Aluminum vs. Phenolic Router Plates?

[Vaughn McMillan]

This must be my weekend for router plate questions. :rolleyes: I'll make it uncharacteristically quick...

Is an aluminum router plate worth the additional expense? I'm looking at the Woodpeckers site and seeing a $40 difference between the aluminum and phenolic plates. Will I be dissatisfied with a $50 phenolic plate? (And yes, I know the gold anodized aluminum plate would go very nicely with the rest of the Incra stuff hanging off my TS. ;) Black would look nice, too.)

TIA -

- Vaughn

[Art King]

I mostly read here without posting - guess that makes me a lurker or something. Anyhow I have a phenolic plate in an otherwise very nice router table. I wouldn't choose it again as at least the one I have is built with a slight crown in it that adversely effects the cut accuracy.
Regards,
Art K

[Vaughn McMillan]

Thanks Art. (And welcome out from the shadows. Don't be a stranger. ;) ) I read somewhere else about people having problems with the crown in the Rousseau plates. Do you happen to know what brand yours is?

- Vaughn

[Norman Hitt]

Vaughn, I use both types and my phenolic plate also has a "Slight Crown", which has never affected my work, Buuuuuut......with the very close tolerances you work with in your projects, it is possible that it might be noticeable there, (I just don't know). With this in mind, it is possible that the aluminum plate "Might" be the better choice for your application.

[Kirk (KC) Constable]

The Rosseau insert is built with a slight crown. I've had a couple of them and never had any issues with the crown.

KC

[Allen Bookout]

I have the Woodpeckers aluminum plate with a Milwaukee 5625 bolted to it with no deflection at all and is dead flat. I am impressed at what a quality product it is. A phenolic plate might be Ok but with the aluminum one you will never have to worry no matter what you bolt to it. Allen

[Dave Falkenstein]

I have a Freud FT2000e hanging permanently in a Woodpeckers Plunge Lift, which includes the Woodpeckers aluminum plate. The aluminum plate has stayed perfectly flat for several years, and I never remove the router, except to change bits or collets.

[Steve Clardy]

I use rocklers alum. plates. 4 of them.

[Bruce Page]

Vaughn, I made my plate out of 3/8 aluminum plate. I use to have my PC 7539, 3¼ hp tank hanging on it and I had zero deflection. Go with the aluminum.

[JOHN E Tarro]

I have had both the Rosseau and the aluminum one you are looking at. The first was the Rosseau . . . The crown WAS a problem. Tne crown creted some real miserable problems. Someone was saying the crown was there because of the weight of the router . . . that would flatten it out. Didn't.

The Woodpecker is the one I am now using. I really like it.

[Tom Andersen]

I just bought a Rosseau plate that came on the mail a couple of days ago and it has a lot of crown (like 3/32") so I am not sure that I will install it. Seems that I have wasted some money. I don't want to make a hole in my router table for a router plate that I may not be satisfied with. Maybe I will buy a Woodpecker.

[Cecil Arnold]

Vaughn, I have the aluminum on a plung lift and no problems so I guess that's my vote. Art, don't be a stranger and welcome.

[Mike Goetzke]

Vaughn, I made my plate out of 3/8 aluminum plate. I use to have my PC 7539, 3¼ hp tank hanging on it and I had zero deflection. Go with the aluminum.

O.K. Now I'm curious - how did you make that plate????

Mike

[Stu Ablett in Tokyo Japan]

I've got the Rosseau plate in my table, it works great.....

http://www.ablett.jp/workshop/images/router_table/rt_finished.jpg

It did have a little crown, but I worked that out.

here is what you do.

Mount the router on the plate, loosely, so there is some gap between the plate and the base of the router.

Put the plate into the table, the the router hanging loosely from it, then tighten the screws up evenly.

I did this and the plate is perfectly flat, and I've had no problems with it at all.

Just my two yens worth!

Cheers!

[Mark Riegsecker]

I miss understood. I thought you meant a base for your router. But since I'm on that subject I replaced my bosch router plate with a clear one that I got on line from a guy by the name of Warner (Bob maybe).

Real good guy did a great job with the holes. If anyone needs one try him, it was flat unlike the original. He probably sells inserts for tables. I'm quite sure he uses cnc.


Mark

[Vaughn McMillan]

Looks like the majority recommends aluminum plates, although nobody's had any comments about the Woodpecker phenolic plate. It's machined, so I suspect it doesn't have a crown. Back to aluminum, does anyone have any experience with the Jessum Mast-R-Plate? It's aluminum with a "swiss cheese" insert in the bottom that's drilled for fit pretty much any router out there.


I miss understood. I thought you meant a base for your router. But since I'm on that subject I replaced my bosch router plate with a clear one that I got on line from a guy by the name of Warner (Bob maybe).

Real good guy did a great job with the holes. If anyone needs one try him, it was flat unlike the original. He probably sells inserts for tables. I'm quite sure he uses cnc.

Mark You're right Mark, Pat Warner has great stuff (he's a member here, too), but as far as I could find, he doesn't have mounting plates for a router table. I've learned a lot from his site, nonetheless.

Thanks all -

- Vaughn

[Art King]

Thanks for the welcome!
My plate is a Rousseau. Besides the crown it is also larger than any 3/8th." aluminum plates Iv'e been able to find. I've got a 3 hp. Bosch hanging on it and am concerned that a 1/4" plate is stiff enough. Would welcome some opinions here! - and thanks again.
Regards,
Art K

[Bruce Page]

O.K. Now I'm curious - how did you make that plate????

Mike
Mike, I once made my living as a prototype machinist. I also have some machine shop equipment in my garage shop ;). The two main tools used were my milling machine and a rotary table.
I have a box under the router table that I hook up my DC to; the DC does a good job pulling the chips through the holes and keeps it from starving for air.

[JayStPeter]

I would expect that the woodpeck phoenolic plate would be flat. They are 3/8" thick and should be pretty dang strong. The Rousseau I had was not nearly that thick and instead used some ribs on the bottom for strength. The crown was a huge problem for me, especially trying to do joinery with an Incra system. I moved on to a Woodpeck Al, then plungelift. The good news is that all the Woodpeck inserts fit into the same cutout. So, if you wind up not liking the phoenolic plate an Al one will just slot right in the same hole. You won't have to remake your table like I did when replacing the Rousseau. Plus, you can eventually upgrade to one of their lifts if you ever desire to do so. Based on the customer service dealings I've had with woodpeck, they'll probably help you out on the Al upgrade if you're dissatisfied with the phoenolic plate.

Jay

[tod evans]

vaughn, make your own plate from aluminum! no reason to buy what you have the tools to make:) 3/8-1/2 plate big enough for a router table shouldn`t cost you 25 bucks at the local metal store....02 tod

[Allen Bookout]

vaughn, make your own plate from aluminum! no reason to buy what you have the tools to make:) 3/8-1/2 plate big enough for a router table shouldn`t cost you 25 bucks at the local metal store....02 tod

tod, Even though it cost quite a bit, for me it is nice to have the twistlock ring option to be able to adjust the size of the hole when using different bits, especially with small pieces. It would be a bit of a job to try to duplicate the system. For others though, that do not find this a necessity, you might be right---cheaper to build if you have the equipment.

Allen

[Gilbert Vega]

I just bought a Rosseau plate that came on the mail a couple of days ago and it has a lot of crown (like 3/32") so I am not sure that I will install it. Seems that I have wasted some money. I don't want to make a hole in my router table for a router plate that I may not be satisfied with. Maybe I will buy a Woodpecker.

I had the same plate before I went to the Mast-R-Lift. What I did to eliminate the crown was to run it through the drum sander. Came out flat.

[Saul Harris]

I have a couple of the JessEm aluminum plates with the correctly-described swiss cheese subplate. I love the concept of the Mast-R-Plate. Not having to drill the plate (as you will with most phenolic plates) and with the Tab-Loc interchangeable inserts. It's great. I did have problems with flatness awhile back but solved that problem with a deadblow hammer. My plates are 2-3 years old. I don't need any more plates right now as I have finally purchased my digital lift for my router table.

In my never-to-be-humble opinion, if you choose to go with the Mast-R-Plate and buy it in person, open the box and check it for flatness with a good straightedge. I use a stainless steel Bridge City straightedge. Your retailer should not have an issue with you being careful to get a good one.

[Byron Trantham]

I have owned both the Rousseau and now the Woodpeck PRL. I hated the Rousseau. I could never get the rings out! The plate on the PRL is a dream. I've owned it several years now and it not given me any trouble.

[Andrew Shaber]

I have the rouseau. The crown made it almost impossible to set the bit height. Depending on where you applied pressure on the workpiece, you would get different depth of cut. And, different sizes of workpiece would definitely get different cut depths.

I spent an hour with sand paper and removed almost all the dish. I still need to spend a little more time. Now, the plate is nice and flat and works better.

The rings are really hard to get in and out and really hard to make perfectly flush to where workpieces don't catch on the edges.

[Dave Falkenstein]

Regarding the Woodpecker phenolic and aluminum plates - be aware that the removeable rings are not the same for these two plates. If you were to start with a Woodpeckers phenolic plate with the full ring set, you would need to replace the ring set if you later decided to go with a Woodpeckers aluminum plate or lift. In addition, all of the Woodpeckers lifts use an aluminum plate and the aluminum ring set. The reason I mention this is the ring set is not a small dollar item at $85 for the full 8 piece set for the aluminum plate or $60 for the phenolic plate ring set. If I were making the decision, and if I decided to go with Woodpeckers product, I would opt for the aluminum plate, if only because of the upgrade potential to a lift at a later time. The Woodpeckers twist lock rings are easy to install and remove and they are perfectly flush with the plate every time.