bought the Rutlands version of the router lift with motor like AUK and many other brands many years ago. My first motor burned out but they sent me a new one under warranty.
I am still using it now.
It looks like they have just mounted a stepper to where the crank handle goes on mine.

On the other hand, I bought some roller stands from them which were complete garbage. The rollers did not spin concentricly so the wood was bouncing up and down as you passed it accross. Got a refund on that one.

I still think the best way for router table building is to use an upside down Z axis with ballscrews and a stepper and a proper spindle and vfd. You can get a complete z stage from alibaba for pretty cheap.

Ollie

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

I do like that the height gauging is done straight on the mechanism itself - the Incra/Wixey approach is irritatingly imprecise because the Wixey is trying to measure the carriage position relative to the plate, whereas measuring the rotation of the ballscrew would give an absolute position unaffected by any stiction or flex. I might have a think about building a new readout with an optical head on the ballscrew, same as my CNC machine does it.

 

[Hornbeam]

Its a pity that none of the motors come with a spindle lock. Routers have had them for 20+ years but with a dedicated motor set up you still have to mess around with 2 cranked crappy spanners

 

[Ollie78]

Its a pity that none of the motors come with a spindle lock. Routers have had them for 20+ years but with a dedicated motor set up you still have to mess around with 2 cranked crappy spanners

This is where the upgrade to an ATC spindle would come in handy........

Ollie

 

[Spectric]

I wonder why the likes of Jessem & Incra hasn't developed an electrical control for their lifts?

They have probably realised it is a gimmick, do you really need to have an electric motor to raise / lower your router motor because it is something just as easily set with a crank handle. It is obvious that it is a requirement for a CNC setup but just extra complication for a router table. It would be interesting to see one at a show and for me I would like to see where the feedback for the actual height is taken from.

Its a pity that none of the motors come with a spindle lock. Routers have had them for 20+ years but with a dedicated motor set up you still have to mess around with 2 cranked crappy spanners

Even better is a muscle type chuck, no spindle lock or two spanners just a simple allen key wrench. If you use a muscle chuck on the Triton TRA001 and remove the spindle lock mechanism you can raise it nearly an extra 20mm.

 

[Hornbeam]

So thats another £75 for a muscle chuck and either a further £75 for a second chuck for different shank bits or £20 for a collet reducer. It seems that when you buy a quality large router like a DW625EK you get a lot more for your money than just a router motor

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

But that Dewalt doesn't have remote speed control or an NVR switch. And it's more expensive than the AUK, and lower powered, and a spindle luck and spanner isn't as quick and easy as a muscle chuck - it's not much easier than two spanners.

All of those make it less useful in a router table.

 

[Spectric]

It seems that when you buy a quality large router like a DW625EK you get a lot more for your money than just a router motor

This is an area that requires a lot of planing and thought, if you want a router table then having a dedicated router in it can be the best option, much easier to fit and leave it there rather than trying to make it dual purpose and also use it for handheld work although a more expensive option. Now for decades people have put plunge routers into router tables and there is nothing wrong with this providing you understand and accept any issues, for example having to fumble under the table to change speed. With a decent lift in the router table the plunge aspect of the router becomes obsolete and is just clutter, the router motor like the AUK is really just a very stripped down plunge router and may seem expensive but they are not as mass produced as a plunge router by the likes of Dewalt, no economy of scale. There has been some previous discussions on this subject and once you do all the calculations there is very little difference in cost between having a decent router lift like the Jessem or Incra with the AUK motor and using a big Triton TRA001 in the Jessem prestige lift, except if you look at it from a mechanical aspect having the motor held in the lift with clamps round it's middle has to be more robust than having the router base held to the lift by four screws. To picture this in one setup you are picked up by someone putting their hands round your waist and in the other you are stuck to the ceiling by the top of your head with the rest of you dangling! which may lead to more vibrations. Another option that people use is to just fix the plunge router to a top with no insert plate and nothing wrong with this but if you want a decent anything it is much cheaper in the long run to just bite the bullet, bribe the missus and just buy it, getting something good first time is better than buying somethiing and putting up with it and after a period of time you end up where you could have been in the first place. I am in that situation, my Triton has plenty of power in a Kreg table and has delivered task well BUT once you feel the movement in say an Incra lift it highlights any issues you have been putting up with, for me it is the height setting which can be a pita and even more when it comes to repeatability, I cannot just lower to a setting but have to go past it and come back up to take any slack out of the mechanism before locking it off. With a decent lift it is more positive and much smoother.

Conclusion is that you may get a lot more router with the Dewalt but it may not be the best solution for a table, but it does work well in a Woodrat when itted with a plunge bar.

 

[Recky33]

All very good points if you are putting miles of timber though it, although if you were, would you not be using a spindle ?.
Seems that most of the enjoyment of woodworking has been lost since the "CNC" brigade came to the party, You can work within .0001 but within an hour it's moved by triple that, woods alive so why not treat as such