Never Enough Money wrote:
Ouch.

Sorry. Was it a wee bit close to the balls?

The real question is what kind of woodworker, I'll refrain from the
derogatory term "worddorker", would by a $250,000 router?

A very high end custom architectural wooddo..., err,
woodworker. Most people never see our work unless their
daddy is a gazzilionaire or they work for some Fortunate 500
company. OK, maybe if you've ever been to Lambeau Field/go
to Vegas/are a patron of the arts...

That seems high even for a factory floor.

The extra $100M or so gives you a larger table. We're
somewheres in the 5' X 14' (ish)/might be 12'. Another $25M
gets you multiple tooling (a carriage that's pre-loaded with
all the goodies you will need/not just one bit at a time.

Is it for mouldings?

We do an enormous amount of radius work, everything from
radius moldings to radius millwork walls. The CNC allows
for making shaper jigs, radius plates and just about
anything Al Gore's AutoCAD (2004 of course) can dish out.

Surely it does more than route.

It line bores. It has a saw head but for the most part it
routs and shapes. Believe it or don't but mostly what goes
through it is plain old particleboard. The thing here is
that the parts and pieces have some consistency in which
case we can measure it in a RCH/less than a gnat's ass.

Before CAD/CNC we spent a hellva lotta time ($$$) on our
knees making full size shaper templates. I am/was quite
good at swinging a big radii with a 100' steel tape and
trammel bar. Gladly I no longer need to express these/those
skills.

BTW, I am tired of reaching under my table and repeatedly adjusting
measuring, adjusting-measuring, etc. until I creep in on an accurate
enough setting......

A'yup. That's why I bought a router lift. :-)

Also question to the whole group, not just UA100: given all the
anti-router lift pro-shaper feedback, I'd say none of you uses a
router lift.

I'm not sure I speak for the other nay sayers but you've
mis-understood my comments. I'm all over the router
lift/recommend it at the drop of a hat/can't say enough nice
things about it/built a god damned shrine for mine. It's
the digi part that I think has gone 'round the bend. There
are things you will learn in your shop. Most of these
things will surprise you onna 'count of you'll try it
once/twice/three times and you'll find on time number four
you've got it aced. Getting your router cranked just right
is one of those things that just ain't that hard to do.

I find that difficult to beleive. Surely there's someone
out there willing to 'fess up.

Can I consider myself fess'd?

UA100