Jessem router lift questions

[John Piwaron]

Good Morning,

I'm considering a router lift to add to my recently (within the last year) constructed table. Specifically, I'm most interested in the Jessem Mast-R-Lift II

This isn't a particularly new design, I'm sure there are plenty of people that have one or have seen it up close. What do you think of it's build quality? Are there any known flaws/defects with it?

I bring that up because of my experience with Jessem's Miter Excel tablesaw miter gauge. A very nice gauge, beautiful in fact, with the serious flaw of being inaccurate for setting angles with it's hole system. While I know what to do to rectify that, I don't want a repeat experience with solving another underlying problem.

I'll probably have to order it via their website since I'd get the Rockler router plate size of 8 1/4" x 11 3/4". That's the size of the opening in my table. I anticipate that once I have a lift that I'd be unlikely to return to a simple plate, but I'm reluctant to discard plates I already have, and even more, risk trashing my top. You know how that is - the more work on a part, the higher cost it becomes in terms of material and time.

So, what's your experience with the Jessem lift?

[Prashun Patel]

I have had the Incra MastRLiftII for about 4 months now. I believe this and the Jessem are made by the same manufacturer. Mine is great. I like everything about it. If your Jessem doesn't have the magnetic insert rings, I'd suggest you look at the Incra instead.

[John Piwaron]

I have had the Incra MastRLiftII for about 4 months now. I believe this and the Jessem are made by the same manufacturer. Mine is great. I like everything about it. If your Jessem doesn't have the magnetic insert rings, I'd suggest you look at the Incra instead.

I saw that. The Incra page is one I visited this morning. That model appears to be identical to the Jessem unit. In fact, I'd bet a small sum that it's made by Jessem for them. I do like the magnetic rings, but the problem then is that the plate is 1" wider than my top will accept. That's what led me to the Jessem page.

It's a bit annoying that the size of router plates isn't standard and I just happen to have the size that's least common.

[Bill Huber]

I have the Master R Lift II and it is one hell of a left, it is made like a tank and works really smooth to raise a lower the router, I have the PC 7518 in my lift right now.
One of the big things with the MRL II is the fact you don't have to get a different collar when you change routers. I had a Bosch 1617 in the lift and then got the new PC 7518 and all I had to do was move some bolts and mounting brackets.

The lift does have an easy lock, you lock it with the same crank handle you use the raise and lower the lift. I have had NO problem with it at all.

When I got it I did a write up on it and it can be found here.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?149596-Jessem-Master-R-lift-II-%28long%29&highlight=Jessem+router+lift

[Craig Behnke]

I have the jesem mast-r-lift II. I also have a jessem dowel jig, and a jessem phenolic router table top. My experience with those jessem products has been excellent....they are over-engineered in a good way. They make their stuff thick, strong, and stable...and accurate and bomb-proof. AND, i think it's priced well relative to the other similar high quality products (e.g., incra, woodpecker)

overall i think they are outstanding. I can't speak to the product you mentioned, but their router lift is BEEFY, SOLID, ACCURATE, and extremely well made IMHO. Almost the entire mechanism is cnc milled from solid blocks of aluminum. The posts that the lift operates on are oversized and make for extremely smooth, stable operation. I have no idea what your intended use for the router is, so I can't guarantee the mast-r-lift will be the best choice for you, but assuming you're doing normal/standard woodworking, I have an extremely high degree of confidence you'll be very satisfied with their router lift.

The only thing I would change is the plate. I may switch to an Incra plate. Why? The ring insert system.

incra uses an insert held in with magnets as opposed to being screwed in. it's just a matter of ease of use that I think I'll prefer the magnet system...doesn't need a wrench. it's just different, not better/worse IMO.

just my 2 cents worth.

***EDIT*** I edited my post from earlier because I wasn't positive about the plate leveling system that I spoke of. I removed those comments.

[glenn bradley]

It's a bit annoying that the size of router plates isn't standard and I just happen to have the size that's least common.

I had to expand the opening on both of my tables to accept the lift I chose. Few of us were lucky enough to just happen to pick the plate size that our eventual lift would require. I would pick the lift you want, then fit it to your table is possible.

[Prashun Patel]

This might be more work then you wanna do, but you can buy the router table template ($13) and then re-route the opening in your table.

I bet you're right on the "made by Jessem" guess. The manual I received was actually a Jessem manual.

[John Piwaron]

Thanks all! Looks like this is a good device. I'll order on their page for the plate size that fits my table.

The miter gauge I mentioned - Jessem doesn't offer it for sale any longer. I traced it's problem with precise angle adjustments to the fit between the steel dowel pins they use to engage the drilled holes in the plate at the bottom. Although a dowel pin has very tight tolerances for size, drilled holes do not. It's that slop of only a couple of thousandths that get amplified through the system resulting in not perfect angle settings.

Since it's an otherwise excellent piece of equipment I'm going to modify my gauge to solve that issue.

[William C Rogers]

I have/had the original Rockler FX. This one is made by Jessem and was a phenolic. I didn't have any problems with it at all. No sag. Not pushing phenolic over aluminum as aluminum is probably better in the long run, but this works for me. I have a Bosch 1617 so it was fine for that size router. I went and bought the Jessem Rout-R II which is also phenolic just because of price. My first point is I think Jessem make a good lift. You said you had the phenolic Rockler table. The Incra lift I am pretty sure is made by Jessem has the magnetic insert plates and is aluminum. You can buy that from Rockler or Amazon for $299 and I think both have free shipping. Note Amazon also has the larger 9 1/4 size, but that one is a higher price.

Bill

[Cyrus Brewster 7]

I saw that. The Incra page is one I visited this morning. That model appears to be identical to the Jessem unit. In fact, I'd bet a small sum that it's made by Jessem for them. I do like the magnetic rings, but the problem then is that the plate is 1" wider than my top will accept. That's what led me to the Jessem page.

It's a bit annoying that the size of router plates isn't standard and I just happen to have the size that's least common.

John... rockler has the Incra Mast R Lift II for $299 shipped. it will fit your table. I have a Bench Dog wing that just received the same lift last week.

[John Piwaron]

John... rockler has the Incra Mast R Lift II for $299 shipped. it will fit your table. I have a Bench Dog wing that just received the same lift last week.

Thanks. It'll fit my table without modifying the width of the opening, it uses the magnetic hole adapters, the adapters are included with the lift and it's on sale. The total came to $61.44 less than had I ordered it directly from Jessem. I ordered it from Rockler via Amazon.com and avoided paying for shipping too.

How sweet is all that? Good advise and a very helpful pointer to the low price. Wow. What an awesome group this is.

[John Piwaron]

My order of the Mast-R-Lift arrived yesterday. Though it's got the Incra logo on the top, it's made by Jessem. There's a Jessem manual for it in the box.

So far, it's awesome. Silky smooth operation, it appears to hold the router (Bosch 1617EVS) securely. It's in my table now. But that's all I can say at the moment.

Thanks again for the helpful advise.

[Michael Mayo]

Great lifts. I went through the same thing last year and the kind folks here helped me decide to go with the Incra/Jessem lift with the magnetic inserts which really are convenient. I just put a PC 7518 in mine after having my Bosch 1617 in it and it took less than 5 min. to make the swap. It holds the massive PC router like it wasn't even there so it is very well designed and strong.

[Steven Hsieh]

So far Lee Valley has the cheapest price.
But you already ordered.

Congrats on your purchase!!

[John Piwaron]

I had to deal with my table using the Rockler plate size. So I needed the lift to be that size if I didn't want to make a modification to my table. Incra sells a version of the Jessem lift with that size. I got it through Rockler via Amazon. The price I paid matched that Lee Valley price, included the magnetic insert plates and had free shipping. I simply couldn't beat that deal. Tonight I'll rout some wood and see how it performs.

[Gary Muto]

My order of the Mast-R-Lift arrived yesterday. Though it's got the Incra logo on the top, it's made by Jessem. There's a Jessem manual for it in the box.

So far, it's awesome. Silky smooth operation, it appears to hold the router (Bosch 1617EVS) securely. It's in my table now. But that's all I can say at the moment.

Thanks again for the helpful advise.

Congratulations, You got a great lift. The Incra inserts make it the best of the Jessem variants in my opinion. I have the Rockler FW and the Incra Masterlift II. I hesitated on trading up but it was worth it!

[Kelly Colin Mark]

Way late, but I wanted to point out that the Mast-R-Lift II does not have the built-in dust port that the Mast-R-Lift Excel II has. I had an older Jessem Mast-R-Lift (Excel II I suppose) and bought a Mast-R-Lift II a while later. I only took the latter out of the box recently and was very surprised to discover that, which I have since confirmed with Jessem. I don't really understand the omission as they almost hide the fact the Excel II has it. Hope that might be useful to someone.