I still have not got my new bench design ready to build, a few issues regarding Incra positioners and physical space so in the mean time I thought I would just put a Jessem Prestige lift into my Kreg table with my Triton Tra001 router, yes it all sounds so easy and should be a straightforward task.
I removed the old setup, a Kreg insert plate with the router and then dropped the Jessem lift into the aperture and as expected it fitted like a glove, but the four retaining screws were out of alignment. This was something I had overlooked, probably a bad assumption that all the imperial router plates being of the same size would have the same fixing hole spacings. The problem here is the Kreg table has just an apperture with four corner fixings which provide both plate adjustement and the fixings for holding the plate down, many others use a recess in which the plate sits. Looking for solutions I found Jessem can provide new fixings for mounting their plates into Kreg tables,
JessEm Router Table | FINE TOOLS but by the time you add on P&P plus duties they become expensive, plus not currently in stock so I dismissed this as an option. Back to basics and I made a frame that I glued and screwed to the underneath of my table so as to provide a recess for the lifter to sit on. I used Kreg pocket hole screws which are very course and have a washer type head to retain the frame.
The green line shows the outline of the insert plate and the blue lines the wooden frame.
Next I drilled the Jessem lift to take the Triton router, the four 1/4 UNC screws are on a PCD of 5 & 3/4, or 146 mm and the axis at 90°. The router already has the switch interlock removed but now I also removed the indent pin that locks the spindle in the full raise position which is held by just a single screw and is easily done because I am using the type 8 muscle chuck instead, this allows the router to be fully raised without locking the spindle.
Plate leveling was simple, now done from above the table and not crawling underneath, the speed control is easily accessable but you still need a mirror if you want to read the numbers but I may remove this assembly and mount it remotely which solves the issue.
This setup gives very smooth adjustment with little effort, there is zero play in the mechanism so I can now wind up or down to a required height, previously using the Triton mechanism I only wound up which ensured all the slack was taken out of the system. The Triton has plenty of power and I am more than happy with my intermediate setup, this is only an option if you already have a router though. If I did not already have the Triton then I would have used the AUK spindle and Jessem lift because that is still the better engineered solution in my opinion, the router being clamped round its waist and not hung by it's kneck with the surplus lift colombs!
One last thing, imperial measurements and fractions are just so strange to work with, 10 & 9/16 is so odd.
I removed the old setup, a Kreg insert plate with the router and then dropped the Jessem lift into the aperture and as expected it fitted like a glove, but the four retaining screws were out of alignment. This was something I had overlooked, probably a bad assumption that all the imperial router plates being of the same size would have the same fixing hole spacings. The problem here is the Kreg table has just an apperture with four corner fixings which provide both plate adjustement and the fixings for holding the plate down, many others use a recess in which the plate sits. Looking for solutions I found Jessem can provide new fixings for mounting their plates into Kreg tables,
JessEm Router Table | FINE TOOLS but by the time you add on P&P plus duties they become expensive, plus not currently in stock so I dismissed this as an option. Back to basics and I made a frame that I glued and screwed to the underneath of my table so as to provide a recess for the lifter to sit on. I used Kreg pocket hole screws which are very course and have a washer type head to retain the frame.
The green line shows the outline of the insert plate and the blue lines the wooden frame.
Next I drilled the Jessem lift to take the Triton router, the four 1/4 UNC screws are on a PCD of 5 & 3/4, or 146 mm and the axis at 90°. The router already has the switch interlock removed but now I also removed the indent pin that locks the spindle in the full raise position which is held by just a single screw and is easily done because I am using the type 8 muscle chuck instead, this allows the router to be fully raised without locking the spindle.
Plate leveling was simple, now done from above the table and not crawling underneath, the speed control is easily accessable but you still need a mirror if you want to read the numbers but I may remove this assembly and mount it remotely which solves the issue.
This setup gives very smooth adjustment with little effort, there is zero play in the mechanism so I can now wind up or down to a required height, previously using the Triton mechanism I only wound up which ensured all the slack was taken out of the system. The Triton has plenty of power and I am more than happy with my intermediate setup, this is only an option if you already have a router though. If I did not already have the Triton then I would have used the AUK spindle and Jessem lift because that is still the better engineered solution in my opinion, the router being clamped round its waist and not hung by it's kneck with the surplus lift colombs!
One last thing, imperial measurements and fractions are just so strange to work with, 10 & 9/16 is so odd.
