Hello all. I have been needing to set up a router table with lift for a while now but have been thrown off by the cost of both tables and router lifts. At least with the lifts I can see a lot of engineering and machine work to justify the cost. The tables not so much.
The router I have to work with is a Dewalt DW621. If you have seen one of these you know it is not very conducive to being able to fit on any currently marketed router lift that I have found. During my search for such an animal I ran across the Router Raizor. I like the concept and price was great...but I could not get the thought out of my head that the way it is installed on the Dewalt reduces some of the rigidity of the motor to base mount. It effectively replaces one of the columns with the threaded shaft assembly. To me it looks like it reduces some of the support the original column provides to resist twisting of the motor around the remaining shaft. It might not be the case but that was my thoughts.
So I set out to design, build, and install my own version utilizing the already present components of the depth stop. I removed the threaded shaft from the original stop along with the multi position rotating stop it intersects with. I then transferred the position of the center line of that shaft down to the base of the router. I removed the base and took it over to my mill and drilled/bored the hole location to fit a bronze bushing. You can see in the pics that I installed a bushing from both sides to allow the adjusting nut and stop collar to give a bearing surface for each. I installed a piece of metric all thread and my router lift was born. The nut I used was round so I had to machine it to a hex for a 21mm socket. The nut sticks up above the base 6.5mm so I will have to use a router lift table insert that is 3/8" thick to provide clearance and bore the required access hole to clear the 21mm socket. The original depth gage adjustment is still functional and will be used for rough positioning and the nut for fine tuning the height.
I have provided a few pics below. One of the pics is of the parts I sourced from McMaster Carr. The total price was $37.50. $14.50 of that was shipping, which is shocking.
My next project is to build the router table and lift insert. My plan is to use Corian counter top and machine it for the router lift table insert and t-track. For the insert I plan on using a 3/8" thick piece of Mic6 cast aluminum tooling plate. That will be a future post after I can find the counter top on Craigslist and the Mic6 from Ebay.
Thanks for looking,
Rob
The router I have to work with is a Dewalt DW621. If you have seen one of these you know it is not very conducive to being able to fit on any currently marketed router lift that I have found. During my search for such an animal I ran across the Router Raizor. I like the concept and price was great...but I could not get the thought out of my head that the way it is installed on the Dewalt reduces some of the rigidity of the motor to base mount. It effectively replaces one of the columns with the threaded shaft assembly. To me it looks like it reduces some of the support the original column provides to resist twisting of the motor around the remaining shaft. It might not be the case but that was my thoughts.
So I set out to design, build, and install my own version utilizing the already present components of the depth stop. I removed the threaded shaft from the original stop along with the multi position rotating stop it intersects with. I then transferred the position of the center line of that shaft down to the base of the router. I removed the base and took it over to my mill and drilled/bored the hole location to fit a bronze bushing. You can see in the pics that I installed a bushing from both sides to allow the adjusting nut and stop collar to give a bearing surface for each. I installed a piece of metric all thread and my router lift was born. The nut I used was round so I had to machine it to a hex for a 21mm socket. The nut sticks up above the base 6.5mm so I will have to use a router lift table insert that is 3/8" thick to provide clearance and bore the required access hole to clear the 21mm socket. The original depth gage adjustment is still functional and will be used for rough positioning and the nut for fine tuning the height.
I have provided a few pics below. One of the pics is of the parts I sourced from McMaster Carr. The total price was $37.50. $14.50 of that was shipping, which is shocking.
My next project is to build the router table and lift insert. My plan is to use Corian counter top and machine it for the router lift table insert and t-track. For the insert I plan on using a 3/8" thick piece of Mic6 cast aluminum tooling plate. That will be a future post after I can find the counter top on Craigslist and the Mic6 from Ebay.
Thanks for looking,
Rob
