Info on second router table

[christopher stemen]

LOOKING FOR A SECOND ROUTER TABLE FOR WHEN MY PRIMARY HAS STILE AND RAIL BITS. LOOKING AT THE HARBOR FREIGHT WITH THE 25% COUPON ON NEW YEARS DAY.


http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=91130


NOT EXPECTING MUCH FROM THE 1hp ROUTER BUT HAVE A COUPLE OF 2 1/4hp THAT I COULD MOUNT INSTEAD. ANY THOUGHTS?

[Dave Cav]

Why not just build one? Pop Woodworking had an article in June on building a quick, functional router table; I put one together last week in less than 3 hours and it used less than half a sheet of plywood.

[Michael Gibbons]

Sommerfeld tools has a cool solution. They manufacture their bits to be all in line with each other. You place this little rubber grommet in the collet drop your bit in and tighten to collet. When your done with say, the rail bit, pull it out and put in the stile bit and tighten down. They come out matched up. No test cuts. Same with the raised panel bits. They also make a huge router table top but you have to make the cabinet yourself.

[Rich Engelhardt]

NOT EXPECTING MUCH FROM THE 1hp ROUTER BUT HAVE A COUPLE OF 2 1/4hp THAT I COULD MOUNT INSTEAD. ANY THOUGHTS?
Make double - triple sure that the top/insert can be made to accept a different router.
I have a Ryobi ($99.00 on sale) router/table combination tha't pretty much "locked in" to the Ryobi router.

The router itself is only a fair handheld & the table is only fair (as far as tables go), so it's too much bother to do anything with it but leave it as a combo.
That - plus it's small & compact and easy to stow in the back of the van for use as an onsite table. I don't use it often, but when I need it onsite it pays for itself.

I'll second or third the idea of just building another table from scratch.

[Randal Stevenson]

Build your own. Check out Pat Warner's site, or his or Bill Hylton's books at your local public library.

[Stephen Edwards]

Why not just build one? Pop Woodworking had an article in June on building a quick, functional router table; I put one together last week in less than 3 hours and it used less than half a sheet of plywood.

I saw that little table, too. Personally, I'd much rather have that shop built table than the HF table.

I'm not one to bash everything that HF sells. However, after looking at that table in person at their Nashville store, I can tell you that it ain't one of their "gems". You'd be much more satisfied with one of the several benchtop tables on the market, or even better, build your own quickly and cheaply as Dave suggests.

SMC is a great resource for stepping you through the process of building your own table, complex or simple. Another good resource is to do a web search of Router Maniac. He has some great ideas for bench top RTs that look nice, work well and are inexpensive to build.

[Myk Rian]

Here is a great table.
http://www.oak-park.com/

[Robert Chapman]

Check the JessEm website. They are going to introduce a bench top router table. Don't know the price.