router table with wind up adjustment..??

[scouse12345]

What a crap title lol..

I;m looking for a router table that i can raise and lower the bit with a winder for small adjustments etc.

Any ideas people..?>

Thanks

scouse.

 

[Digit]

To buy or to make?

Roy.

 

[Tarkin]

If you're buying then there are many options, I believe, none of which will be especially cheap...

Many people, myself included, have made their own. Mine is made from an old bit of oak kitchen worktop which is very sturdy, and I have an old scissor jack to raise and lower the router. Works extremely well, and is very cheap. Height adjustment of less than 0.1mm is easyilly possible.

Some ply/MDF can fashioned into a good adjustable fence too, plus some aluminium track to run jigs though. You'd be surprised where £30 can get you with a router table if you make it yourself. Plus it s more satisfying I think... Just my opinion of course.

 

[OPJ]

Have you come across the Router Raizer before? It's probably one of the more affordable options available.

 

[johnf]

Buy this
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Power+T ... 767/p54513

 

[scouse12345]

Buy this
http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Power+T ... 767/p54513

Bought...

Thanks for all the suggestions, like too keep things simple..


scouse.

 

[wcndave]

There seem to be a lot of things one can do, ranging from putting your router under a table, to top of the range incra jigs on amazing tables.

i started here: http://www.woodpeck.com/wpproducts.html because i wanted simply a fence and mitre that were parallel and micro adjustable. however after i built the options i wanted, it was well over £1,000!

the other option of a table with your own router, seemed to have problems with how to accurately raise / lower the router. I like to do a cut slightly off what i know i want, and then raising very very slowly, home in on the actual cut, testing the fit each time, until its right, then route all my parts in one go.

the raising and lowering seems to be a problem, most routers are a bit jerky and one worries a lot that after moving any micro adjusters and plunging it back, that i have moved it more than the 1/1000 i intended...

i ended up getting a woodstar table (I think B52), that has a built in router, with a handle out the side, that you can rotate to get as fine as you like adjustments.

only cost £150

was either that or expensive lifter, in expensive table etc...

downsides are that there is no way to ensure the fence is parallel to the mitre, no micro adjusters to move fence back / forward, and the build quality is not that great.

if there are any others out that that you find that do this, let me know and i will upgrade, however this device does me fairly well now that i understand it's limitations, and anything involving a bearing guide, like mouldings is perfect.

ideally all i would be looking for is a table where i can turn a wheel to move a fence back / forward parallel to mitre gauge in tiny increments, and also move the router up / down in tiny increments.

however i feel for this i need to start building something closer to £1,000 then £150

 

[matthewwh]

I saw one of the Axminster table insetrts at the Oryx's bash in Kent and I must say it looked like a really well engineered bit of kit. If I were in your position it would definitely be on my list of things to consider.

 

[Recky33]

wcndave,

Why do you place so much importance in having a miter slot parallel to the fence ?

Allan

 

[wcndave]

Why do you place so much importance in having a miter slot parallel to the fence ?

Good question...

so let's say i want to cut a rabbit, or tenon, and i want to close in on the measurements as the scales provided on tables are usually way too inaccurate.

i use the mitre gauge to cross cut in effect, and keep the piece against the fence. The fence must be square, ie parallel to mitre slot. then i want to move the fence in / out a touch. i loosen the fence bolts, nudge it a bit, then have to tighten it and check it's exactly square. it never is, so i have to nudge one side or the other again, at the end of the exercise i am never sure how much i have moved, and if i wanted 0.5mm, then it's not good.

on my table saw, i can micro adjust the rip and crosscut by one turn = 1/10 mm. and they are always square / parallel. running anything in the mitre on router table which is up against fence requires this.

Actually the most important thing is to be able to move the fence in / out by small adjustments, which in any case will naturally preserve the angle...

sorry if that's a long winded response, and i know there are always lots of ways to do something, however i find the router table amazing for many things, and start to drool when i look at incra-fences that are set up with nice tables...

 

[Recky33]

Ok, So all your doing is using the fence as a stop block, I take it your holding the work tight to the mitre gauge, just fix a small block to your fence at least the width of the work piece away from the cutter with a screw in it and slide the work up to the screw then adjust the screw in or out or use a 6mm bolt instead for a 1mm full turn, should work out a lot less mither than getting it all set parallel.
I know what you mean about the incra fences, I got an incra original plastic one of ebay ages back for £12 and its very handy for getting stuff bang on, no micro adjust on it so your in the lap of the gods if your cutter widths are out for box joints and such
HTH

Allan

 

[wcndave]

Recky33, not quite sure i follow with the block.

If i put a long piece on the mitre to effectively extend it past the cutter, (which is a problem as the mitre is really rubbish so hard to attach anything to it, anyway, another story), then if this was tall enough to avoid being cut off completely i could put a stop block on the end. using a bolt / screw would mean i am going to hit that metal with the cutter, so i need a wooden block that can be slid along with a bolt as IT'S stopper, and then i will take some of the wood of the stop out, so need to replace it for each set of cuts i do... so that also sounds like a lot of bother.

however another scenario is, i want to cut a rabbit along the long grain of a post / leg / board, and i want the rabbit to be the same as some other piece to be joined, so i would normally start rough minus 1/8 or so, and then edge up to it, pushing fence back "1 turn" at a time, and testing against my other piece, so in this case i want to do the same thing, however no mitre.

now in this case i obviously don't need it to be parallel, however i still want to move the fence back in small increments, and with loosen two nuts, nudge, and re-tighten, i never get it spot on, although i usually get it close enough you can't tell.

again with other tools, it's so quick to work up on a measurement.

this is normally done on test piece, and then i can just go for it on all work pieces, however it's not repeatable once i do something else, whereas with an incra it is...

i could i am sure, make a jig for the mitre scenario i first described, however i had rather hoped the machine would take away that need :wink:

 

[Recky33]

heres a pic of what I mean about the block, sorry for the bad use of sketchup, i'm rubbish at it

hth

Allan

 

[wcndave]

so does the block move with the piece? or do you use it to set the position initially only?

if the former, then you need a parallel fence, if the latter, then the cutter draws the piece in, unless you clamp it to fence, which would slow down the process.

perhaps another method is to use something like a marking gauge design to check the fence distance AND parallel by putting rule on marking gauge and the block goes in mitre slot, with handle touching the fence...

 

[Recky33]

The block stays put, Iv never had any problem holding the work piece against the mitre fence, you could try some sandpaper on it or just eat 3 Shredded Wheat

Allan

 

[woodbloke]

I saw one of the Axminster table insetrts at the Oryx's bash in Kent and I must say it looked like a really well engineered bit of kit. If I were in your position it would definitely be on my list of things to consider.

I was there too and agree with Matthew...a very nicely engineered piece of kit - Rob