Anybody use a pin router very much?

[Rick Potter]

My dad and I were in a Sears outlet store in the 1980's and we each bought a pin router table for about $39. He used his occasionally to make marble games to sell at craft shows, but I have never opened the box on mine. They are decent, but not as good as the ones ShopSmith sold back when. It is like a drill press with a router on the top side.

I now have his and made a dozen or so marble games 10 years back for Christmas presents, but haven't used it since.

Just wondering if I am missing something by not using it. What do you use yours for? How often? The only thing that comes to my mind would be cutting slots and being able to see what you are doing.

Thanks

[Matthew Curtis]

I had to Google what a pin router even was. So no I don't use one "very much".

[Bryan Cramer]

Never have used one. I think CNCs replaced them.

[Keith Outten]

Still trying to find the time to finish a new table for my pin router setup. I have been using a standard router table setup to edge prep solid surface ADA signs for years. The bearings on the router bits leave little area for adjustment and the dust gets in the bearings over time. When a bearing locks up it ruins the edge so the answer is an overhead pin router setup and a bit with no bearing. Production goes way up and failures cease to exist.

Can I use my CNC Router to do this edge prep, yes but I lose one row of plaques on every sheet because the gap between the rows is much wider than what I have now cutting the plaques out with a 1/4" straight bit. Since the material is very expensive and I average six twelve foot long sheets per job the cost savings outweighs the labor expense.

[Christopher Herzog]

I bought a delta and have yet to get a router in it. Love the concept and thanks for the pictures of the plaques. It is a tool that plans for and literature in general is few and far between.

Chris

[Mark Hennebury]

Not my photos, but you can see some of what you can do. This done on a large floor model industrial size machine.
I had and used one many years back in my furniture shop. I bought one a few years back and hope to get it running some time.



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[Stan Calow]

So basically a pin router works like a CNC without the computer? That sounds like something useful. Why didn't they catch on?

[Mark Hennebury]

They were the industry standard prior to CNC.

So basically a pin router works like a CNC without the computer? That sounds like something useful. Why didn't they catch on?

[Doug Garson]

So basically a pin router works like a CNC without the computer? That sounds like something useful. Why didn't they catch on?

More like a drill press with a router bit, the bit doesn't move the workpiece does. My 50's vintage drill press manual gives instructions on how to use it as an overhead router. Works pretty good, unlike a router in a table you can see the bit when routing and unlike a hand held router you don't need any support for the router base.

Looks like I should have Googled it first, it's not an overhead router, forget what I said.

[johnny means]

So basically a pin router works like a CNC without the computer? That sounds like something useful. Why didn't they catch on?

They caught on plenty, they were just not super useful without an extensive library of jigs and a need to make multiples of every thing. Basically, they were a production machine.

[Wes Grass]

And in the right circumstances, they'll out produce a CNC with ease. Much cheaper investment, but you gotta pay for someone to put work thru it.

8, 10, 12 years ago, whatever it was, I talked to an Onsrud rep at the Atlanta show. They had one on display I think. Maybe. I was thinking of adapting one for use as a router table, with a great spindle run by a nice quiet induction motor. But it looked like a bit of work to modify it for an elevation system like you'd normally have. They have stops that get set for depth, usually with multiple stops that can be switched in for different patterns. But not a simple crank and dial like a router lift.

The *really* nice thing about them is the bit drops below the table when you're not cutting. Kind of a necessity for the way they work, but a great safety feature for a router table.

[John K Jordan]

...
Just wondering if I am missing something by not using it. What do you use yours for? How often? ...

Can't much answer you question since I don't have one, but I did use one back in the late '60s when working in the woodcraft industries at Berea College. We made marble games too, hundreds, perfect for that. Not exactly challenging woodworking...

[Rick Potter]

Just to clarify, there are two types, both called pin routers. Some of the commercial ones had the pin on top, with the router bit in the table, like Keith's pic of his Veritas kit, and the commercial Onsrud.

Others had the pin on the bottom like the Rockwell commercial job with the motor and bit on top, and like most of the hobbyist models like the ShopSmith, and my Sears model.

The Sears model I have is a benchtop model, consisting of a melamine table with a pin sticking up, and a framework which holds a router above the table, and operating somewhat like a drill press.

As I mentioned in the OP, my only use of it was making marble games for Christmas one year, and I haven't taken it out of the shed since. My dad used it quite a bit for making multiples of simple plaques and games to sell at craft shows after he retired.

I just wondered if I was missing out on some use for it that I have not thought of. I suspect my Sears model must have been a real slow seller for the company. The only time I ever heard of the one we bought was the day we bought them at the outlet center.


PS: I found a pic of the two I have: Google Craftsman 25153 pin router. They also sold a kit to mount a router on a RAS arm.

[Bobby Robbinett]

I have been wanting one. The big Onsrud models can be had in my area for around $1,000 to $1,500 give or take. These things are production machines and run forever and are easily rebuildable if necessary. If you do a lot of profile work, especially on curves and such, a pin router is nice to have. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of uses for them.

[Ron Selzer]

Just to clarify, there are two types, both called pin routers. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx They also sold a kit to mount a router on a RAS arm.

I remember the one that fastened to a radial arm saw. Always regretted not buying one thought it would be handy mounted on a RAS with bad motor and used for dado's.

Ron