unlimitedwoodworker

well i decided to do a little review on my router background

I use a black and deckar router. Since i'm 17 i cant "Choose" i get what ever is on sale which was $39 regular 79 i think it is unfortunte it has to be that way but thats how it is. That router has been really good for me, has never broken on me, but when i came to my shop in the AM about a year ago it was in the floor have no clue how it fell but the case is cracked by the handle so the handle moves but it has never failed for me, i use my grandpa's fixed Craftsman on my router table, before i used my grandpas i used my plunge on the router table, you guys know what thats like im sure, what a pain for setting the height! now with the fixed base craftsman its a dream, all you do is turn the height to where you want it, loosen the lock and slide it up! i make boxes and signs.

JEFF


please escuse the trash, its clean now.

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challagan

That router table was my first router table back a long time ago. It did the job It shold have a sliding carriage somewhere.

Corey

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My Carving Website: The Iowa Woodcarver
http://iowacarver.tripod.com/

My Shop Website - Woodshop 51503
http://woodshop51503.tripod.com/

harrysin

Jeff, I don't want to dampen you're enthusiasm,but PLEASE don't attempt any routing until you can post a photo of a clear bench and workshop. I look forward to such a photo.

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Harry

unlimitedwoodworker

I DEFINATELY will not do that, i just got back into the hobby, you guys know how everything else goes to crap when u dont use it :-) i will definately will be posting pictures of a clean shop soon, i plan on moving the router table anywase.
Jeff

unlimitedwoodworker

well you asked for it harrysin i decided to go take pics before i get off at 2AM LOL i put the router on the shelf until i find out how i want my shop set up.

Mike

This is an interesting idea Jeff, I'm sure some of the responses will be very educational. My first routing work was actually done free hand in metal with a die grinder. This was cutting steel door jambs for lock hardware. I worked as operations manager for a very unusual locksmith shop. We were all factory trained by Trio-Ving for installation of Ving Card keyless entry systems. We had 2 hotel crews traveling the country and the Caribean installing locks in hotel doors. We even did custom work for the Sovereign of the Seas, at that time the worlds largest cruise ship. I never got to travel, I was stuck in the office and doing all the local work. We had special mortising machines which used Craftsman routers to cut the cavities in the doors for the lock mechanisims. You clamped the machine onto the door edge, started the router and cranked a handle which moved the router in a rectangle and then stepped it deeper into the door. My first router was a 1-1/2 HP Craftsman with a nice worklight built in. It served me well for 20 years until Bob and Rick showed me a whole new world of routing. These days I do demonstrations for others with a Router Workshop table and some of their jigs. Simple really is better.

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Mike

challagan

Jeff my first router table and router is the exact same set up you show there. Same router table which I sold about 2 years ago. I still have that router ..1 1/2 with the dust chute bag etc. It's just an extra one at this point that I hang on to. Still works great. I bought the Benchdog Pro Top Contractor which was a great improvement over the previous table. and the Dewalt 618 with plunge and fixed base... I love that router. I bought the DW 615 to go into the Bench Dog. Best routers I have ever owned. I recently built a mini router table using a colt router to handle all my smallish jobs and mounted it to a 7 inch Oak Park plate. I am in the process of making a new table using the Oak Park router table top with the chip exhaust and building my own cabinet. I have grown to like the set up of the OP table and this way I can use the Incra on it as well.
I have been routing for around 20-25 years. The router was always a secondary tool.... round overs and mostly edge treatments. After getting online I have discovered so much more that the router can do and when I found Bob and Rick here I discovered even more! Still plenty to learn.

Corey

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My Carving Website: The Iowa Woodcarver
http://iowacarver.tripod.com/

My Shop Website - Woodshop 51503
http://woodshop51503.tripod.com/

RustyW

I also started with a cheap Craftsman router I purchased new about 12 years ago. Then I picked up another at a yard sale mounted to a flimsy Craftsman table for $5. I rarely used either because they were a pain to adjust and a nightmare to change bits on the one under the table. Then a couple years ago I saw these two guys on tv making amazing stuff on a homemade router table. The table was very simple and they used a chunk of plastic for a fence. But the best part was the router was mounted to a square plastic plate. So the whole thing could be lifted out for adjustments and bit changes. I had never seen that before. Immediatley after the show I went out and bought a real router(PC 9690 which I no longer own). Then started searching the net for table designs and a plate(and put both craftsmans on ebay). I figured those 2 guys must have site and thats how I found this forum. I now have 2 verticle and 1 horizontal table,and 4 routers. And tomorrow when my new bits get here from Grizzly, I will have over 100. So even though I've tinkerd in woodworking for many years. I credit (blame) Bob, Rick, and all the great members on this forum for my current addiction.

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Rusty

If You Want It Bad, You Get It Bad The Worse You Want It, The Worse You Get It

harrysin

Jeff., I really am proud of you, that workshop looks ready for action, but please tell me, what happened to all the debris?
Regarding routing history, I first heard the word ROUTER in about 1965 at which time I was told that it was the most versatile of woodworking tools but it wasn't until 1975 that I purchased my first one, a Black & Decker which looked like a normal drill with a simple base. I used it a lot for edging then I "invented" a template guide which enabled me to rout around Masonite patterns. I used the word invented because it was some years later that I realised such things were readily available for more sophisticated routers,that's when I bought a 1/4" Bosch plunge router which I still use for small jobs. In 2000 after retiring, I met with Template Tom and my routing career really took off, by then I had a 2.5hp Bosch variable speed 1/2" router which was fixed in the table. Whilst attending lessons with Tom I bought a 3hp Makita variable speed plunge router which has been my main machine since. I know that I go on a bit, but that's one of the problems of old age!

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Harry

unlimitedwoodworker

thanks harrysin alot of the debris was trash and i just organized and compacted stuff
Jeff.