Brother Binary
Member
Hi everyone. I'm a new member, although I've been dipping in & out of this forum for years. Now that I've at last reached a point where I have the time & facilities to do some "proper" woodworking, I thought it was time I contributed something. I'm conscious that this message may be a bit long - apologies if you get too bored to finish it!
My first project was a simple TV stand/cupboard made of MDF and then painted. This was relatively successful, and I'm now making a linen press, based on a French Armoire - drawings done on Sketchup - one of things I've learnt about on this forum.
To keep weight down, I've been making up panels using a Stile & Rail cutter set in my Triton router (set in a Triton Router table). Despite all my efforts, there has been some variation in the depth of cut, and as a result there is often a small step between stile & rail.
I think this is caused partly by my inexperience, but partly by some flex in the pressed steel router mounting plate. Whatever, I decided to invest in the Axminster Router Lift, bought in a package with a DeWalt 625EK router, with the intention of making up a router table which will fit in my Triton workcentre (with the maxi sliding table, this should give me plenty of flexibility to handle he occasional large panel). I hope that this will be much more stable, and give me accurate & repeatable cuts. I just need to start thinking about the design of the table now!!
The lifter appears well designed and made - I've only tried it out of a table so far, but it raises & lowers smoothly & I can see that accurate setting up should be a breeze. It is fixed into the router table with just two screws, so it's going to be very important that I ensure that there is no movement via the levelling screws - the fixing screws will not stop any rocking. I would have thought that three or four fixing screws would have produced a fixing into the table that is far more stable.
I bought the lifter in a package with a Dewalt 625EK router partly because my current Triton router would not fit the universal base supplied. I assumed that as a package, the Dewalt offering would fit without problems.
This turned out not to be the case. The mounting plate is based on the Trend unibase. The Dewalt router base has three
holes for attaching to the mounting plate, but I could only get two of these line up with the many holes on the mounting plate. A phone call to Axminster prompted an email with a fitting chart, from which it became clear that only two holes are meant to line up.
These two holes are offset from the centre line of the router, so when it is inverted in the table it will have a tendency to fall away from the unsupported side. This is a heavy piece of kit, and with a long bit attached I guess that some considerable side / twisting force could be generated - all taken on these two screws.
Presumably everything's strong enough to counter this, but I've taken the precaution of getting a third hole drilled in the plate, to get all three mounting screws fitted.
My other slight gripe is that the package did not include the mounting screws. Fortunately, I tried to assemble this before returning to France, so had time to sort it out. In fairness, a quick call to Axminster produced two Trend Fixing Kits, sent as a gesture of goodwill.
Problem sorted? Not quite. The screws stand slightly proud of the counterbores in the mounting plate. As this mates against a face in the carrier mechanism, the router, with it's offset two screws (my additional screw is countersunk), does not sit vertically in the tilter.
The only solution seems to be to grind / file down the mounting screws - Axminster couldn't come up with anything else.
I had expected that buying these items as a package would mean a trouble free installation. Axminster seem to have put these two items together without checking that everything fits together, however, which is a bit disappointing. That said, I can't fault their customer service, and efforts to resolve the mounting problem.
So, that's my story so far - I'll update my thoughts as soon as I get the time to design and make the router table, and give the kit a proper test.
Sorry if this has been a bit of a ramble, but hopefully it will help anyone else considering this purchase.
My first project was a simple TV stand/cupboard made of MDF and then painted. This was relatively successful, and I'm now making a linen press, based on a French Armoire - drawings done on Sketchup - one of things I've learnt about on this forum.
To keep weight down, I've been making up panels using a Stile & Rail cutter set in my Triton router (set in a Triton Router table). Despite all my efforts, there has been some variation in the depth of cut, and as a result there is often a small step between stile & rail.
I think this is caused partly by my inexperience, but partly by some flex in the pressed steel router mounting plate. Whatever, I decided to invest in the Axminster Router Lift, bought in a package with a DeWalt 625EK router, with the intention of making up a router table which will fit in my Triton workcentre (with the maxi sliding table, this should give me plenty of flexibility to handle he occasional large panel). I hope that this will be much more stable, and give me accurate & repeatable cuts. I just need to start thinking about the design of the table now!!
The lifter appears well designed and made - I've only tried it out of a table so far, but it raises & lowers smoothly & I can see that accurate setting up should be a breeze. It is fixed into the router table with just two screws, so it's going to be very important that I ensure that there is no movement via the levelling screws - the fixing screws will not stop any rocking. I would have thought that three or four fixing screws would have produced a fixing into the table that is far more stable.
I bought the lifter in a package with a Dewalt 625EK router partly because my current Triton router would not fit the universal base supplied. I assumed that as a package, the Dewalt offering would fit without problems.
This turned out not to be the case. The mounting plate is based on the Trend unibase. The Dewalt router base has three
holes for attaching to the mounting plate, but I could only get two of these line up with the many holes on the mounting plate. A phone call to Axminster prompted an email with a fitting chart, from which it became clear that only two holes are meant to line up.
These two holes are offset from the centre line of the router, so when it is inverted in the table it will have a tendency to fall away from the unsupported side. This is a heavy piece of kit, and with a long bit attached I guess that some considerable side / twisting force could be generated - all taken on these two screws.
Presumably everything's strong enough to counter this, but I've taken the precaution of getting a third hole drilled in the plate, to get all three mounting screws fitted.
My other slight gripe is that the package did not include the mounting screws. Fortunately, I tried to assemble this before returning to France, so had time to sort it out. In fairness, a quick call to Axminster produced two Trend Fixing Kits, sent as a gesture of goodwill.
Problem sorted? Not quite. The screws stand slightly proud of the counterbores in the mounting plate. As this mates against a face in the carrier mechanism, the router, with it's offset two screws (my additional screw is countersunk), does not sit vertically in the tilter.
The only solution seems to be to grind / file down the mounting screws - Axminster couldn't come up with anything else.
I had expected that buying these items as a package would mean a trouble free installation. Axminster seem to have put these two items together without checking that everything fits together, however, which is a bit disappointing. That said, I can't fault their customer service, and efforts to resolve the mounting problem.
So, that's my story so far - I'll update my thoughts as soon as I get the time to design and make the router table, and give the kit a proper test.
Sorry if this has been a bit of a ramble, but hopefully it will help anyone else considering this purchase.
