wrote:

Hi All:

Details:
- I am a relatively new woodworker.

I'm a junior amateur wood-butcher. :-) Junior in experience, not age!

- I have ~ $700.00 CND (lets say $500 to $600 US) to spend on a router
AND a router table (including taxes, shipping).

Are you in the Lower Mainland of BC, perchance? If you are, I've seen
several tool stores selling the Freud FT2000 router and router table combo
for CDN$499. This is a pretty good deal. The router alone is about
CDN$300.

That said, a router table need not be very complex to do darn good work.
I built my own, into one of my workbenches. Norm Abrams built one on his
show ("The New Yankee Workshop") a while back; you can get a video/DVD plus
plans from the show's website
(http://www.newyankee.com/getproduct3.cgi?0301) Also, watch "The Router
Workshop" on PBS & The Knowledge Network to see what you can do with a
simple table setup. (Bob Rosendahl of "The Router Workshop" is a former
vocational school teacher and this teaching experience comes through on his
show.)

BTW, if you are in BC (which does not stand for British Columbia as folks
think, it stands for Bring Cash :-) KMS Tools (Danger, Will Robinson! Leave
your wallet at home!) has a 2 day special sale each month. On Nov. 18 &
19, they are flogging the King Canada 15 amp 1/2" plunge router, with a 1
year warranty, for CDN$69.95. No, that is not a typo.
(http://www.kmstools.com/flyer/files/Nov_p22-24.pdf) I bought one last
year for more than that; it works OK in my home made router table (be sure
to take the springs out first). I've used it to make cope & bead raised
panel doors with a 3 1/2" panel raising bit. I would not use it as a
freehand plunge router, mind you, as the springs are too stiff and stick.

--
Cheers,
Rob






--
Cheers,
Rob