Concur, Dave. We built our house and all the cabinets in it with a bare bones router setup under a temporary stand. Fine tuning took considerable time.
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Concur, Dave. We built our house and all the cabinets in it with a bare bones router setup under a temporary stand. Fine tuning took considerable time.
Member
My Bosch and Triton routers allow height adjustment through the router table. The Bosch uses a hex key (not included), but the Triton router came with a separate crank handle with an arbitrary dial for setting the height. I use a Wixey height gauge for accurate settings.Originally Posted by Malcolm McLeod
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The Bosch (1617) with the hex key does work, but it's liable to fail before very long due to the whole weight of the router hanging on a very flimsy split-ring washer. That can be fixed, but I never did feel it was a good long-term arrangement.
Even using a lift, I still rely on some sort of real depth measurement, whether it's set up blocks or whatever. The whole "one full turn equals 1/16" thing is just a ball park figure for me.
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A router lift is 'handy'. I don't have one. To be of the mindset that you need a router lift to make anything is a great excuse to drop a wad of cash. Feel free. Work the way you want to. I'll just be over here with 4 or 5 table mounted routers doing just fine.
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I have a real router table now, but many years ago, and again before I had a shop at my present location I had a piece of 3/4" plywood for a router table that I clamped to the top of my work bench when I wanted to use it. To adjust the router height, etc. I would just un-clamp the board from the work bench and set it on top of the work bench, then make the desired adjustments and then re-clamp the board to the bench. It worked very well, since I could both check the bit height above the board while at the same time reaching the router to make needed adjustments.
Charley
Contributor
Aww jeeze- thousandths?Dave Zellers
Originally Posted by andy bessette
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.
I'm with Andy- it's pretty darn simple if you don't over think it. I use three different routers in two tables occasionally and don't have a lift on anything; I use what ever depth setting setup the router uses with exception of my Elu plunge router that has a threaded handle accessory for setting the depth.
And, as a professional, I use shapers for almost all the work one would use a router table for, and I don't fuss with thousandths- I make things the size they need to be using a simple steel rule. (KISS)
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Sometimes I need two pieces to mate perfectly. Sometimes I am matching existing profiles. I like to take on challenging jobs that others shake their heads at and turn down.
So yes, thousandths. I got a chuckle from the post that said all you need is a router board clamped to a bench with a round over bit and a bearing.
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My Hitachi M12V adjusts from the top of the table with a 1/4" square drive nut driver. You have to reach under the table to unlock the motor from the body though.
If I had to raise a router very accurately then I would set my dial indicator on the cutter and zero it, then adjust, but 99% of the time the 1/4 turn adjustments are pretty accurate for most things.
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In olden days, 1990 or so, I made an entire kitchen with Oak raised panels etc., using my only router (PC690) and a bench top router table. It worked just fine, and the kitchen still looks great.
Nowadays, I have a couple lifts and really like them, but I still classify them as a luxury for a hobbyist, not a necessity. Great, if you can afford one, but you can do nice work without it.
Kind of like GPS on the car....really nice, but I can find my destination without it.
Rick Potter
DIY journeyman,
FWW wannabe.
AKA Village Idiot.
Contributor
Yes, a total luxury. I spent over thirty years without one and now I'm thrilled to have it. It saves me a lot of time.
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Some find the power router tables to be a necessity. I don't ,but I have found that some commercial shops tend to have ridiculously crude tables. I once asked where the router table was and was told it was under the saw table. Looked carefully and did not see it. When I enlisted more help from same guy he went over to a box of scraps and dumped them onto floor...yes , the box was the router table! Made my own from melamine and I keep a dedicated base in it ,must say it works much better than the kindling box - router table combo.
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I don't own one. Seriously have to examine my professional status.
Contributor
:d :d :d :di don't own one. Seriously have to examine my professional status.
Good one Larry
Last edited by Mark Wooden; 05-20-2017 at 5:45 PM.
Contributor
I guess I committed a fox pass.Simply meant it saves me time AND improves accuracy which moves the project forward faster.
I also consider my Veritas medium shoulder plane a luxury but don't ask me to go back and work without it like I used to!
Member
I'm one of those professionals who doesn't own a router table. Pc of 1/2" plywood that I screw a router to and then screw a fence to the top. Most any routing I do is hand held. I have 3 shapers so a router isn't a necessity.
I did however recently buy a router plate because I got 2 new Bosch router kits. Each with a plunge and a fixed base. So now I'll take one of the fixed bases and use it for the plate. Eventually I'll build a real table for it.
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