Replies

1. 
   Routerman | Feb 21, 2006 01:20am | #1

   Try this RT link, spells out the essentials, you take it from there.

    

    

2. 
   sailalex | Feb 21, 2006 03:21pm | #2

   One alternative that was suggested to me by another forum member was the steel top sold by Lee Valley (Veritas). It was a nice alternative with plenty of attachments at reasonable prices and instructions for a stand to hold it. You might look at that possibility.

3. 
   eddiehaskell | Feb 21, 2006 09:17pm | #3

   Any advice you get on this subject from Routerman is going to be good advice.  But as an alternative I might suggest you look at some of the router tables at the big boxes.  I saw one at Lowe's recently with a Bosch nameplate on it that looked very similar to a Benchdog I"ve seen alot of.  Nice table, very portable, under 200 bucks.  But, it depends on what you're needs and requrements are.  Good Luck.

    

4. 
   forestgirl | Feb 22, 2006 08:14pm | #4

   Bill, I struggled with the router table decision for a long, long time.  Set my sights on the Veritas steel router table top from Lee Valley, and actually got mine from another WWer here at Knots.  It gets you up and running really fast and has several advantages over other tables.

   You can make as simple or elaborate base for it as you desire.  Mine is on a 1"x2" frame that hinges off the side of the table saw.  Took maybe an hour to make.  At some point, I will make a big Norm-type cabinet for it.  It will stay flat and not sag, even with a heavy 3+HP router in it, and the universal clamping system means you can put any router into it without worrying about making a new baseplate.  And, being steel, magnetic accessories work with it (Grip Tite featherboards most notably).  Though I don't have the fence (yet), I have one acquaintance who uses it and the sled, has made a number of pieces with it and says it works great.

   This system and it's accessories are very affordable and made quite well.  You won't find it showing up in the magazine reviews though, a topic of some heated discussion here awhile back.

   Here (click) is a very old web page I made when I first set the table up.  The links are outdated, so don't try to use them for Lee Valley visits.  I have since replaced the Porter Cable 690 with a Freud FT1000-whatever-model 3+HP plunge router.  The changeover took about 10 minutes to reset the clamp.

   Enjoy the hunt.

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)