A question to owners of PRL router lift

[mreza Salav]

Well after more than two months of ordering the PRL (version 1) at the special price Woodpeck had I received it today. It looks like a well built machine except one thing that is bothering me.
The screw for the lift mechanism has an automatic brake mechanism to prevent the lift from moving up/down during operation. The brake is automatically released when the crank is inserted and pushed down a bit.

The annoying part is that there seem to be a little bit of play in the automatic blade mechanism, so I can rotate the crank back and forth a bit before dis-engaging the brake. It's very little, about 0.001" (one degree on scale). Is this normal or there should be no play?

Those of you who have PRL, do you notice any play?
Perhaps I'll call them on Monday.

[craig greene]

Well I just checked mine and I too have play of exactly 1 degree on the scale. Have not noticed this before you asked. I have had my PRL for about 10 months and it has always been dead on and I have had no ill effects from the play. If you do call Woodpeck, let us know what they say but I feel this little amount of play is normal.

[mreza Salav]

Thanks for checking. If this is their norm I'm a bit surprised, although that one degree of play is probably nothing.

[Van Huskey]

I also got one recently with the low price and had not installed it yet. I am seeing exactly what you are as well.

[Neil Brooks]

Mine comes tomorrow :(

I'll report in, as to whether or not I have the same thing, as soon as I can get that bad boy in place !

[mreza Salav]

I called Woodpeck and simply asked what the specs are regarding the amount of play in the locking mechanism; I explained that i get about 1 degree (on scale) of play and asked if this is normal. The lady wasn't sure what I'm talking about and told me she'll pass the question to the tech person. Got an e-mail today from her that they are sending me a new brake lock (and that's it).
I have to reserve my final judgment until the final conclusion but based on the responses here I'm not very optimistic that the new brake lock will make much of a difference (perhaps this is their "normal"). Will report back the result.

[Chris Padilla]

I've had my PRL for several years and I do have this play and it isn't a big deal. I wouldn't worry about it.

[Jim O'Dell]

I forgot to check mine this weekend...yes it has a little movement. And it just came back from repair recently. In fact, I don't think I've used it since then. About one mark on the dial, which, if I understand it correctly, is 1/1000th of an inch. It has never moved while using the router before. I've watched where it was on the dial when I started, and it has always been in the same place during and after use. Like Chris said, I don't see it as a problem. If it did move 1/1000th of an inch between parts, I doubt that we would know. Jim.

[glenn bradley]

I finally remembered to check mine. If I crank it up or down and remove the crank far enough to engage the lock but still be in the opening enough to crank it one way and then the other, I can move it about a lines-width. That is; if I stop with the marker just to one side of the index line, I can crank it to the other side of that same line and that's about it. Maybe a 10th of the distance required to go from one index line to the next as you describe.

Like Jim, I use the index mark to do incremental changes in bit height during procedures. I have never noticed it changing in use but the amount is so small I may just never have noticed. A full index mark I would definitely have noticed. I imagine the replacement lock should fix you but, be sure you are not applying any downward pressure on the spring loaded mechanism when testing; this would allow more movement than when completely disengaged. Please let us know how this works out.

[Van Huskey]

I installed it and used it quickly today and all is fine with me. I ran 4 quick dadoes and micced the depth and it stayed perfectly repeatable to the thou. I then moved it one "step" on the cursor on purpose and reran 2 more and the difference was clicking between 1 and 1.5 thou on a digital micrometer. So even if it does move mine doesn't seem to move between cuts (most important) and I just can't see it being any issue at all for ME. I am very happy with this as well as my other WP lifts.

[mreza Salav]

Good to hear you find it working fine. I'm far away from my shop and can't put it into test until summer. Just wanted to make sure it's not a lemon I got before a year goes by and I put it to test. I was just checking with them to see if this is within their normal spec's or not.

[Mike Harrison]

I've had my PRL for a few years. I checked and my results were same as Glenn's. I put up with a fixed base on a plywood top for years, and asside from just being stupidly frugal, I can't understand why I did that.

[Bob Elliott]

I noticed the play you describe when I bought my PRL in 2003. This is the problem with using a chain to raise the lift. There will be play.

I haven't noticed a problem with the play in the projects I built. Like Jim O'Dell said, if it moved 0.001" I probably woudln't know it. This is woodworking after all.

I used the PRL with a coping sled to make lots of cabinet doors over the years. They all fit perfectly including some taht were pre-drilled for dowels.

[mreza Salav]

I got that new brake piece they sent today but it doesn't resolve the problem. The problem is that the hex shaft of the brake piece (that has to be bottomed out before you can turn the crank) is too smaller than the hex hole that it goes into. That's exactly where the play comes from.

I know people say they haven't noticed any problem in using this and most likely I'm going to accept this as it is and move on; but this is a precisely machined piece and they can very easily fix this problem by just making the hex shaft of the brake a little larger (so that it doesn't have this much play in it).

I don't know if I should bother to tell them this given that the person at the other end of the phone doesn't understand what I'm talking about...

[Jim O'Dell]

Ask to talk to one of the techs. I think that they would appreciate the information. Jim.

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

I know I am a bit late on this (working overseas), but you are correct about the smaller hex shaft on the brake. I put some masking tape on (1.5 wraps) the shaft with a drop of oil and the problem was solved. It worked great until I decided to install the sidewinder. Hope this helps.