Router tables Needed or simply wanted?

[Juicegoose]

Guys I'm pretty new to doing woodworking on my own and have been in the sponge phase of collecting up some tooling and more importantly knowledge. The most recent wood talk online had a good question brought on by some fellow guild members in the use and need for a table saw. This got me thinking about the use and need for a router table in the shop. I'll be the first one to admit that of all my tools in the shop the router is the one I'm least comfortable with! Something about it's ability to ruin your work very quickly and the limited amount of control that you can place upon it. Call me crazy( I dare you!) but it's just my feelings. Now I realize that for most projects there are alternative tools to do most jobs but in sticking strictly with routers how has having a router table increased your confidence and overall sense of safety in your shop? Was it enough that you felt it justified the cost? Additionally, just like the poll asks, how has having a router table changed the way you've been able to work wood. It seems to me that having a table would open a lot of doors that without one I would simply go a different route in the interest of safety. Chime in guys I'm all ears.

[Beechwood Chip]

I voted, "I bought the whole setup lift, fence, table EVERYTHING", but it's a little misleading. I don't have a lift, and the package I bought was inexpensive, from Home Depot. I forget what I paid, but back then I thought spending $100 for a tool was a major investment, and this was not a major investment.

I'm doing it over, and this time I'm going to make everything except the lift.

[Juicegoose]

Thanks for the reply beachwood. Whats your plan for your next router table?

[Jerry_in_SD]

First time you need to raise a panel. First time you need to route on narrow stock -- you will want a table. Router only has 30% efficiency as a tool without one -- IMHO.

[Beechwood Chip]

I talked about it in this thread.

I'm planning to start with a top made from two sheets of 3/4" MDF, sitting on sawhorses with a bucket dust collector (I use a plastic 5 gallon bucket with a hole in the bottom for a shop-vac). Later on, I'll build a cabinet and better dust collection. I haven't decided whether to glue on a top sheet of melamine, formica, aluminum, etc, or just finish the MDF with something protective. I figure I'll build a fence with dust collection out of MDF or melamine. I have some T-track left over from other projects, and I also have a router bit for making T-track. McMaster-Carr sells T-track more cheaply than I've found in "woodworking" stores.

I'm aiming for something sorta like this.

I would have used my table saw extension, but the way my shop is laid out it's not convenient.

I probably would have bought a router table, except that I bought a lift, and the lift comes with a plate, and the plate is the most expensive part of the table.

I may just cut a new opening in my existing router table for the new plate/lift.

[Dave]

I have a Benchdog cast iron router wing attached to the right side of the table saw. It came with the table, insert plate and fence. It's fitted with plunge router underneath so I don't have a lift. I use the table more often (by a large margin) over routing by hand. My favorite router, yes i have a favorite, pretty much stays in the router table. There are some processes that i know i could never do by hand.

[Juicegoose]

Ya the need for table is what brought on the post. The wife is wanting me to put in some cabinets in the utility room. Naturally she likes the look of raised panel doors. So naturally a need is present, whats a woodworker to do? Buy a new tool of course!!!

[PaulMarcel]

Hey, crazy,

There are a lot of router operations that could be done with a hand router or router table. All a matter of preference. Running long molding is infinitely easier with a table, though you could do it by hand after building a stable base or creative use of edge guides.

I don't have a lift and can't justify the $400 for the PRLv2 Side-Winder lift from Woodpeckers.

If your router comes with a plunge and fixed base, you can make a table very easily with some MDF, laminate, and a fence made of hardwood with a "router table dust collection" connector like they sell at Rocker for $14. There are nicer fences (Wonderfence?) but that can be added afterwards with little or no wasted money tossing out the hardwood fence.

If you are doing raised panels, you definitely want a table. Bits like that would be scarey by hand.

[Bobby Slack]

I bought a Freud ... (yes is my only non Festool router) ... I invested on a Freud router (3-1/2HP I think) with the table, the lift, the fence, etc.

The problem I see with this router table in my messy garage is the space required and I saw this post at http://jerrywork.com/ - click on "Tutorials" - Click on "Installing a router on a Festool Multifunctional Table The easy Way".

This is what is going to replace my router table and gain 2' x 2' of space in my garage. Since I have three MFT's side to side, I will go for this system and I have the advantage of having the entire table to put long pieces.

A router table comes in handy, at the same time, last time I used was a year ago. I prefer using the routers free hand.

I have not done too many cabinet doors. I made a couple of entry doors all with the handheld routers and the high priced Plexiglass Festool attachment.

[Onboard]

... and I saw this post at http://jerrywork.com/ - click on "Tutorials" - Click on "Installing a router on a Festool Multifunctional Table The easy Way".

This is what is going to replace my router table and gain 2' x 2' of space in my garage. ...

Bobby, I went through the links you provided and discovered that the link to click on is called “Mounting routers and other devices in the space between two MFTs or MFT-2s”. When you click on that link and open the pdf, then you see the title “Installing a Router on a Festool Multi-Function Table - The Easy Way!” Just a clarification. By the way, thanks for the great link for “The Dovetail Joint” website. I couldn’t imagine owning that many tools with the name “Festool” on them. Beautiful stuff!

[Bobby Slack]

I am glad you liked the link. I have a bunch of Festool (Marc's fault ... I have to blame somebody ... it was not me pulling out the credit card )

You are correct about the pdf format. Jerry Work has a lot of great stuff on his website and I like his approach, like Marc's ... the right tool for the right application, whether is plugged or unplugged.

Bobby, I went through the links you provided and discovered that the link to click on is called “Mounting routers and other devices in the space between two MFTs or MFT-2s”. When you click on that link and open the pdf, then you see the title “Installing a Router on a Festool Multi-Function Table - The Easy Way!” Just a clarification. By the way, thanks for the great link for “The Dovetail Joint” website. I couldn’t imagine owning that many tools with the name “Festool” on them. Beautiful stuff!

[Juicegoose]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I do currently own a pc690 with the plunge base and might just look into taking some mdf or a scrap of solid core door I own and mounting the router underneath it. Isn't the Triton series of routers great for not needing a lift plate or anything? Thought I remembered seeing it used like that at a wood show once.

[knotscott]

I bought the router and fence, and made the table...no lift.

[Beechwood Chip]

The Triton has a good reputation of going into a table - it's comes with a crank and the plunge mechanism converts into a lift. I was going to go that route, but then I picked up a JessEm Masterlift cheap.

The Triton still needs a plate, although I've heard of people just clamping the router base directly to the underside of the table.

[Bombarde16]

I had one as part of my last table saw. That feature went on to its eternal reward and I do sometimes miss it. But I've adapted and have found ways to work around its absence. Panel raising, for example, I'm happy to do with cove cuts at the table saw. Bear in mind that a massive panel raising bit is happiest in a massively powerful router anyway, a separate issue from whether or not the machine is mounted in a table.

[mlehikoinen]

I made my table and fence, but didn't buy a lift, nor do i have one. I can lift my router out of the table and adjust the height manually as the router is attached to a Freud table insert. I just took the springs off my plunge base to make it easier to adjust. I would love to have a lift, but it's just not in the budget right now.

[BillN]

In one of my books I remember the note "never use a panel raising bit in a handheld router" I guess it's too hard to control. Several years ago, before I knew what I was doing, I bought a router table with a lift. Since this is a hobby for me and not a business I didn't have to justify the cost from that standpoint. Looking back, I probably shold have waited a year or two for my skills to be as high as the capabilities of the table. That said, I have never regretted the purchase. As I was trying and not succeeding at some pretty simple projects, the router table enabled me to be successful when I needed to use it. A great woodworker with 30 years of experience can probably get great results with a pocket knife. Great tools can, to some extent, make up for those 30 years. As to safety, in some ways a router table is safer and in some ways more dangerous than a handheld router. Handheld means your hand is above the spinning bit. The router table puts your fingers near the business end of things. If you have a healthy fear of carbide spinning at 22,000 rpm there are many ways to avoid literally getting pulled in. If you get a router table and you can afford it, get a lift. But that should be after the building a decent work bench, and buying the table saw, bandsaw, jointer, planer, probably the chop saw, and maybe after a drill press. Once you get it you will think of lots of way to use it. My everyday example: I'm using the table saw to get some parts to the right size and I have to put a 3/4 inch groove in one or more of the pieces and then go back to the table saw. The very last thing I want to do is unplug the saw, take out the blade, play around with the dado set, take it all off again and then put the regular blade back in. Unless it just won't work due to length, I go over to the router table and throw a 1/2 inch straight bit in, set it to the right height, make a pass and then adjust the fence until I'm dead on the groove for 3/4" and then go back to the table saw. The groove is flatter than the table saw can make it and I can stop it if I need to. I could do the same thing with a handhled router, but it would take time to set up on my bench and then clear it off for the next use of the bench.

[Vic]

I've got a very simple fence I made out of some straight grain oak and mdf. It has slots in the main fence to allow the subfences to surround different bits. Super easy to build. My table consists of a piece of nice straight ply glued and screwed to a piece of mdf with the hole made for the Bench Dog router lift. I run a Porter Cable 7518 in it. The whole thing sits on a pair of saw horses. I made it back in my old shop which was a very tight space and I needed my router set up to not take up any space. Now that I have a nice space, I plan on installing the router lift in an outfeed/assembly table and using a T-track fence system. I use the router mostly for following patterns. One of these days, I'll buy William Ng's monster flushing bit.