Hi,

I've seen a lot of talk on here about routers, tables etc, so time for
my first question!

Never used one before, but want one for making work such as garden
furniture construction easier. ( e.g. mortice / tennon joints and
rebates etc etc )

So I foudn this:

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=114310

Is it true that if one buys a complete router table, that the router
can always be removed to use as a normal hand held device too? I
presume so...

Anything particular to look out for?

Thanks!
Dan

On 7 Sep 2005 11:14:21 -0700, "Connor T"
wrote:

Hi,

I've seen a lot of talk on here about routers, tables etc, so time for
my first question!

Never used one before, but want one for making work such as garden
furniture construction easier. ( e.g. mortice / tennon joints and
rebates etc etc )

So I foudn this:

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=114310

Is it true that if one buys a complete router table, that the router
can always be removed to use as a normal hand held device too? I
presume so...

Anything particular to look out for?



Most routers sold in Europe are plunge types and in most cases you buy
a router and fit it to a table, so it is detachable.

In the U.S. it is more common to have routers with a non plunge,
adjustable height and even to have separate motors and bases. So
there you can buy a router motor only and fit it to a table
permanently.

Either way, it does take time to mount a router on and off the table
and if you are doing a lot of work becomes a huge PITA.

Early on with woodworking, I had a Trend T5 and a DeWalt DW625
together with a Trend router table. The table is quite respectable
for its size and type. However, I left one router or the other
permanently fitted to the table.

Nowadays, I have a spindle moulder which will also take a router
spindle and hence the Trend table doesn't get used much any more. The
routers are used as hand held tools.

Turning to the package you mention above, there are a number of
limitations that you should be aware about:

- A price point of £100 is just about OK for a 1/4" router on its own.
I am very dubious about this price point for a package including a
router table as well.

- Having said that, from the photos, the router table looks of
reasonable construction for small work. Really it would be necessary
to look at one inb= the flesh and check things like how good a fit the
mitre gauge is in the slot, how firm is the clamping and is everything
square and accurate.

- The router at 1/4" and 3/8" is really too small for making joints on
reasonable sized pieces of outdoor furniture etc. This really does
need a 1/2" model or progress will be very slow with lots of small
cuts. This is a Chinese router and generally the mechanical power in
relation to a given electrical input power is not that good. In other
words, an 1100W product of this type is likely to be equivalent to
only about an 800W one from somebody like Bosch, DeWalt, Makita or
Freud.

- The router table only appears to have a small number of fixing holes
and seems to be suitable only for the Ryobi router mounting. This
may be OK for other brands but is not as flexible as more generic
tables if you want to switch router brands.

- From the photos, the router table does not appear to have a no-volt
release safety switch. It's pretty important to have one of these,
so that you can just bang a button and kill the power. They are
£10-20 separately.

- For the type of work you are considering, as I mentioned, a 1/2"
router is a much more sensible proposition. Experience has shown that
the low end ones are a disappointment in terms of power. There have
been good reviews of the Freud FT2000 at £165 from Screwfix. The sub
£100 1/2" products really are a disappointing waste of money.

- In terms of a router table, you could get much better results in
terms of quality for outlay by buying a router table insert, slotted
tracks etc, and making your own table. Axminster Power Tools sells a
range of accessories for this.


The Ryobi package may be OK as far as it goes. The problem I see
with it is that it is likely to be inadequate for what you want to do
quite quickly and there is then not really a sensible upgrade path.

I think that you either need to set your work expectations down to
this product and price level and accept that you will need to start
again with a new investment later for larger work, or bit the bullet
and consider spending about £200 - 250 for a reasonable 1/2" set up.





--

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Connor T wrote:

I've seen a lot of talk on here about routers, tables etc, so time for
my first question!

Following on from what Andy said, you may find some helpful information
in the Router FAQ:

http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/router.htm


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

in 445189 20050907 205431 Andy Hall wrote:
On 7 Sep 2005 11:14:21 -0700, "Connor T"
wrote:

Hi,

I've seen a lot of talk on here about routers, tables etc, so time for
my first question!

Never used one before, but want one for making work such as garden
furniture construction easier. ( e.g. mortice / tennon joints and
rebates etc etc )

So I foudn this:

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=114310

Is it true that if one buys a complete router table, that the router
can always be removed to use as a normal hand held device too? I
presume so...

Anything particular to look out for?



Most routers sold in Europe are plunge types and in most cases you buy
a router and fit it to a table, so it is detachable.

In the U.S. it is more common to have routers with a non plunge,
adjustable height and even to have separate motors and bases. So
there you can buy a router motor only and fit it to a table
permanently.

Either way, it does take time to mount a router on and off the table
and if you are doing a lot of work becomes a huge PITA.

Early on with woodworking, I had a Trend T5 and a DeWalt DW625
together with a Trend router table. The table is quite respectable
for its size and type. However, I left one router or the other
permanently fitted to the table.

Nowadays, I have a spindle moulder which will also take a router
spindle and hence the Trend table doesn't get used much any more. The
routers are used as hand held tools.

Turning to the package you mention above, there are a number of
limitations that you should be aware about:

- A price point of £100 is just about OK for a 1/4" router on its own.
I am very dubious about this price point for a package including a
router table as well.

- Having said that, from the photos, the router table looks of
reasonable construction for small work. Really it would be necessary
to look at one inb= the flesh and check things like how good a fit the
mitre gauge is in the slot, how firm is the clamping and is everything
square and accurate.

- The router at 1/4" and 3/8" is really too small for making joints on
reasonable sized pieces of outdoor furniture etc. This really does
need a 1/2" model or progress will be very slow with lots of small
cuts. This is a Chinese router and generally the mechanical power in
relation to a given electrical input power is not that good. In other
words, an 1100W product of this type is likely to be equivalent to
only about an 800W one from somebody like Bosch, DeWalt, Makita or
Freud.

- The router table only appears to have a small number of fixing holes
and seems to be suitable only for the Ryobi router mounting. This
may be OK for other brands but is not as flexible as more generic
tables if you want to switch router brands.

- From the photos, the router table does not appear to have a no-volt
release safety switch. It's pretty important to have one of these,
so that you can just bang a button and kill the power. They are
£10-20 separately.

- For the type of work you are considering, as I mentioned, a 1/2"
router is a much more sensible proposition. Experience has shown that
the low end ones are a disappointment in terms of power. There have
been good reviews of the Freud FT2000 at £165 from Screwfix. The sub
£100 1/2" products really are a disappointing waste of money.

- In terms of a router table, you could get much better results in
terms of quality for outlay by buying a router table insert, slotted
tracks etc, and making your own table. Axminster Power Tools sells a
range of accessories for this.


The Ryobi package may be OK as far as it goes. The problem I see
with it is that it is likely to be inadequate for what you want to do
quite quickly and there is then not really a sensible upgrade path.

I think that you either need to set your work expectations down to
this product and price level and accept that you will need to start
again with a new investment later for larger work, or bit the bullet
and consider spending about £200 - 250 for a reasonable 1/2" set up.


I've had the Ryobi table and router for about a year and am generally pleased
with it - though I do have two other routers for free-hand use.

Neither of my other two routers can be fitted in the Ryobi table,
but It HAS got an NVR switch.

The one problem I had was the 1/4 collar getting stuck in the chuck (or whatever it's
called in a router!) - eventually it got stuck solid and when MachineMart couldn't
free it either they kindly replaced the router.
Since then I keep a small piece of foam rubber in the chuck to stop the collar going
in too far.