AJB Temple
Finely figured
Quick and brief router table review just in case someone finds it helpful in the future. I needed a router table that I could fit my heavy duty ½” Elu router too and also my smaller ¼” Elu (mainly because of the cutter I happen to have). A router table is a pretty simple bit of kit and if I’d had scrap materials handy I would have made one. But my workshop is pretty new and I have not acquired surplus supplies yet. Costing up the material needed to make the table top, legs, router plate, raising and lowering mechanism, NVR switch, fence etc was weighed up against buying a table retail. Taking account of my time running around getting materials and making one, retail worked out cheaper, though not necessarily better.
Having looked at a range of alternatives from about £40 to over £400, I ended up buying a Trend Craft Pro Mk III. Usually Amazon is more expensive than specialist tool suppliers, but their price was competitive at just under £200 and was delivered in pristine condition the next day. I use Prime so postage was not extra. Recently a Trend Mk II table, with a number of bits missing, sold on the bay for £144 plus £24 postage, so that’s £168 for an out of date product with bits missing. The extra £32 for the latest version brand new seemed a no brainer.
The reason I chose it was: it was in stock and readily available; has a heavy duty plate that will not bow when a big router is attached; takes a range of different routers easily enough; has safety guards, finger fences, push stick, mitre fence and dust extraction included. It also included the crucial NVR switch.
It comes flat packed and self-assembly took 30 minutes in my freezing cold workshop. They supply tools for this purpose, but using them would add about 20 mins to your assembly time! Socket set and impact driver makes short work of the job. Some reviewers on Amazon have said it is difficult / fiddly to assemble and the instructions are not clear. This is nonsense. And is so basic that instructions are virtually superfluous.
In use:
Dead easy to set up. Plenty sturdy enough. Includes bolt down plates for bench mounting.
Router plate is a excellent. 8 mm thick alloy by the look of it and very robust especially for the money.
Fences are easy to adjust and the guards are sensible and practical.
Mitre fence is not brilliant, but I doubt I will use it anyway!
Dust extraction is OK rather than brilliant. I may see if I can modify it a bit. It pulls from above to one side past the vertical fence through an angled pipe, but quite a bit of dust still drops through the table I find. I suspect that routers are quite tricky to do effective dust collect for.
It is really designed for Trend routers, and is set up to push a fine raising / lowering adjustment tool through a hole in the top. However, it was not that difficult to make some modifications to enable me to do the same with the big Elu. There is a list of routers that it will fit without drilling (including Elu and DeWalt) but it is now big deal to drill the plate to fit others.
Overall: if making one is impractical for some reason, then this is a good alternative at a sensible price for a good quality and well made table. It would easily stand light trade use and plenty for the skilled hobbyist. Recommended.
Having looked at a range of alternatives from about £40 to over £400, I ended up buying a Trend Craft Pro Mk III. Usually Amazon is more expensive than specialist tool suppliers, but their price was competitive at just under £200 and was delivered in pristine condition the next day. I use Prime so postage was not extra. Recently a Trend Mk II table, with a number of bits missing, sold on the bay for £144 plus £24 postage, so that’s £168 for an out of date product with bits missing. The extra £32 for the latest version brand new seemed a no brainer.
The reason I chose it was: it was in stock and readily available; has a heavy duty plate that will not bow when a big router is attached; takes a range of different routers easily enough; has safety guards, finger fences, push stick, mitre fence and dust extraction included. It also included the crucial NVR switch.
It comes flat packed and self-assembly took 30 minutes in my freezing cold workshop. They supply tools for this purpose, but using them would add about 20 mins to your assembly time! Socket set and impact driver makes short work of the job. Some reviewers on Amazon have said it is difficult / fiddly to assemble and the instructions are not clear. This is nonsense. And is so basic that instructions are virtually superfluous.
In use:
Dead easy to set up. Plenty sturdy enough. Includes bolt down plates for bench mounting.
Router plate is a excellent. 8 mm thick alloy by the look of it and very robust especially for the money.
Fences are easy to adjust and the guards are sensible and practical.
Mitre fence is not brilliant, but I doubt I will use it anyway!
Dust extraction is OK rather than brilliant. I may see if I can modify it a bit. It pulls from above to one side past the vertical fence through an angled pipe, but quite a bit of dust still drops through the table I find. I suspect that routers are quite tricky to do effective dust collect for.
It is really designed for Trend routers, and is set up to push a fine raising / lowering adjustment tool through a hole in the top. However, it was not that difficult to make some modifications to enable me to do the same with the big Elu. There is a list of routers that it will fit without drilling (including Elu and DeWalt) but it is now big deal to drill the plate to fit others.
Overall: if making one is impractical for some reason, then this is a good alternative at a sensible price for a good quality and well made table. It would easily stand light trade use and plenty for the skilled hobbyist. Recommended.
