I was enlisted to help my neighbor buy a router table and router for
her husband. She wants to pick it up quickly....
She got a quote for a 893 router pc and rockler router table.
I looked at another shop and for a couple bucks less I can get the
same router and a Bench dog portable table set up...
If you guys could give me your opinion and any experiences with
these...
The one difference I can see is the Bench Dog is a portable with a
smaller table then the Rockler....
Any quality issues?
I want to take care of my friend and get him the better of the two,
unfortunately that is the only shops in the area...the router tables
are around $225.
He does a lot of cabinet work with building raised panels and
such.....
Thanks...I am more of a wood turner and don't have a ton of experience
with routers...
Toby

"toby" wrote in message
om...
I was enlisted to help my neighbor buy a router table and router for
her husband. She wants to pick it up quickly....
She got a quote for a 893 router pc and rockler router table.
I looked at another shop and for a couple bucks less I can get the
same router and a Bench dog portable table set up...
If you guys could give me your opinion and any experiences with
these...
The one difference I can see is the Bench Dog is a portable with a
smaller table then the Rockler....
Any quality issues?
I want to take care of my friend and get him the better of the two,
unfortunately that is the only shops in the area...the router tables
are around $225.
He does a lot of cabinet work with building raised panels and
such.....
Thanks...I am more of a wood turner and don't have a ton of experience
with routers...
Toby

I have no experience with the Rockler but do own the larger Bench Dog table
and fence. It has been copied a time or two. I think very highly of it.

toby wrote:
I was enlisted to help my neighbor buy a router table and router for
her husband. She wants to pick it up quickly....
She got a quote for a 893 router pc and rockler router table.
I looked at another shop and for a couple bucks less I can get the
same router and a Bench dog portable table set up...
If you guys could give me your opinion and any experiences with
these...
The one difference I can see is the Bench Dog is a portable with a
smaller table then the Rockler....
Any quality issues?
I want to take care of my friend and get him the better of the two,
unfortunately that is the only shops in the area...the router tables
are around $225.
He does a lot of cabinet work with building raised panels and
such.....
Thanks...I am more of a wood turner and don't have a ton of experience
with routers...
Toby

Check out the tables at:
http://www.ttrackusa.com/router_table%20_systems.html

They are 1 1/2 inch thick, laminated both sides, with mini t-tracks to
hold and adjust the fence. Also, the new table at ttrackusa has a miter
slot and t-track at the front. (This is not shown on the picture on the
website, but I picked one up that way at as recent show.) The Rousseau
router plate makes a nice upgrade to the lexan plate. Show prices are
great, internet prices are pretty good, shipping prices are possibly
steep. If you live in Atlanta, go to the store.

The Uni-T Fence sections are really nice but don't come with the package
deal. You could probably work that out with a phone call. The website
doesn't have the option though.

The Rockler table has slots cut through the table to hold and adjust the
fence. That leaves exposed mdf. Also, their table is only 1 1/8 inch
thick. They do have a nicer legset that has nice optional casters. I
live in Minneapolis area where there are four Rockler stores locally. I
really like them and get a lot of products there. However, I was not
impressed with their brand of router tables.

I'm not really familiar with the Bench Dog table but their featherboards
are excellent. I think that they also make a nice cast iron router table
extension for a table saw.

Good luck to her.

Eric

On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 21:12:39 -0600, mnterpfan
wrote:
Check out the tables at:
http://www.ttrackusa.com/router_table%20_systems.html

They are 1 1/2 inch thick, laminated both sides, with mini t-tracks to
hold and adjust the fence. Also, the new table at ttrackusa has a miter
slot and t-track at the front. (This is not shown on the picture on the
website, but I picked one up that way at as recent show.) The Rousseau
router plate makes a nice upgrade to the lexan plate. Show prices are
great, internet prices are pretty good, shipping prices are possibly
steep. If you live in Atlanta, go to the store.

The Uni-T Fence sections are really nice but don't come with the package
deal. You could probably work that out with a phone call. The website
doesn't have the option though.

The Rockler table has slots cut through the table to hold and adjust the
fence. That leaves exposed mdf. Also, their table is only 1 1/8 inch
thick. They do have a nicer legset that has nice optional casters. I
live in Minneapolis area where there are four Rockler stores locally. I
really like them and get a lot of products there. However, I was not
impressed with their brand of router tables.

I'm not really familiar with the Bench Dog table but their featherboards
are excellent. I think that they also make a nice cast iron router table
extension for a table saw.

Good luck to her.

Eric
Eric,
thanks for the lead. I've been looking for a table top only and sent
an email to Rockler since I couldn't find JUST a top in their catalog
or online store. I have not heard back from them. The top you
referenced looked good but they don't say how large the plate opening
is. I have a Jessem Mast-R-Lift and the plate opening needs to be
large enough for that. Obviously I could route it larger myself but
that's a PITA - I will if I have to but would prefer to have it all
precut.

What is the size of the opening? LxWxT?

TWS

It is 12 x 9 x 4/10" thick. The thickness can be adjusted with levellers
on the lip though.

You might try calling them and see if they can cut one to your
dimensions. I think they do this with their aluminum fence blanks.

Eric


Eric,
thanks for the lead. I've been looking for a table top only and sent
an email to Rockler since I couldn't find JUST a top in their catalog
or online store. I have not heard back from them. The top you
referenced looked good but they don't say how large the plate opening
is. I have a Jessem Mast-R-Lift and the plate opening needs to be
large enough for that. Obviously I could route it larger myself but
that's a PITA - I will if I have to but would prefer to have it all
precut.

What is the size of the opening? LxWxT?

TWS

On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 22:25:16 -0600, mnterpfan
wrote:

It is 12 x 9 x 4/10" thick. The thickness can be adjusted with levellers
on the lip though.

You might try calling them and see if they can cut one to your
dimensions. I think they do this with their aluminum fence blanks.

Eric


Hmmm, the Jessem lift is 9 1/4 by 11 3/4. I'm not sure I like having
a 1/4 inch gap around the plate. Great place for chips to build up
and lift the workpiece off the table.

I'll think about some way to fill the gap and, if not, you've saved me
a bad purchase.

Thanks,
TWS

Screwed a benchdog right under this top.
(See http://www.patwarner.com/images/bdpwf.jpg picture link). Not
easy, but a good tool & handy. Might even want to ignore the expense
and trouble altogether, see the
http://www.patwarner.com/cutter_depth.html link for a few words on
that.
************************************************** *******
Neither cheap,
I was enlisted to help my neighbor buy a router table and router for
her husband. She wants to pick it up quickly....
She got a quote for a 893 router pc and rockler router table.
I looked at another shop and for a couple bucks less I can get the
same router and a Bench dog portable table set up...
If you guys could give me your opinion and any experiences with
these...
The one difference I can see is the Bench Dog is a portable with a
smaller table then the Rockler....
Any quality issues?
I want to take care of my friend and get him the better of the two,
unfortunately that is the only shops in the area...the router tables
are around $225.
He does a lot of cabinet work with building raised panels and
such.....
Thanks...I am more of a wood turner and don't have a ton of experience
with routers...
Toby

(toby) wrote in
om:

I was enlisted to help my neighbor buy a router table and router for
her husband. She wants to pick it up quickly....
She got a quote for a 893 router pc and rockler router table.
I looked at another shop and for a couple bucks less I can get the
same router and a Bench dog portable table set up...

I love my homebuilt, but since that's not an option...

The Adult Ed school last September replaced 3 shop made tables with the
large Bench Dog tables. I've used them for a number of projects, and they
work just fine. And they seem to stand up really well to the stress of
many users, not all of whom are particularly experienced.

Now, about the choice of router (to open a can of worms). You may want to
Google the archives for remarks on the PC 89x series, and some of its early
production issues. And you may want to consider a similar product from
Bosch or DeWalt, or, if it is to stay in the table, Hitachi.

But Bench Dog makes a very solid product.

Patriarch