Drugstore Cowboy

NOT necessarily a safe assumption -
I bought a Ryobi router at the Orange box not too long ago -- and went back later looking at their router tables-- They had a basic Ryobi table with some handy accessories at a good price and I ALMOST bought it -- until I noticed it was bored for a 3 hole base -- and mine had 4.
So much for brand consistancy.

But back to the 17543 -
I bought one a few weeks ago and just finished a mantel that gave me an excuse to play a little with it a little more.
Confirmed most of my initial impressions listed earlier.
Wish it DID have a D handle -- my hands like those better.

The only BIG issue I have is the position of the power switch --
I don't like not being able to reach it with both hands on the handles.
I'm thinking of getting a 'dead-man' foot switch for my router table --
May just use that for hand held work too.
For that matter --
Since I mainly bought the Craftsman for its half inch collet and the ability to use larger bits for molding etc ----
It may spend most of its time in my table.
That eliminates all three negatives.

Keep the Ryobi for handheld work.

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neoshed

you could be right cowboy....anyways I only have to do one hole as it's centred with the two that fit.

Drugstore Cowboy

That's what I'm sayin
You might have had that same work -- or more -- to do even if you had bought the Craftsman one.

Glad it was that easy for you.
I wound up building my own -- and by the time I got through tweaking it --
It cost more than a commercial one.

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neoshed

well for the money the bosch one was vs me building it I think I saved money with the bosch

herbfellows

You probably already know this, but the price of 1/4 in and 1/2 in is usually exactly the same. Better off with 1/2 in for 99 % of work.

Drugstore Cowboy

I'm willing to bet you did --
I know I would have - and it would have definitely been lighter -
I have a bad habit of tweaking and adding 'just one more thing' until . . . .

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herbfellows

Cman, I'm in the same boat as you are, a newbie. If I understand correctly, you were asking if you could remove the sub base for use in the router table? I think you're supposed to, at least I did. The first time I set it up I didn't and then I finally read a blurb somewhere that said you should. I think this is one of those things that the regulars find to be so basic that they don't even mention it, it's assumed. Of course, you and I assume nothing! I bought the two base Bosch and the two base Craftsman because I got it on sale for about $85. I figured at that price, I'll always have a back up, so I'm interested in hearing about your experiences in particular as we are both at the same 'skill level'; none! (but soon to be experts, I'm sure :-)!)

challagan

Hmmm.. never heard of them Tim other than it sounds similar to Ryobi's parent company which is OTT or OTI something like that. I wonder if that is the US distributor branch of that company.

Corey

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Mike

Tim, Sears jobs out different models to different companies, so you never know for sure. One exception is the discontinued 26620 which is a clone of the Bosch 1617 and built by Bosch.

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Den69RS96

I just received the 17543 router for Christmas. I quickly noticed the small base. I checked Sears website and found that they offer 6 different sub bases for the fixed based and 6 different sub bases for the plunge for the 17543 router combo so you can fit up to a 3 inch bit if neccessary. These will fit the bill if you don't want to make your own bases. Each base package is $19.99 so for both the fixed and plunge your looking at $40. I think its kinda of crappy that you have to buy different bases so you can use larger bits, but I think the router combo is still a pretty good deal. I found the bases on sears website under tools/power tool accessories/router table and attachments.