portable router tables

[davic]

Hi all!

I'd like some opinions on portable router tables please. I have used the trend PRT and liked it alot but I am also interest in the festool cms system. I am very impressed with the trend but the festool stuff is knockout and was wondering if some light could be shed on both systems please

Dav

 

[davic]

Or just the advantages of the cms system would be good...

 

[petermillard]

Or just the advantages of the cms system would be good...

Haven't used one and don't have the need, but by all accounts the Compact Modular System approaches static-machinery levels of accuracy and dust collection in a portable. The system revolves around a base table, with inserts for Festool's plunge saws, routers and jigsaw, with associated dust collection hoses, NVR etc...

If you need the kind of accuracy onsite that this provides, then I'm not sure there's much else that competes with it - though that all comes at a price, of course.

Festool's info page is here.

HTH Pete

 

[davic]

Thsnks Peter, that makes a lot of sense. Its not so much that I'd be using one on site, but more that I use portable equivalent because of a lack of space. Personally I can see the festool being better than the PRT but, I have used a few festool products and it's hard not to be impressed.

Could be a tough one this....

 

[petermillard]

Well, not to dissuade you from buying new tools if that's what you want, but there are a wide variety of options if you just want a router table that can be knocked down and stored when not in use - just Google 'knock down' or 'fold up' router table. Alternatively, if you have space for a permanent bench, then build the router into the bench and clamp a fence onto it when you need it - it's what I do.

HTH Pete

 

[custard]

Dav, when I started using routers thirty odd years ago I made a small router table that clamped to my bench. Okay, without a split fence and with a smallish table it had some limitations, but overall it worked really well.

Then I went through a twenty year "wilderness" of building bigger and bigger router tables and getting worse and worse results. If you have a split fence the two halves must line up precisely, if you have an insert panel it has to be absolutely flush with the rest of the table, if you have a raising mechanism it has to be exactly perpendicular throughout it's travel. All of these things have a direct influence on the quality of the results and none of them come easy or cheap.

About ten years ago I started using the Festool CMS router table and very good it is too, but chuck in the cost of a sliding table, table extension, etc, and you could get a pretty nice spindle moulder for less.

I guess the message is either knock up a very basic and simple table...or budget serious money for the Festool solution. Both are sensible approaches. It's everything in between, where you're getting the flashy features without the German engineering, that's likely to disappoint!

Good luck.

 

[davic]

I really appreciate the input, thanks v. Much!

 

[mseries]

Here is a picture of my compact, homemade router tabe, just sits on a shelf when not in use. I mount it on my workmate but could easily be cantilevered off a bench or mounted on wall brackets somehow

28092012 by MSeries, on Flickr

I made that about 17 years ago and it's served me very well. My flickr page shows more details as well as some action shots showing it in use

 

[davic]

Very neat!