Router in saw wing or separate?

[James A. Wolfe]

In the process of setting up my shop and bought a new Steel City Tablesaw wit a 50" fence system. I don't plan on breaking down sheet goods on it but got the extra space on the fence for potentially adding a router. I've heard pros and cons from a lot of people who don't make sawdust but I'd rather get opinions who have tried the setup. I plan on getting a router lift and installing it in the extension wing of the saw. Any suggestions or personal experience?
Thanx,
Jim

[Jerome Hanby]

I think the only guaranteed down side is that one mode will probably interfere with the other. I hate trying to get a fence setting back to exactly the right spot and that could happen often with this arrangement...if it's your only router table. I have a similar setup, but the only bits I use in the setup are bearing guided bits. For any operation where I need a fence, I use my stand alone router table. This situation will change in the near future when I get my Incra Joinery system mounted on the table saw, but restoring fence setting should be much easier and things only really change when I'm using the Incra to route joinery.

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

Pretty much what Jerome said. I do not think you can go wrong with it. If it is you first router table it is an inexpensive way to go. If it is a second router table, it opens up possibilities and frees up time - for example, if you are making cabinet doors, you can set one for the rails and one for the stiles.

I have used this set up when I needed to make widow stools. The stool needed 3 cuts on the router table to match the existing profile I had in the house. The first two profiles from the different bits were dependent on each other. Having two tables saved a ton of time - I set up one profile and brought the test piece to the second table. Very quick

Anyway, if you do not have a dedicated table now, one in the TS is a good start. If you get a stand alone table in the future, the one in the TS will not get in the way of the TS operations for most of your work (I have never had this problem) - and you will have a second table when you need one. I really do not think you can lose doing this. And you can save (for now) for other shop purchases.

[ian maybury]

No experience with the TS-LS yet, but am mid install. As somebody pointed out to me recently a rip fence needs to hold its alignment very accurately - perhaps within a couple of thou over the diameter of the blade. The $1m question is whether it's possible to maintain this alignment - especially while changing between the routing and using the saw...

ian

[Robert Chapman]

I have an old cast iron router table on the right side of my Steel City cabinet saw and it works just great. I use mostly bearing guided router bits. I use a Triton router without a router lift - just the plunge on the router. Works great.

[Bill Huber]

I have my router in it's own table and a table saw. When I started to look at putting the router on the saw I just did not like the height of it. I like the router table higher then the table saw. Another thing for me was space, my shop is small and I have to move the saw around a lot and I just could not see me having the router there also.

The other thing with me is I am not very good at laying things out, I will saw up some boards, then do the routing and find I need another board to finish. I can leave the router setup just as is and go cut another board.

But I think it is all up to the user, what ever best works for them.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Consider putting router in left wing. Drill and tap a couple holes in either wing or saw top for fence. Yes I said drill and tap saw top. Remember it's YOUR saw! If you are doing some profiles that will be ripped off stock, this way you can run profile, then rip profile off stock without having to reset fences. Plus router table feed direction is same as for the saw. Build you own wing out of MDF, laminate and some stretchers. If you add an extreme extension to router then bit changes can be done above the table. If you are going to use a plunge router, then consider adding a "Router Razor." Be sure to orient it so height adjustment hole isn't under fence

[Allan Froehlich]

After having a router in the wing of my tablesaw for the past 5 years, I decided to build a dedicated router table. The table saw wings are precious space and should be kept bare. If you are meticulous when setting up your router, the setup in the wings will eat a large amount of your time in the long run.

[Guy Belleman]

Advantages to having the router in the tablesaw and in its own table. Actually I have both. For larger projects I like the dedicated table. For occasional, or small, projects, I like the router in the TS. The MLCS cast iron top with fence and 1/4" plate is what I plan to replace my current hodge podge with: http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/smarthtml/pages/router_table4.html Good luck.

[Jerome Hanby]

I have my router in it's own table and a table saw. When I started to look at putting the router on the saw I just did not like the height of it. .

Same here, except I also didn't like the height of the saw. I replaced the mobile stand with one I built. Now, it will not only roll in and out of the shop without a problem, it's a couple of inches higher. Suits me much better! My Freud router table out of the box did sit higher than my table saw (out of the box), so higher must be a pretty common preference.

[Jerome Hanby]

Consider putting router in left wing.

That's not a bad suggestion. My router wing was already on the left when I bought my saw, so I never thought twice about it until I saw the usual position was on the right. Mine has never been in the way, worse case has been I have to drop the bit height below the table, but even that is rare. If it was in the same position on the right, I'd constantly be having to lower or remove the bit to clear room to adjust the fence. When i bought my Incra TS-III joinery system, I bought the longest rails. One reason was so I could setup the router on the right, but far enough to the right to be out of the way. Of course with the way the Incra fence adjustment works, that doesn't help anyway <g>, but I do have long rails. One opf my goals for this year is to get those long rails out of their boxes along with the rest of the system and get it mounted!

[Curt Harms]

If you decide to put the router in the table saw extension, you might consider a second fence for the router. Unlike a saw fence, a router fence does not need to be precisely parallel to anything. I only have 27" to the right of the blade and can still rip 12" with the second router fence in place. I went this route because of space but a couple times I've used the 'other side' of the router and just reversed the fence. That way I had 30" of table on which to rest the work. Router table fences don't need to be sterling examples of the machinists's art, they just need to be flat, square and perpendicular to the table. The guys on PBS' Router Workshop use a piece of HPDE, I think. It is nice to have dust collection for edge work and I like to be able to adjust the bit opening to the bit size.

[Joe Hillmann]

I am had planned on putting my router in the wing of my table saw but in the last week or so I started using the router (in its own table) and realize that putting it in the tablesaw wing would be a huge pain in the but(I do a lot of ripping of sheet goods).

[Mike Henderson]

It all depends on how much space you have in your shop. I put mine in my table saw wing because there was just no room in my shop for a separate router table. But it's a pain because the two tools conflict (tear down one setup to use the other). Now that I have a larger shop, I'll build a separate router table (one of many projects to be done).

Mike

[Jim Finn]

I have my largest router mounted in my right hand table saw wing. I use it mainly for making raised panels and slotting. I have a removable wooden fence attachment made of a 4" x4" with the necessary recess cut into it. It is mounted on the "wrong" side of the fence. I made a round plug to fit over the router hole when this router is retracted to below the surface, so the router in the wing is never in my way. This set up works well for me. I once had a router table for my smaller router but I now have that smaller router mounted right in my wall mounted bench. I use this smaller router for round over mostly and it also retracts to below the bench and out of the way until needed. This way of mounting the routers takes up zero floorspace. Important in a very small shop like mine.

[Dan Case LR]

I've mulled over this question quite a bit for my own setup. To accommodate a stand-alone router table I'd have to eliminate a machine or two (not happening), change the table saw back ton the 30" rails (not desirable), or use a little bench-top table (also not desirable). In my case, the saw extension looks like the only viable option. If I had the space, I'd rather have a stand-alone router table--but that ain't happenin'.

However, if locating the router in the saw extension, I believe the best approach is a separate (removable) fence system for the router. For 99% of your table saw cuts, the router fence won't be in the way (unless you're in the habit of ripping skinny pieces from full sheets of plywood), and on those occasions when it's in the way it's easy enough to remove and replace.

YMMV.

D.

[James A. Wolfe]

Dan,
I agree with you but for different reasons. I'm getting a dedicated shop so room isn't an issue. Since I'm just starting the shop, tool crowding isn't an issue. I use the Incra fence for my routers and it's fairly mobile. The 52" rails on the new saw will give me tabletop real estate I've never had before and I rarely (if ever) break down full sheets on the table saw. I think I'm going to put the router in the top for now and if it gets to be a pproblem, there are a gazillion router table plans out there.

Thanx to all for opinions and insights.

Jim

[Don Morris]

My first TS had my router mounted to the right on an extension table. That was OK. I had no outfeed table at the time. I upgraded the TS and now have an outfeed table and a dedicated mobile router table. THe router table is built to the same height as the outfeed table. I think I now have the best of the combinations and haven't had any problems I couldn't manage with what I have..

[James A. Wolfe]

[QUOTE=Don Morris;"router table is built to the same height as the outfeed table.".[/QUOTE]
I think that's the right idea. The outfeed table, assembly table and future router table will all be the same height just so the can do double duty if necessary.
Jim