New Router Station - Quick Review of some Rockler Products

[Jim Becker]

Since the Sawstop PCS is leaving the temporary shop on Sunday so I have room for a very large crate arriving from Italy, I decided to "divorce" my Bench Dog cast iron router table solution from the table saw going forward. In a perfect world, I would have built a cabinet, et al, as a fun shop project. But this isn't a perfect world, so I opted to put together a solution from Rockler that was made advantageous by "Outlet" pricing on a steel stand that was clearly designed for my cast iron top and a 20% off coupon for the other item, the so-called "Dust Bucket". I've had a shop made box under the cast iron top since I bought it back in the mid-2000s, but it was poorly sized to work with a typical stand. It was also getting a little beat up from years of use on more than one table saw so "new" was appealing.

The stand, itself, is a pretty basic, but nicely designed product. It's not lightweight and assembles pretty easily with the included carriage bolts...it was easy to get square on the bench. The stand came with some sturdy levelers, but I opted to use the double-locking casters I had originally bought for the metal stand that my drum sander came with (the sander is on a mobile cabinet now) for mobility. They do raise the work level up a little higher than I'm used to but it's still a comfortable working height...maybe more comfortable with less bending. And wouldn't you know...the holes there to mount a router table top exactly matched the bolt holes on the bottom of the BenchDog top. A piece of scrap material made for a shelf at the bottom to hold things that need to be held when not in use...a more organized setup can be

The Rockler DustBucket is a very well designed product. If I had to say there is one thing that could be better, it would only be a way to get the rare earth magnet that secures the access door closer to the actual access door. But I i'm not worried about it popping open, especially when the DC is running. Assembly was very easy and straightforward with the provided instructions and fasteners. The "very blue" coating on the metal is pristine and clearly can take some abuse if that ever happened. The dust port on the box has provisions for both a 4" connection and a smaller hose connection for collection at the fence. There is also a "variable volume" air inlet on the box so you can fine tune performance...dust collection requires air to move the "stuff" so being able to control how much air is flowing is a valuable feature. The fitting is plastic, but was identical in diameter to the dust port on the PCS saw, meaning I could reuse the quick connect machine adapter from that tool on this router table.

Now Rockler is clear on their website in the "fine print" that the DustBucket is not "compatible" with the BenchDog cast iron top. That's true for the top "as is" because there are no flat surfaces to screw the mounting plates on the DustBucket to the bottom of the cast iron top. That's not difficult to deal with, however...some scrap plywood, double stick tape to help keep things in place while drilling and countersinking for some screws and the problem is solved.

So here's a brief pictorial including adapting the top for the DustBucket and getting things all assembled. Both of these products are "worthy", IMHO...especially when they can be scarfed for a sale or coupon benefit.

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[Steve Jenkins]

Very nice. Looks like it will work well

[Eric Arnsdorff]

Jim I definitely agree with your Rockler Dust Bucket review!

I’ve been very pleased with Rockler’s Dust Bucket. I ordered it a couple of years back when they had it on sale and wasn’t sure how well it would work. Much to my pleasant surprise it is extremely efficient at dust collection and allows easy access to my router for speed control.

My router fence is connected to it as well and it often can get all of the dust when routing. Some uses with the fence backed away some and small clearance around the but it will leave me chips to cleanup but even then it’s better than I’d expect.

I’ve seen where people discuss potential motor issues by putting your router in the box. However, I’ve never had any issue even after long runs. I have placed my hand on the router housing to check if it is hot and it is always at an expected temperature and never hot.

[Jim Becker]

There really should be no heat issue with the router in such a well designed box as there is plenty of air flow...the box is vented and the DC is generally always running. In fact, it may have better heat extraction from air flow "in the box" than out in open air because of the DC.

I rarely use a connection to the fence, but it's available should I decide I want to. The air flow down through the table opening is pretty darn "up there" and the tooling I most often use in the router table doesn't block the air flow, either.

I think that the singular disadvantage of the DustBucket over my previous enclosure is that the metal likely will dampen noise less than the plywood did. It will be interesting to "hear" the next time I need to do some table routing.

[Jack Frederick]

So often it isn’t the result, but the method of doing the work. I look at your mounting of the box prior to mounting the plate and think of my install. I fabricated my own box after I cut the rails and all on my SS. As I was in such a hurry to get the plate on I had to crawl around under the table to mount the box and it is not the most accessible work space. Meathead!
It is interesting to see how Rockler has become so dependent on their own brand of accessories. More and more of the store is dominated by the store brands. Makes sense from a margin standpoint and really what are they there for but now I have no place to go and look at an Incra or other tool. I have not been disappointed with their products.

[Jim Becker]

Jack, it seemed just natural to "infill" the bottom of the cast iron top between the ribs to take care of the "problem". While I did have to drill and countersink a few screws through the top to secure the infill to the table, cast iron is easy to work and nothing looks out of place. Not shown in photos, but I temporarily screws some boards on the bottom of everything after using the double stick tape to hold the infill in place so I could flip the top and drill from above. That really held things together nicely! The DustBucket has mounting holes that are "keyholed" so there was less of a strain attaching it after the top was on the stand. I was able to do that sitting on a low stool without crawling under since the screws were already in place. Slid it over the screw heads and then tightened them with the drill/driver.

Woodcraft also pushes "house brands" for many things and has for a long time, although certainly not to the extent that Rockler does. I really hadn't bought anything from Rockler in many years but with an actual store that's "only an hour away" (pretty much the same for Woodcraft, honestly) a stroll through that new store a few weeks ago made me see some interesting things to consider. They do seem to put some quality into many, if not all, of their branded products. I've also found it nice that they are supporting quite a few makers out there who are doing content...it's good marketing and folks are seeing things in action they might not have known about. Not all of the products excite me...'been doing this woodworking thing long enough to avoid that...but some products actually do impress me. One example is their drill guide. It's nicely made as should be expected and reasonably priced for what it is. And they made it compatible with both "regular" 1/4" hex as well as Festool's Centrotec system. The latter accommodation stood out to me as a Festool user who likes the Centrotec system.

[Greg Quenneville]

That’s a tidy looking table Jim-well done.

A note on cooling and dust collection: I had to do a lot of work on MDF using only the big dust extractor connected to the closed box where the (Triton) router lives. Never had an overheat problem, but I did choke the router with fine dust since it almost all gets pulled right through the router. I then had a vacuum connected to the fence as well and didn’t have nearly the problem afterward.

Greg

[Aaron Inami]

I always love a cast iron top. If I ever did another router table, I might go this direction.

[Jim Becker]

Aaron, it was a very good tool investment, IMHO. It's strong and stable for sure and as strange as it may sound, it just plain "feels good" to work with. I do wish it was much larger, however. That's the downside to the divorce from a table saw. I had it on my previous slide and over the last year, on the end of the PCS in the temporary shop. But for flexibility reasons, I'm going to keep it as a separate station in the new shop building and not put it on the new slider.

[glenn bradley]

Nicely done. I have a router top on a Rockler stand and it is just fine. As you mention, not flimsy at all, stout and very workable.

[Jim Becker]

Nicely done. I have a router top on a Rockler stand and it is just fine. As you mention, not flimsy at all, stout and very workable.

UPS dude left the box on the front porch and my eyes literally bugged out when I went to pick it up to take to the shop. LOL The use of the carriage bolts really adds to the strength, IMHO, lets the assembly be "really close" to square before one even does the "squaring up" process.

[Alan Lightstone]

... I do wish it was much larger, however.

I have the same wish on my MLCS cast iron router table, especially in front of the bit, but I do love that it's cast iron.

I went through the effort of building a heavy duty Norm type of router table with some modifications. Took lots of work, and dust collection definitely needs improvement. It looks like your Rockler solution works much better in that regard.

[Jim Becker]

I have the same wish on my MLCS cast iron router table, especially in front of the bit, but I do love that it's cast iron.

I haven't seen theirs up close, but may go to their "Grand Opening" in the new location that's coming up.

I went through the effort of building a heavy duty Norm type of router table with some modifications. Took lots of work, and dust collection definitely needs improvement. It looks like your Rockler solution works much better in that regard.

I had a cabinet "losely" (and I do mean losely) based on Norm's design that was made from an old microwave cart. This was pre-cast iron top, but was a functional router table for sure. That cabinet design is quite functional

[Thomas Wilson]

I have the same wish on my MLCS cast iron router table, especially in front of the bit, but I do love that it's cast iron.

I went through the effort of building a heavy duty Norm type of router table with some modifications. Took lots of work, and dust collection definitely needs improvement. It looks like your Rockler solution works much better in that regard.

If your dust port is on the back of the router compartment, a baffle between the router and the port to direct air across the floor of the router compartment helps a great deal. Space the baffle 1 1/2 to 2 inches from back wall and leave 1 inch gap at the bottom. Baffle should be sealed at top as well as possible. The air flow should sweep across the bottom of the compartment. A pinwheel air control on the front like Jim’s Dust Box or a row of holes at the bottom helps. My router table plate came with a set of slotted inserts to provide some downward flow around the router bit. Something like that helps too.

[Dan Rude]

I too went with a Rockler stand like this when I upgraded a while back. I had the older silver box and liked the new design that I returned it for this one. I also bought the Incra Rockler Lift. I really like the magnetic mounted inserts and the dust collection inserts with it. The selling point also was no need to buy adapter rings for the different routers. I don't have the cast iron top, on my future list. I built a cabinet similar to one in the Woodworkers Journal a while back. I found a almost new condition Big PC router for it. Had to buy a housing for it and fabricate a switch because it was a plunge Router without the plunge. Enjoy, Dan