Axminster adjustable bench roller

RogerS · 11 Dec 2004

Someone suggested that this made a good router lifter device. I just took delivery of one (having waited two months on back order as out of stock). Well maybe the design has changed as it is absolutely useless for this purpose.

The thread of the lifter is far too coarse and you cannot exert enough twisting pressure to raise or lower it with the router on top. Even if you raise the router by hand to the correct height and then with your third hand adjust the roller to support the router, as soon as you release your hand support the roller compreses itself and so all your settings have gone to pot.

It's going back.

jasonB · 11 Dec 2004

would be better of with a fine height adjuster for your router, what make is it?

May also be worth removing the springs from the router legs to make compression easier.

Jason

blurk99 · 12 Dec 2004

ermmm.... I think think that might have been me.... but i've found it works quite well - did you remove the roller from the top? (i originally left the roller there but the plastic bushing that makes the 'bearing' had a lot of free play in it) and as jasonB said I did remove the springs from the router column

Jim

RogerS · 12 Dec 2004

The play in the roller was one of my 'gripes' but i didn't remove it as I was going to send it back. I didn't remove the springs either but even if i did I have a sense that the thread is just too coarse to raise the router.

And of course as ever I went through the rest of the threads in this excellent forum and found all sorts of references to goodies like RouterRaiser plus all the other home-grown solutions plus references to nice routers like a T9 plus...where do I stop. Sigh...maybe Father Christmas will be kind.

RogerS · 19 Dec 2004

I took the advice to remove the spring and that certainly helped. Mind you, I did make the mistake of almost dismantling the entire router before I realised that you could get to the spring from underneath

In my defence I was looking for two springs...checked underneath one pillar and couldn't see any spring. The other hole was blocked up with sawdust and I assumed that the springs (plural) had to be accessed from the top. Ah well...you live and learn. I only had the one spring.

I also found out that if the bench roller is fully depressed then it's the devils own job to make it work...but if you raise it ever so slightly then it 'frees' up and so I've decided to give it a whirl.