Question on router lifts

[Ray Bell]

On both of my routers one Bosch, and one Milwaukee you have to unclamp the base from the motor to make adjustments. What do you do about this with an overhead lift. Just leave it unclamped? Seems if you have to open the table to make the adjustment you may as well adjust the height while in there.
TIA,
Ray

[Tom Hintz]

When you just bolt the router base to a plate you have to release the motor lock, make the adjustment and then re-lock the base. You have to do this with most of the bases that have through-the-table bit height adjustment as well. When you get to a true lift plate the router motor(or the motor and base with some lifts) are installed and from there you do all of the adjusting from above the table.
Of course the true lift plates are considerably more expensive (considerably in some cases) so there is a trade-off for the convienence of not having to reach under the table to release the motor lock.

[Alex Silva]

Get a Bosch1619EVS and never look back.. no need for any lift : just unclamp the main lever, raise or lower it as you wish then you use the fine adjustment knob.. takes 10 seconds to change bits... think about it.. for what you're going to put in a lift, why not get another router !

Alex

[glenn bradley]

To answer the OP's question (I think); the router motor comes out of the base and installs in the lift (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=121757&d=1246107933) so the original carriage lock goes bye-bye. Lifts like the Woodpecker PRL-v1 are self locking so once you set your height, removal of the crank locks the carriage.

Alex makes a good point, lifts are not inexpensive. I ran my Milwaukee 5625 for quite awhile without a lift. The Mil is designed for above the table height adjustments but, you still have to reach under the table to lock the carriage (or activate the plunge release in the case of the Bosch). I found this very workable . . . but, . . . . a lift is really nice; the last time I looked under the table was to change speeds.

[Ray Bell]

Thanks everybody, Glenn, this is the same Milwaukee router I have. I didn't even put a hole in the RT top for the above table height adjuster . It didn't make any sense to open the table, unclamp the router motor/base, and then adjust from above. I am already right there.

[Rick Fisher]

Router lifts are awesome.. There is always a way to get by without one, but once you have one, they are awesome..

I have Jessem lifts.. 2 x lifts.. with one table.. I can swap lifts and routers in seconds.. The height adjustment wrench is the same for both, so its like having a spare..

Jessem makes very nice stuff, but there is also Woodpecker and Bench Dog.. both premium products..

The Jessem lift with the Phenolic table is awesome.. I have a PC 7518 in the big lift and a small Porter Cable router in the small lift.. (1.75hp) .. the big one is all 1/2" Bits and the small one is for 1/4" shank bits.

[Bill Huber]

Ray, here is my Bosch 1617 in my Jessem router lift. As you can see it is just the motor and not the base.
Using the Bosch in the base with the above table adjustment is just ok in my book, it can not even compare to a router lift. I never open the door on the front of my table, there is no need to.

144459

[Mike Heidrick]

Just the 5625 Milwaukee's motor mounts in my prl v1 - no base. I raise it with the hand crank) and change the bit (two wrench style)and then lower it to the height I want.

[glenn bradley]

Thanks everybody, Glenn, this is the same Milwaukee router I have. I didn't even put a hole in the RT top for the above table height adjuster . It didn't make any sense to open the table, unclamp the router motor/base, and then adjust from above. I am already right there.

Agreed. I went through a lot of planning about where the hole should be relative to the fence and blah, blah, blah. Turned out that in practice, I rarely used the t-wrench. I do find the Milwaukees stupid-simple to drop the motor out of for bit changes. Soooo easy. That and the micro adjust made a lift-less life very workable. When the PRL-v2 was announced, the PRL-v1's went on sale and I picked one up. It really is a whole different deal. I could still be doing fine without if I'd never had it, but boy am I spoiled now ;-)

[Terry Welty]

Used a Jessem Mast-r-lift table set up the other day... DRRROOOOOOOOLLL... What a great set up with the side crank. Gotta have one... so simple. Expensive, but are in line with other products.:p