you guys who clamp a sheet of wood down for a router table....

[Brian Sommers]

I've hear of real easy router "tables" by clamping down a small piece of ply and then mounting your router under that.

But then, how do you control depth/height of cut? Just adjust it manually and remount? I would think that would get old very fast.

[Jerry Wright]

Adjust the same way you do on a router table without a lift- reach under , loosen and raise or lower. My first router tables were open sided wooden boxes with the router hanging under a hole in the middle. Fence was a straight board, with a routed cove made by the bit of choice. Fence held in place by clamps. Works fine, just not as flexible as a fancy table.

[Garth Almgren]

My router "table" is the extension wing of my table saw. Adjust height by loosening the wing nut on the router base, and then twist the motor in the base to raise and lower.

[Brian Sommers]

That is what I thought but I managed to start over thinking it, like usual.

[Mike Ontko]

Similar story and method as described in the preceding posts, except that I've got a Bosch RA1171 benchtop router table. Adjusting the height of the fixed base router that I'm using (A PC690) is done by unlocking the base height adjustment and twisting to the desired bit height/exposure.

[Thomas Canfield]

My router "table" is the extension wing of my table saw. Adjust height by loosening the wing nut on the router base, and then twist the motor in the base to raise and lower.

I actually have a router insert plate on both sides of my table saw wings made of melamine. The plate was easy to route the hole for by clamping boards around the plate and using a top bearing router bit to cut the depth. Adjusting router is easy by just lifting router mounted to plate out of the table. The table saw fence can be used with router, but I did also add some track to mount a router fence, feather boards, etc. The same would work in a loose plywood board to be clamped down.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Well duh, you buy a $600 router lift :D

My BOSCH has decent adjustments that you can do with it. I did, however, eventually just guy a router lift and I installed it into a side thing on my table saw.

[John Vernier]

Using a router table without a lift can get old pretty fast, but it wasn't so long ago that that was the only option for most people. I took woodworking classes at Palomar College in 2003, which had and still has an outstanding shop, and I think they acquired their first router lift that year. I recall all of the router tables had wooden wrenches to help tighten the bolt on the PC690 base screwed to the bottom of the table. All that bending and stooping keeps you limber, right?

[Malcolm McLeod]

There are (at least) a couple of router bases that allow above-the-table height adjustments with Allen-style wrench inserted thru the table. I've not shopped, priced, or read reviews, but I assume they must be cheaper than a router table and/or lift?

[Doug Hepler]

Brian,

Similar to Mike Ontko, I have a router table and a PC690, without a lift. The router base is the fixed base, not a plunge base. I un-clamp the motor, adjust the height, re-clamp the motor. I have had this setup for about 20 years. It works very well for me, including setup for drawer lock and lock miter joints, which I suppose are the most demanding height adjustments one would need. Sometimes I have to accommodate to the limited range of height adjustment, which is probably more fuss than I would have to do if I had a lift. IMO a router table is a great convenience but a router lift is unnecessary. Given the expense of a good one, I would say that it's somewhere between an expensive luxury and a waste of money.

Doug

[Matt Day]

I've got a table saw extension router table. Melamine sheet, router plate, and router raizer. Works great and a cheap and smooth working above table adjustments.

[andy bessette]

Adjust the same way you do on a router table without a lift- reach under , loosen and raise or lower...

This.
It just isn't that difficult.

[Dave Zellers]

This.
It just isn't that difficult.
It also isn't that accurate. As a professional, being able to reliably adjust a router setting by a few thousands of an inch, is a huge advantage over the back and forth, trial and error of the old way of fine tuning a router table setting. So much so that I am in the process of buying another Incra Master Lift II for my other router table.

The ease of changing router bits, and the minute adjustments on the fly easily justify the expense.

[John Sincerbeaux]

It also isn't that accurate. As a professional, being able to reliably adjust a router setting by a few thousands of an inch, is a huge advantage over the back and forth, trial and error of the old way of fine tuning a router table setting. So much so that I am in the process of buying another Incra Master Lift II for my other router table.

The ease of changing router bits, and the minute adjustments on the fly easily justify the expense.

"As a professional" ??? When I was in college, I worked for a "professional" cabinet maker in L.A. It was there I learned that a router is its own router table. Simply put the router in a vice upside down.
The base is the table. Round over bit with a bearing is all you need. In large production facilities, it is amazing what techniques guys come up with.

[andy bessette]

I can adjust my router just as accurately as you can with your high falluting Master Lift II. And just as fast. :) And I've been doing so since long before there was ever a Master Lift.

Seriously, all my work is on yachts. These jobs are some of the most demanding of precise fit and finish in the woodworking field. My ancient 3-1/2 hp Stanley router has a most excellent adjusting ring. When the day arrives that I can no longer do without a Master Lift II I will retire from woodworking.

[Marvin McConoughey]

Concur, Dave. We built our house and all the cabinets in it with a bare bones router setup under a temporary stand. Fine tuning took considerable time.

[Mike Kreinhop]

There are (at least) a couple of router bases that allow above-the-table height adjustments with Allen-style wrench inserted thru the table. I've not shopped, priced, or read reviews, but I assume they must be cheaper than a router table and/or lift?

My Bosch and Triton routers allow height adjustment through the router table. The Bosch uses a hex key (not included), but the Triton router came with a separate crank handle with an arbitrary dial for setting the height. I use a Wixey height gauge for accurate settings.

[Nick Decker]

The Bosch (1617) with the hex key does work, but it's liable to fail before very long due to the whole weight of the router hanging on a very flimsy split-ring washer. That can be fixed, but I never did feel it was a good long-term arrangement.

Even using a lift, I still rely on some sort of real depth measurement, whether it's set up blocks or whatever. The whole "one full turn equals 1/16" thing is just a ball park figure for me.

[Eric Rimel]

A router lift is 'handy'. I don't have one. To be of the mindset that you need a router lift to make anything is a great excuse to drop a wad of cash. Feel free. Work the way you want to. I'll just be over here with 4 or 5 table mounted routers doing just fine.

[Charles Lent]

I've hear of real easy router "tables" by clamping down a small piece of ply and then mounting your router under that.

But then, how do you control depth/height of cut? Just adjust it manually and remount? I would think that would get old very fast.

I have a real router table now, but many years ago, and again before I had a shop at my present location I had a piece of 3/4" plywood for a router table that I clamped to the top of my work bench when I wanted to use it. To adjust the router height, etc. I would just un-clamp the board from the work bench and set it on top of the work bench, then make the desired adjustments and then re-clamp the board to the bench. It worked very well, since I could both check the bit height above the board while at the same time reaching the router to make needed adjustments.

Charley

[Mark Wooden]

Dave Zellers


http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by andy bessette http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/buttons/viewpost-right.png (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=2686446#post2686446)
This.
It just isn't that difficult.



It also isn't that accurate. As a professional, being able to reliably adjust a router setting by a few thousands of an inch, is a huge advantage over the back and forth, trial and error of the old way of fine tuning a router table setting. So much so that I am in the process of buying another Incra Master Lift II for my other router table.

The ease of changing router bits, and the minute adjustments on the fly easily justify the expense.



Aww jeeze- thousandths?
I'm with Andy- it's pretty darn simple if you don't over think it. I use three different routers in two tables occasionally and don't have a lift on anything; I use what ever depth setting setup the router uses with exception of my Elu plunge router that has a threaded handle accessory for setting the depth.

And, as a professional, I use shapers for almost all the work one would use a router table for, and I don't fuss with thousandths- I make things the size they need to be using a simple steel rule. (KISS)

[Dave Zellers]

Sometimes I need two pieces to mate perfectly. Sometimes I am matching existing profiles. I like to take on challenging jobs that others shake their heads at and turn down.

So yes, thousandths. I got a chuckle from the post that said all you need is a router board clamped to a bench with a round over bit and a bearing.

[michael langman]

My Hitachi M12V adjusts from the top of the table with a 1/4" square drive nut driver. You have to reach under the table to unlock the motor from the body though.
If I had to raise a router very accurately then I would set my dial indicator on the cutter and zero it, then adjust, but 99% of the time the 1/4 turn adjustments are pretty accurate for most things.

[Rick Potter]

In olden days, 1990 or so, I made an entire kitchen with Oak raised panels etc., using my only router (PC690) and a bench top router table. It worked just fine, and the kitchen still looks great.

Nowadays, I have a couple lifts and really like them, but I still classify them as a luxury for a hobbyist, not a necessity. Great, if you can afford one, but you can do nice work without it.

Kind of like GPS on the car....really nice, but I can find my destination without it.

[Dave Zellers]

Yes, a total luxury. I spent over thirty years without one and now I'm thrilled to have it. It saves me a lot of time.

[Mel Fulks]

Some find the power router tables to be a necessity. I don't ,but I have found that some commercial shops tend to have ridiculously crude tables. I once asked where the router table was and was told it was under the saw table. Looked carefully and did not see it. When I enlisted more help from same guy he went over to a box of scraps and dumped them onto floor...yes , the box was the router table! Made my own from melamine and I keep a dedicated base in it ,must say it works much better than the kindling box - router table combo.

[Larry Edgerton]

I don't own one. Seriously have to examine my professional status.;)

[Mark Wooden]

i don't own one. Seriously have to examine my professional status.;)

:d :d :d :d


Good one Larry

[Dave Zellers]

I guess I committed a fox pass. :rolleyes: Simply meant it saves me time AND improves accuracy which moves the project forward faster.

I also consider my Veritas medium shoulder plane a luxury but don't ask me to go back and work without it like I used to!:D

[Leo Graywacz]

Some find the power router tables to be a necessity. I don't ,but I have found that some commercial shops tend to have ridiculously crude tables. I once asked where the router table was and was told it was under the saw table. Looked carefully and did not see it. When I enlisted more help from same guy he went over to a box of scraps and dumped them onto floor...yes , the box was the router table! Made my own from melamine and I keep a dedicated base in it ,must say it works much better than the kindling box - router table combo.

I'm one of those professionals who doesn't own a router table. Pc of 1/2" plywood that I screw a router to and then screw a fence to the top. Most any routing I do is hand held. I have 3 shapers so a router isn't a necessity.

I did however recently buy a router plate because I got 2 new Bosch router kits. Each with a plunge and a fixed base. So now I'll take one of the fixed bases and use it for the plate. Eventually I'll build a real table for it.

[Dave Zellers]

I have 3 shapers so a router isn't a necessity.

Before I even got to this part I was going to say, yeah but how many shapers do you have? :)

Lots of different kinds of woodworking out there.

[Rick Malakoff]

I don't own one. Seriously have to examine my professional status.;)

I bought one, oh wait a minuet it's a Porter Cable laminate trimmer, does that count. Well every once in a while I take it out and turn it on to see if it works and it has for over thirty years.
Just about everyday I think of ways not to use a router, but thats just me, and certainly no offense to you out that make a living with them.
Rick

[Dave Zellers]

Just about everyday I think of ways not to use a router, but thats just me, and certainly no offense to you out that make a living with them.
Rick
Ha ha, certainly no offense taken here. One of the biggest benefits for me since I joined SMC, especially through the Neanderthal forum has been pulling me into using more hand tools. But a router table or two continues to be a necessity for what I do. But my goodness, they are screamers. The closer I get to retiring the closer these are to getting retired.

[Jerry Miner]

Screamers. My routers used to be pretty loud. I barely hear them any more---but, then, I barely hear anything any more. I wonder if they're related....?