Router table and router with lift

[Andrew1]

Hi i am in the market for a router table and router. I have an old table which is a pain to change router bits, has no lift and an unbranded router. Table would go onto bench, so dont need full height table.
So typically looking for a table with lift and suggestions for a router. I dont do that much routing, so typically £400 is all i want to spend. Any suggestions

 

[Brandlin]

I would recommend one of the triton routers as they come with a built in lift. A choice of three models based on motor size.
For a table, if you aren't doing much I would sling it under a piece of MDF or ply and build your own table/fence. You'd have a chunk of change from your £400.

 

[Andrew1]

Thanks Brandlin, much appreciated

 

[Andrew1]

hi so if i go for a home build table, does anyone have views on what router and plate please

 

[transatlantic]

I have the Triton and the Kreg plate, works well for me.

If you are going to build your own table, make sure it's strong enough. I used 18mm MDF, and it has sagged a fair bit. I will be redoing it at some point, probably with Plywood and some supports underneath.

 

[Lonsdale73]

I too have a Triton/Kreg combo. I used an offcut of kitchen worktop and it's still holding up after a number of years of my cack-handed abuse.

 

[Brandlin]

I too have a Triton/Kreg combo. I used an offcut of kitchen worktop and it's still holding up after a number of years of my cack-handed abuse.

Exactly the same set up i have.

Many will rightly tell you that kitchen worktop is not flat - and they are right, but its plenty flat enough for what i do with it - plus you can make the top as long as you like and replacing it is not a huge undertaking.

 

[Andrew1]

Hi so the triton router is that the TRA011 and what Kreg plate as unsure

 

[Lonsdale73]

Hi so the triton router is that the TRA011 and what Kreg plate as unsure

This one

 

[Brandlin]

the triton TRA 001 and MOF 001 (the mof is the smaller brother) both have the same base fittings. I have the MOF.

There are multiple kreg plates. Some come pre-drilled for various makes. Others are undrilled.

That link lonsdale gave you claims to be the right predrilled plate, but the picture is undrilled. The prices is pretty good though. For reference the plate drilled for the triton is reference number Kreg PRS4034

It often seems in low supply and becasue of this you see some site ramping the price up ridiculously... but shop around, i think i paid £29 for mine.

 

[user22161]

I'm another with Triton and kitchen worktop but Incra alloy plate.

 

[Lonsdale73]

I meant to pass on a tip I was given and that is don't try to enclose the router in a fancy downdraft type box. Having watched far too many youtube videos, I burnt out three routers in the space of two years trying to incorporate some form of downdraft box. Might be okay for the seemingly ubiquitous Porter Cable units favoured my many American 'tubers but the Triton's don't like them! I did drill a hole just beyond the insert plate and connected a dust extractor to it so now so now any dust thrown forward doesn't fly off the back of the bench and is instead drawn into my very own black hole.

 

[Brandlin]

I meant to pass on a tip I was given and that is don't try to enclose the router in a fancy downdraft type box. Having watched far too many youtube videos, I burnt out three routers in the space of two years trying to incorporate some form of downdraft box. Might be okay for the seemingly ubiquitous Porter Cable units favoured my many American 'tubers but the Triton's don't like them! I did drill a hole just beyond the insert plate and connected a dust extractor to it so now so now any dust thrown forward doesn't fly off the back of the bench and is instead drawn into my very own black hole.

I've not had this problem. I do have the router in an enclosure (box) with dust extraction to the rear to create a down draft. However the box has a fairly significant opening at the front also, so there is a lot of airflow.

 

[Lonsdale73]

I've not had this problem. I do have the router in an enclosure (box) with dust extraction to the rear to create a down draft. However the box has a fairly significant opening at the front also, so there is a lot of airflow.

That's because you're smarter than me. I had mine encased in an Incra-esque closed box. A chap called Dennis advised me that was most likely why I was burning them out so quickly even with very little use.

 

[Andrew1]

Thanks all for recommendations and advise really helpful

 

[Sideways]

It makes me laugh. Routers are designed to pull air in the top and blast it down towards the cutter to help clear chips. Why the hell anyone would put one upside down in a box, try to fight the natural airflow and not expect problems beats me !!!

 

[Lonsdale73]

It makes me laugh. Routers are designed to pull air in the top and blast it down towards the cutter to help clear chips. Why the hell anyone would put one upside down in a box, try to fight the natural airflow and not expect problems beats me !!!

Glad it amuses you however when one is new to such things and turns to so-called experts for advice then sees even reputable organisations like Incra and Axminster manufactur and sell devices to do precisely that then it's a natural enough assumption to think they know best. My primary interest was what the router could achieve not how.

 

[Eric The Viking]

The only time it's a real pain is doing slotting, when there is nowhere for chips/dust to go other than into the plane of the table.

Steve Maskery did a rather elegant mod to his older table (documented here somewhere, with photos), putting a DX port right into the tabletop, on the outfeed side, to grab the dust and chips and preventing "trenching" cuts from clogging. You should find it if you use the search function. He and I both have Incra plates (and T11 routers) now, and I've got the inserts with slots to help with dust removal and airflow. Mine isn't installed yet (have to change the tabletop), so I don't yet know if it will serve instead.

Personally I wouldn't do one of those collection boxes either. I don't think you can beat simply going round with a brush and a crevice tool on the vacuum afterwards, not least because it makes you inspect the machinery and spot things before they become issues.

My present table has a pressed-steel open metal stand (an older Axminster "professional" product), and there's a 600x400mm open shelf about 100mm under the router. Chips get everywhere, but it is easy to clean too, and almost nothing seems to get into the router itself (Trend T11).

In contrast, I dismantled one of those big cylindrical routers (table-only design) a while back, to find that there was baked-on sawdust on the fan and other places inside it. I think it was used in a "dust collection box", so IMHO, no, those aren't healthy for routers.

Just my twopence... E.

 

[Brandlin]

It makes me laugh. Routers are designed to pull air in the top and blast it down towards the cutter to help clear chips. ...

Most modern routers are designed to exhaust from the motor casing upwards. And they are also designed to have extraction through cowling and collect chips level with the router bit. In any case most of the down draft that was created was a by product of the bits rotation.

I do however agree with you that containing any electric component in a sealed box and affecting the airflow over a motor is never a good idea.

 

[Lonsdale73]

Steve Maskery did a rather elegant mod to his older table (documented here somewhere, with photos), putting a DX port right into the tabletop, on the outfeed side, to grab the dust and chips and preventing "trenching" cuts from clogging. .

Something like this?

This is what I refer to as The Black Hole.

Underneath the hole is one of these from Axminster which has another hose running off to the fence. A third hose connected to a shop vac extracts from the router port as well. It's without doubt the cleanest operation in the workshop.