Subject: Router Tables

From: [email-masked] (R Lepage)
Date: 27 Mar 1997 15:23:26 GMT

I'm currently shopping for a router table. My router is a B&D with a 6" 
base. 

Any recommendations on brand or model? Also I am considering getting a 
second router which I could leave attached to the table. Any 
comments?

I am located in Canada if that helps with your input.

============================================
=   Richard Lepage - PWGSC
=   [email-masked]
=   [email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Brad W.)
Date: 27 Mar 1997 18:21:36 GMT

>I am located in Canada if that helps with your input.

As a novice woodworker, I will open myself for flamage by giving advice 
based on only limited knowledge:  First, I would say don't buy a Craftsman of 
any sort.  I was given the best that they make, and I am not completely 
satisfied with it.  Because it is "crappy, like all Crapsman tools?"  No, it 
actually levelled out quite well, has a decent miter gauge and a solid fence, 
and excellent dust collection.  I am not completely satisfied with it because 
the table top is not as smooth as I would like, and the fence design doesn't 
allow you to use all those neat jigs and fixtures that you see in the 
woodworking magazines.
	So, here is the advice that I give and leave open to comment by those 
who know better:  take advantage of the multitude of designs for simple (and 
not so simple) router tables that you see in American Woodworker, Fine 
Woodworking, Workbench, and The Router Handbook.  I have tried other people's 
tables who have used one of the many router adapter plates available, melamine 
(sp?) for a very smooth top, and a hardwood fence, and they are much more 
pleasant to use than mine.  For the $99 that someone spent for my table (which 
is cheaper than most others), it seems to me that you could build an excellent 
one of your own to your own specs, using plexiglass for guards, featherboards, 
 table inserts, etc.  Or, I noticed this month that Workbench magazine offers 
plans, hardware sets, or complete kits for building nice tables and enclosed 
cabinet router stations.
	Anyway, I should cease my rambling and just say that, were it not for 
the fact that its absence and replacement would offend the gift giver, my 
table would be gone and replaced by a home-made unit.

Brad W.

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From: [email-masked] (Neil Summers)
Date: 29 Mar 1997 04:36:41 GMT

>I am located in Canada if that helps with your input.

If you're really bent on buying a router table I'd suggest you look
into the table and fence available from Lee Valley. It'll coust you
around $300 CDN for both.

However, I'd encourage you to build your own. There are many great
plans around and you'd have the satisfaction of making your own which
would be probably just as good as a commercially available model for a
lot less money. American Woodworker featured an excellent table in
issue 44 (I think) and ShopNotes featured a great table in it's
premiere issue.

Good luck and happy woodworking.

_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ 
[email-masked]
Neil Summers
Calgary, Alberta
Canada
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