Router Table Plate

[Charles Wilson]

I decreased the number of items on the "honey do" lists and have a breather to work on my Norm router table again.

Looking at all for the router plates that I can buy and am looking for suggestions. I am considering a "lift" (from Rockler) vs a standard plate.

Any information and thoughts in general that any of you would care to pass on in terms of my situation would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Chuck

[Bill Fleming]

I prefer the plates and lifts from Woodpeckers - the nice thing that is unique to some others (not sure if still true) is that regular lift-less plates are the same size as the lifts and that way are interchangeable. This means you can start with a regular plate and later upgrade or have a separate setup in its own plate.

I have found more flexible and there products are first class.

[Dewey Torres]

Charles,
The router plate sold by Rockler is manufactured by Jessem. They make some of the highest quality lifts ans plates out there and it would be hard to go wrong.
They make the Rout r lift/fx/ Mast r lift
They also make the lifts for another good company called Rousseau
The Woodpecker lifts mentioned are very high quality as well.

If you are going by quality, any of the above brands are going to be great...
Now you will have to decide on price and material. (Phenolic, Aluminum, etc.)

Phenolic is a hard plastic and is the cheaper option when compared with aluminum but if you get one, make sure it is anti-sag.

Good luck on your search. Below link should get you off to a good start.

http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGkk8t831I9oEBOSRXNyoA?fr2=sg-gac&sado=1&p=router%20lift%20review%20comparison&fr=yfp-t-501&ei=UTF-8

Dewey

[Gary Lange]

I just ordered that Plate, Template, and bit from Woodpeckers. I like the looks of there lift and the fact that I can upgrade to it later. Thanks to Bill Flemming for that little tidbit of information. It gave me the direction I wanted to take.

[Charles Wilson]

What plate did you order?

Chuck

[Peter Stahl]

I bought the Woodpecker lift for my Hitachi. Also got a plate for my PC oscillating sander and they are interchangable in the cutout. Woodpeckers is a nice company to deal with too.

[Julian Wong]

The lexus of router plates would be the benchdog pro-lift. If you can spend the $.

I like the woodpecker plates/lift because they use interchangable inserts that lock in well. Rockler inserts are held in place by screws in and IME, either the inserts are not made properly or the plate is not milled properly. Sometimes the insert sits in the rabet too deep and there is a lip which will catch your wood if you're not careful. The lip can be 2-3 buisness cards thick.

I had one rockler plate and returned it. Not too well made. The finish was also poor. there were scratches on the pate and the scratches were adonized in place.

This was my experience. others may have different experiences. YMMV

[glenn bradley]

I used Rockler plates for quite awhile. No complaints. I just picked up a Woodpecker PRL but have not modified the table top yet. The Woodpecker plates are 3/8" and Rockler's are 1/4". I had no problem with the Rockler even with a Mil 5625 mounted in it.

[Gary Lange]

I ordered this one http://www.woodpeck.com/aluminsert.html along with the Template and the router bit. It should work very well for me and later I can upgrade to a lift.

[Charles Wilson]

Why did you go with the standard plate instead of one with a lift?

This seems to be the point that I am getting hung up on. I would like to get the lift as it seems as it is just more convenient and (dare I say) easy to be more accurate. I am looking at the regular plate because of price.

Chuck

[Gary Lange]

I want a lift but don't want to spend the money right now. I want to get the system operational so I can build some cabinet doors for the wall cabinet I built for my shop wall. I also have a Rally for a boat website I belong to this next week which I am going to and in August I am taking the family back to Illinois for a visit. Those things will be costly especially the trip to Illinois with three adults to feed. I will get the lift later and went with this setup because the lift will be a drop in when I get it. It all boils down to money. If you can afford to go with the lift now that is the way to go.

[Dewey Torres]

Why did you go with the standard plate instead of one with a lift?

This seems to be the point that I am getting hung up on. I would like to get the lift as it seems as it is just more convenient and (dare I say) easy to be more accurate. I am looking at the regular plate because of price.

Chuck

Charles,
I can answer this one because for years I had the same Dewalt router you do now.
When I made the first table for that particular router I used a plan out of Bill Hylton's Router Magic (great book...buy it now!) to make the plate. At the time, due to budget, a "store bought" router plate and especially a "router lift" was out of the question. It served me well but I made it from 1/4 inch lexan and it did have some sag.
The sag was something I didn't notice at first (over a year or two) but once I did notice it I had to get something better.
I then went with a phenolic plate because I couln't afford a lift. A lift with that Dewalt is really not needed if you mount the router where you can reach it underneath because of the big yellow adustment ring that is used the make hight adjustments with the fixed base. Yes it is a hassle to bend over but the thing is pretty good when tweaked by the:

hand, eye, test cut method I must say.

Now that the budget finally allowed it, I bought a lift and have yet to install it... I bought the Rousseau lift for my Dewalt(s) because my old phenolic plate was built into my old contactor saw and I sold it with the saw.

Lift vs. plate:
The lift will allow you to make finite hight adjustments and bit changes from the top of the table without bending over ... that is the only advantage I can think of (with your setup) over the plate by itself.


Dewey