pariah223 Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 I am looking to buy a router table. I have been using my dads, but he has a cheap 50 dollar craftsman that is about as flat as a sheet of plywood. I was just wondering what you guys use as your router table. I am looking to spend between 100 and 150 dollars, so im not looking for anything crazy, just flat, sturdy, and durable. thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 I use a Bench Dog ProTop Contractor benchtop table. It's great, but if I had to do it over again, I'd just build one myself for less money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 this guy builds most of his own stuff and heres the router table he made I want one The Ultimate Router Table Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quarter Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 I've been thinking of building one myself, kind of like the looks of this Freud fence http://www.amazon.com/Freud-SH-5-Professio...r/dp/B00005Q7CN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Berserker Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 Benchdog ProMax. Extension on my cabinet saw. It is awesome, built like a tank and is, of course, a big space saver. Gil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pariah223 Posted March 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 i saw this one at lowes Bosch RA1171 its a similar cabinet style to the benchdog. laminated mdf top with an aluminum plate for mounting the router. 169.00 at lowes, so its not a bad price. ANyone use this guy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erikbojerik Posted March 22, 2008 Report Share Posted March 22, 2008 Craftsman! Mine is pretty flat, I have it mounted onto heavy-duty hinges bolted to the wall (studs), it flips over onto the shelf that sits in front of it. Sometimes wish the table were a bit larger, but overall I'm pretty happy with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Abbett Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 Old lime green cabenet with an old counter top section on top, with some channel for a split fence made out of mahogany I had laying around. Total cost was about 10 bucks for the knobs and channel at Rockler. Oh, the insert is a hunk of 1/2 inch plastic I got somewhere. My router came from harbor freight, it was 79 bucks for a 3 HP 1/2 inch router on sale. I've thought about replacing it over the years, but it does the job, and doesn't give me any problems. It doesn't always have to be fancy. Oh, I did build a plexi glass shield box to go over the bit and work piece. It's hinged to the fence. Safety first. -John If you want plans for a really cool router station, Norm of New Yankee built one a few years ago, it looks really nice. I've thought about it a few times. My brother built one. It's a project though, not quite as quick as my lime green crappy cab. with the mismatched blue counter top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 (edited) Rockler Router Table I recently grabbed this one while it was on sale and got a good deal. The problem is I had no room for a permanent router table and no room to even store one. So with this one, I built some little legs that I can disassemble quickly when I am done and the table can then be stored anywhere on its side. So far I have had no issues with it, works well and is a fairly decent size compared to some I priced at the time, 24" x 32". Its MDF, but is perfectly flat and works well enough for me. You could buy one with legs if you want, but it'd be much cheaper to make your own. With that setup you get a nice aluminum router plate. I was able to go pick it up from my local Rockler, so I didn't pay shipping and I bought it on sale for around $110 I think, I had never seen it that cheap before. I've seen many tables I would prefer, but as I said I have no room for a permanent table unfortunately and I didn't want a small benchtop style because I knew I would be working with guitar bodies and necks often for which I would prefer to have a decent sized table. Here is a pic of it, I was just making a binding laminator to glue some plastic bindings together, worked fine. Edited March 23, 2008 by jmrentis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fookgub Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 I have a Bosch RA1181. No complaints. The table is big and flat. Jointing fence works well. I drilled a hole through to plate to use with the above-the-table height adjustment on my router. Only annoyance is that it was a pain to level the plate with the table. You only need to do it once, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herrie Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 I usa a Jessem MAST-R-LIFT EXCEL™ router table. This was the best quality I could find and has a very nice height adjustment http://www.jessem.com/mast_r_lift_excel.htm Henny Guitargear.be Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted March 23, 2008 Report Share Posted March 23, 2008 I am looking to buy a router table. I have been using my dads, but he has a cheap 50 dollar craftsman that is about as flat as a sheet of plywood. I was just wondering what you guys use as your router table. I am looking to spend between 100 and 150 dollars, so im not looking for anything crazy, just flat, sturdy, and durable. thanks! Home made with the lee valley kit. The absolute best and cheapest around. http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=...,51208&ap=1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PunkRockerLuke Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 I use a tabletop router table I made off of a plan I found online. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 I've got a hole cut in my melamine topped double-MDF-base-layer workbench. And a phenolic plate from MLSC Woodworking. Nothing fancy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted March 27, 2008 Report Share Posted March 27, 2008 I've got a hole cut in my melamine topped double-MDF-base-layer workbench. And a phenolic plate from MLSC Woodworking. Nothing fancy. I wish I'd built my workbench before I bought the router table. Incorporating the router table into it would have been a big space saver for me. I still plan on building another, slightly shorter workbench for an "L" configuration...maybe I'll built the router table into that portion of the bench. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenspoke Posted April 6, 2008 Report Share Posted April 6, 2008 (edited) I have a Rousseau Table and plate. Its OK dont realy like the crown on the plate where the bit come out, it's a feature they say. Hasnt hurt just does not seem helpful. The table is solid all works fine. This is about 10 years old. My dream would be to replace my delta unisaw's right wing with a cast iron wing router table extension and combine the two. Or rebuild the wood extension table on the left side and add the router there. Last resort would be a new cast Iron router table or scrap the router table for a shaper. If you can find a good plate building a table is the easiest route since you can add better dust collection and storage for all your bits. Dreams can come true. Edited April 6, 2008 by Woodenspoke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick500 Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Finally got around to building a stand for my router table the other day. Now the top is flush with my workbench top... works out nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godzilla Posted April 12, 2008 Report Share Posted April 12, 2008 I built this one, it's pretty nice http://woodstore.net/benrouttab1.html I bought a Jessem plate for it In hindsight I wish I had made it a little bit larger. Steve Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denis Posted April 22, 2008 Report Share Posted April 22, 2008 I could never see the point in buying a router table. I used a 2 foot square piece of kitchen worktop (counter top), some 2 x 2 softwood for the legs. added a mounting plate from Trend and use a homemade fine height adjuster on my Makita 3612. It sits on top of a workmate at exactly the right height for me so I am not bending over it and doing my back more damage. Fence is made out of 18mm MDF with a hole that takes my dust extractor hose perfectly. Must have cost me all of £15 ~ $30 Just can't see what else I need a router table to do right now. When I do, I am sure that I'll just add it to what I have got Denis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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