Router table, fence and plate questions

[Scott Berg]

I am looking to buy a router table (24" by 32") with fence and plate for a router cabinet (Norm's) that I am making. I am wondering what advice (without starting a fight) I can get from my fellow Creeker's regarding this purchase. (No, I do not have the time to make my own)

1. I am looking at the rotuer tops offered by Rockler (large alum plate) $180, Woodpecker with LE fence and alum plate $305, and MLCS $189. Any current owners of these that can provide feedback. The Woodpecker top is quite a bit more expensive and I am not sure what I gain by the higher price although I have heard good things about their products.

2. Do I need an aluminum plate? Or will a phonelic be sufficient (I have a Hitachi M12V 3.25 hp router). The router will be mounted in the table full time.

3. I am not a full time woodworker (although I daydream about woodworking all day!), some nights and weekends only so price is a consideration. However, I have no tolerance for cheap tools/products. I try to buy the best and have not been disappointed.

4. As I never have used a router table before, do I need to buy a lift or is a table top height adjustment tool adequate?

5. Do any of these suppliers have a yearly sale that I should be waiting for? There is not a timeline by when I need to purchase.

Thanks for your help

[Don Baer]

Scott,
I can't give you an opinion since I built my own. Here is a link that you might find very useful.

http://www.patwarner.com/

I consider him to be the router guru and have learned a lot from the web site.

[Jay Knepper]

Scott,

I have the Rockler large aluminum plate that I use with my Hitachi M12V, and it is a good system. Aluminum plates have worked well for me.

I just built Norm's table and installed the Rockler plate and a Router Razer instead of a router lift. I prefer the Router Razer to the lift that I had used because it is lighter, which makes it easier to pull the router to change bits. The Router Razer is just as precise as my old router lift was.

[Fred Ray]

Scott: I bought the Rockler top and fence and put them on a Norm-style cabinet with the Router Raizer lift. I have been able to do anything I wanted, which is quite varied, with accuracy and repeatability enough and to spare.

Whether or not you need to buy a lift is really dependent on the router and your preference. Some of the newer routers allow adjustment from the bottom (top side when in a table) without requiring a lift. All routers, to my knowledge can be adjusted from under the table. That doesn't seem to bother some people, but I sure don't want to be bending over all the time to adjust height.

The only problem I've had with my set up is that the hole in the Rockler aluminum plate was not quite large enough for the large Freud ogee panel raising bit (about 1/16" too small). A little oscillating drum sanding on the inside resolved that problem.

[Ron Robinson]

Scott,

I have an Aluminum plate from Woodpecker and like it very much. They drilled it to fit my router and the available insert rings make the system very adaptable.

Ron

[Jules Dominguez]

I have a 3 hp Ryobi plunge router mounted on a phenolic plate which I bought along with a 32x24 table top from Woodhaven some years ago. I mounted the top on a Woodsmith-design base (the Woodhaven top replaced the original homemade Woodsmith-design top). I use the homemade Woodsmith fence, but clamp it to the table at each end with 6" bar clamps rather than use Woodsmith's arrangement which requires cutting parallel slots in the tabletop for bolting the fence down. It's easy to move and adjust the fence using the clamps. A shop vac hooked up to a $5 store-bought plastic plenum on the back of the fence catches pretty much all of the cuttings. I don't have a lift on the router and wasn't even aware until recently that such things existed, but I'm a hobbyist and don't do production work. I leave the big router in the table and use a 1 1/2 hp Craftsman for hand-held work. I can change bits and adjust the height of the router by standing in front of and reaching under the table. I mounted a switch on the front underside of the table to start/stop the router. This arrangement has worked well for me.

[Dave Falkenstein]

I had a Rockler top, fence and plate for several years. They were OK - the fence was the least best component, because it was clunky to adjust accurately. I upgraded to an Incra fence and Plunge Lift from Woodpeckers and installed them in my shop-made top. I cannot say enough good things about the Incra products and the Woodpeckers customer sdervice. More money and worth every penny, IMHO.

[Allen Bookout]

I did not know a lot about your router so but I found this review on Amazon and it may have some information that you can use. Sounds like that you may not need a separate lift - just a top and plate or just a top with a hole drilled in it if you do not want to get fancy. Good luck! Allen


5 StarsVery Good router...Great Price
I've had my M12V for just over a year...No problems,and what a work horse! I bought a five piece set of M3 cabinet door router bits at Harbor Freight (on sale) for only $39.98 and a router table, fence and acesseries from Rockler. (They make a extra large, heavy duty base plate to fit the M12V, and the only place I found that did.)I have made many sets of cabinets, "miles" of molding, and some furnature too with this machine. Used in a router table (up-side down) it works great and the height adjustment knob is easly to access for raising and lowering the bits. I looked high and low, at all of the tool sales on the web, this is far and above the best deal around! And the machine is a fine piece of equiptment, smooth, accurate and powerfull as any at any price. As with any router, mounted in a table (a poor mans shaper)a dust collection system or at least a good shop vac is a must, as this machine has the power to handle the large door panel bits which really spit out a lot of material. You won't fine a better router, and you will never beat this price! Brent

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

Phenolic top is the way to go, IMO. I'm using the JoinTech lifts now, but always had fine results with the Rosseau insert ($50 +/-). I have the JoinTech SmartFences also, but they're spendy. The Benchdog fence is reasonably priced and worked well for me.

KC

[Bill Fields]

Scott:

I'm one of the dreamers who has many more tools than expertise/experience.

I have the Rockler table top--and their HD plate for my 3HP router. Have not tried it out extensively yet, but I am not impressed w/ the light duty palstic top--Melamine?--seems rather fragile for the money.

Plate more than adequate.

Mine is hinged to the RAS table to swing up when needed with a 3/4" pipe single leg for support.

HF offers a cast iron table for sometimes price of $170 with legs that you can toss out if not part of the plan. A couple of Creekers have installed these as a wing on their TS set-up-- and it looks great.

That is the problem w/ committing oneself to a product--after purchase and disappointment--you can't bring yourself to get rid of it.

That is a bit unfair--Rockler generally is more than great. I need to do some work on my set-up to truly give an opinion. Next time!

Keep at it!

BILL FIELDS

[Scott Berg]

Thanks everyone for their input, I really appreciate it.

[Paul Dwight]

The Woodpecker Plunge Lift would give you a high quality 1/4" aluminum mounting plate and a lift for above-the-table height adjustment for $130. That seems like a pretty attractive price considering that a RouterRaizer runs $90 with no mounting plate.

I also saw that the refurb section of the Woodpeckers website has one of their router table tops on sale for $175.

I own a Woodpecker aluminum mounting plate and am happy with it. It strikes me as way over-engineered for woodworking, but I like that. I have no other affiliation with the company.

Good luck! -- Paul

[Doug Cowan]

I have the M12V mounted in a modified version of Norm's router table. I used a polycarbinate plate from Mulecab, and have been very happy with the set up. If you haven't already, check out John Lucas's Woodshopdemos website. He has some very good info on modifying the M12V for use in a router table.

[John Keane]

If you are going to build Norm's router cabinet then you will need a router table with the plate centered versus an offset router table. I have a Rockler table/plate and fence that has served me well. I also have a Woodpecker offset mounted on a Jointech table that is the cats. I have a Woodpecker center mount that I intend to use with Norm's table when I build it(soon I hope)
I am a staunch fan of Woodpecker for their products, service and customer support. They are pricey, but IMHO you get what you pay for, and that is top of the line. Good luck