What router & table for minor jobs (newbie!)

[Vindaloo]

Hi I'm looking for a router & table for minor jobs for a car audio build. My budget isn't huge at £100 so can't get anything too fancy!

It's just for light use to make the following from MDF-
Couple speaker baffles
Basic amp rack
Subwoofer enclosure

I've seen some on ebay which are within budget (Clarke, Rockworth, Powerplus) are they ok for light use or will they fall apart after half hours use?
Also could do with a cheap circle cutting jig to cut 6.5" - 9" rings.

Thanks in advance

 

[wizard]

make your own

 

[JJ1]

THIS ONE is within your budget and appears to get favourable reviews. I havn't used one personally, although I'm tempted to get one as a second router so as to leave my Triton permanently mounted in the table.
Regarding the router table. I'd buy an 8" x 4" sheet of 18mm MDF for approximately £15 and make your own.

 

[PeteG]

THIS ONE is within your budget and appears to get favourable reviews. I havn't used one personally, although I'm tempted to get one as a second router so as to leave my Triton permanently mounted in the table.
Regarding the router table. I'd buy an 8" x 4" sheet of 18mm MDF for approximately £15 and make your own.

I've been looking at this one JJ1 and the reviews were going well until around page 7/8, where a couple of lads pointed out you can't fix it to a table. Not unless you know what you're doing that is, and sadly
I don't I called in to my local Screwfix for some drawer runners last night and they had one on display, felt very nice hold and quite light...There were six may be eight screws holding the base plate but nothing
for table use.

 

[JJ1]

I've been looking at this one JJ1 and the reviews were going well until around page 7/8, where a couple of lads pointed out you can't fix it to a table.

Oops! I missed that bit. Thanks for pointing it out

 

[slpower01]

Not sure on how easy they are to find but I remember picking up a powercraft 1/4 inch router and a table for about 70 euro in lidl.... you might find them on ebay or gumtree.... will leave a small bit of cash for a couple of decent router bits

 

[slpower01]

in regards to mounting it ... you could always make up a bracket out of timber like a L shape that catches the lip of the router .... what I have done before was get 6mm plastic ... took off the plastic base plate and marked out screw holes .. then cut out a rectangle about 30-40 cm by about 20-30cm and screws it to the router.... I made a hole in the bottom of a doubled up sheet of 18mm kitchen panel which was the size of the plastic plate minus a 10mm lip all around and then routed the lip for the 6 mm (take your time, you want this nice and flush) for additional support I got a few 8mm rails and cut them long enough so they would go through the parallel guide holes and fixed these with blocks of timber screw to the bottom of the kitchen panel with drilled holes...

It is a bit fiddly to setup put gives you the best of both worlds without having to drill the router base... If I get back home in the next few months I might be able to get pics, if not ill upload a google sketchup

 

[nathandavies]

do you definitely need a table? a lot can be done in hand, and that would mean that you could spend your whole budget on the router itself. but buying one with the future possibility of table mounting would obviously be a good idea.

 

[Tim_H]

I have that Erbauer, I did mount it under my Rutlands router table but was never happy with it there as I had to take a handle off to get it through the mounting plate hole (not an issue if you make your own table) and I had to bind the on off switch and control it from the plug. It is fine as a free hand router . I ended up buying a Draper Expert which has a seperate motor with a plunge base and a fixed base which I have mounted under the table. It has a flick on off switch and so far is working well. I got it for £100 from Yandles on special offer but I think it is about £150 now.

Might be worth trying to pick up a second hand one with a flick switch from the bay, there are better ones from Dewalt and Makita, I think you will struggle to get anything decent new for under £100 that will be reliable in a table.

 

[Vindaloo]

Thanks for the suggestions so far gents. Making my own is out as I need something I can use then put away. Ideally I'd like a package but my £100 budget is limiting me to the ebay ones...

 

[JJ1]

Making my own is out as I need something I can use then put away.

I'm in a similar situation and making a router table top that just temporarily bolts to the top of a Black and Decker workmate works for me. It takes literally two minutes to set up and take down, it's easily stored and the open design of the workmate means excellent ventilation and extremely easy access to the router. It's also extremely sturdy.

 

[mseries]

Making my own is out as I need something I can use then put away.

I'm in a similar situation and making a router table top that just temporarily bolts to the top of Black and Decker worked for me. It takes literally two minutes to set up and take down, it's easily stored and the open design of the workmate means excellent ventilation and extremely easy access to the router. It's also extremely sturdy.

that is what I have been using since 1996. Mine doesn't bolt on, just sits between the jaws and is clamped by the same jaws. It's cheap and works well,
Here are some pictures

the fence isn't bolted down in this picture

there are some more pictures on my flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/mseries12

 

[mseries]

Hi I'm looking for a router & table for minor jobs for a car audio build. My budget isn't huge at £100 so can't get anything too fancy!

.....
Also could do with a cheap circle cutting jig to cut 6.5" - 9" rings.

Thanks in advance

it's very very easy to make a circle cutting jig, especially if your diameter doesn't need to be spot on . Do a google image search for some ideas.

 

[RogerS]

Why not buy one off eBay? Either used or new?

 

[PeteG]

Hi I'm looking for a router & table for minor jobs for a car audio build. My budget isn't huge at £100 so can't get anything too fancy!

It's just for light use to make the following from MDF-
Couple speaker baffles
Basic amp rack
Subwoofer enclosure

I've seen some on ebay which are within budget (Clarke, Rockworth, Powerplus) are they ok for light use or will they fall apart after half hours use?
Also could do with a cheap circle cutting jig to cut 6.5" - 9" rings.

Thanks in advance

Not sure if this will be any good Vindaloo, but it's advertised as a "1/4" trend router table"...The image shows a Trend router fitted but it's not mentioned in the advert. It's £20.00 and in Swansea...
http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/trend ... 1034469960

 

[bogmonster]

I think it has all been said before but I made my own. I was living in the US at the time and bought a cheap Ryobi router. The table was a piece of MDF with a nice shiny surface, think it was from the Ikea seconds corner (good place to look for cheap stuff). Has served me really well. I can either mount on a workmate or a mitre saw stand.

Not really sure it is worth buying a table for occasional use.

BM