you guys who clamp a sheet of wood down for a router table....

[Brian Sommers]

I've hear of real easy router "tables" by clamping down a small piece of ply and then mounting your router under that.

But then, how do you control depth/height of cut? Just adjust it manually and remount? I would think that would get old very fast.

[Jerry Wright]

Adjust the same way you do on a router table without a lift- reach under , loosen and raise or lower. My first router tables were open sided wooden boxes with the router hanging under a hole in the middle. Fence was a straight board, with a routed cove made by the bit of choice. Fence held in place by clamps. Works fine, just not as flexible as a fancy table.

[Garth Almgren]

My router "table" is the extension wing of my table saw. Adjust height by loosening the wing nut on the router base, and then twist the motor in the base to raise and lower.

[Brian Sommers]

That is what I thought but I managed to start over thinking it, like usual.

[Mike Ontko]

Similar story and method as described in the preceding posts, except that I've got a Bosch RA1171 benchtop router table. Adjusting the height of the fixed base router that I'm using (A PC690) is done by unlocking the base height adjustment and twisting to the desired bit height/exposure.

[Thomas Canfield]

My router "table" is the extension wing of my table saw. Adjust height by loosening the wing nut on the router base, and then twist the motor in the base to raise and lower.

I actually have a router insert plate on both sides of my table saw wings made of melamine. The plate was easy to route the hole for by clamping boards around the plate and using a top bearing router bit to cut the depth. Adjusting router is easy by just lifting router mounted to plate out of the table. The table saw fence can be used with router, but I did also add some track to mount a router fence, feather boards, etc. The same would work in a loose plywood board to be clamped down.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Well duh, you buy a $600 router lift

My BOSCH has decent adjustments that you can do with it. I did, however, eventually just guy a router lift and I installed it into a side thing on my table saw.

[John Vernier]

Using a router table without a lift can get old pretty fast, but it wasn't so long ago that that was the only option for most people. I took woodworking classes at Palomar College in 2003, which had and still has an outstanding shop, and I think they acquired their first router lift that year. I recall all of the router tables had wooden wrenches to help tighten the bolt on the PC690 base screwed to the bottom of the table. All that bending and stooping keeps you limber, right?

[Malcolm McLeod]

There are (at least) a couple of router bases that allow above-the-table height adjustments with Allen-style wrench inserted thru the table. I've not shopped, priced, or read reviews, but I assume they must be cheaper than a router table and/or lift?

[Doug Hepler]

Brian,

Similar to Mike Ontko, I have a router table and a PC690, without a lift. The router base is the fixed base, not a plunge base. I un-clamp the motor, adjust the height, re-clamp the motor. I have had this setup for about 20 years. It works very well for me, including setup for drawer lock and lock miter joints, which I suppose are the most demanding height adjustments one would need. Sometimes I have to accommodate to the limited range of height adjustment, which is probably more fuss than I would have to do if I had a lift. IMO a router table is a great convenience but a router lift is unnecessary. Given the expense of a good one, I would say that it's somewhere between an expensive luxury and a waste of money.

Doug

[Matt Day]

I've got a table saw extension router table. Melamine sheet, router plate, and router raizer. Works great and a cheap and smooth working above table adjustments.

[andy bessette]

Adjust the same way you do on a router table without a lift- reach under , loosen and raise or lower...

This.
It just isn't that difficult.

[Dave Zellers]

This.
It just isn't that difficult.

It also isn't that accurate. As a professional, being able to reliably adjust a router setting by a few thousands of an inch, is a huge advantage over the back and forth, trial and error of the old way of fine tuning a router table setting. So much so that I am in the process of buying another Incra Master Lift II for my other router table.

The ease of changing router bits, and the minute adjustments on the fly easily justify the expense.

[John Sincerbeaux]

It also isn't that accurate. As a professional, being able to reliably adjust a router setting by a few thousands of an inch, is a huge advantage over the back and forth, trial and error of the old way of fine tuning a router table setting. So much so that I am in the process of buying another Incra Master Lift II for my other router table.

The ease of changing router bits, and the minute adjustments on the fly easily justify the expense.

"As a professional" ??? When I was in college, I worked for a "professional" cabinet maker in L.A. It was there I learned that a router is its own router table. Simply put the router in a vice upside down.
The base is the table. Round over bit with a bearing is all you need. In large production facilities, it is amazing what techniques guys come up with.

[andy bessette]

I can adjust my router just as accurately as you can with your high falluting Master Lift II. And just as fast. And I've been doing so since long before there was ever a Master Lift.

Seriously, all my work is on yachts. These jobs are some of the most demanding of precise fit and finish in the woodworking field. My ancient 3-1/2 hp Stanley router has a most excellent adjusting ring. When the day arrives that I can no longer do without a Master Lift II I will retire from woodworking.