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A NEW Setup Question...

2790 Views 18 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  papasombre
Hello, A few years ago several of you may remember that I was in an accident and tore-off my right arm. That accident caused me great pain and a bleak outlook for many things in my future. The arm came-off in one piece and was reattached by a surgeon that has done a lot of orthopedic work on me in years passed. I had a mediocre router table in my home wood shop and I was pretty sure my routing days were over... That accident was March 21, 2015 and my dog Jericho was providing the "thrust" that lead my flying 205 pound "me" over a huge brush pile that was bordered by a stump about 6" in diameter and 24" tall. Said stump caught my right armpit and my dog, retractable leash and arm left my body behind. Temporarily, I was unconscious and gasping for air. Jericho is highly trained and he returned to me immediately and began to cry as he realized what had occurred. I was unable to reach my cell phone - so I walked the half mile or so carrying my severed arm. Joy got me to emergency medical care, where a team went to work. They were able to get my preferred surgeon to me. I had severed blood vessels, nerves, ligaments, tendons, muscles, you name it. Bones were broken and they quickly gave me strong medication during most of my treatment. What you have just read is "The Reader's Digest Version" as it's really a long and terrible story. It took 8 - surgeries to get everything working properly and now I am blessed beyond imagination in that I have full use of all 5 - digits!
I'm still inventing things as many of you are well aware. Many of my products are construction products - used in the concrete forming process. There are over 7,000 shapes and sizes of my POCKET FORM ISOLATOR product line and they are being sold worldwide in the non-communist countries.

The reason for my writing this is that I've purchased two "Kreg Precision Router Tables" and one Triton TRA-001 Router to be mounted in the Router Table. I've been atrociously busy with a number of projects (we are thankful for this), so my time availability is in bits and pieces, but I am currently doing assembly of the table "fence" - which seems straightforward.
Interestingly, I shopped online (after deciding on the Kreg / Triton setup) and discovered that the lowest price for the Table was from Rockler, or for one nickle more; I could get it from my local Ace Hardware Store (7 minutes away). Atlanta traffic is horrendous and on a good day it takes an hour for me to get to Rockler, so I opted to spend the extra $0.05 and save the driving! I ordered the Triton TRA-001 from Highland Woodworking and they had a great price on it and it was here in less than 48 hours.
The Ace Hardware called and said the Router Table (3 - boxes) were ready for my pickup, so I went fairly soon. The large flat box (the table surface) was quite damaged. The store owner said, "Take it home, all three boxes and we will get you a new one." That what I did. When the new one arrived, I got a call and I was told to come and get it. I asked if I should bring everything or just the tabletop? He said they got all 3 - new boxes. I took my 3 - boxes from home back up there and I told them all I needed to trade-out was the table top. I had inspected the damaged tabletop while it was at my home and the only thing damaged was the 24x32 top - nothing else was damaged! I said that I would love to buy the contents minus the damaged top and they said, "It's free to you because Ace Warehouse damaged it!" I inquired about the other stand (neither was damaged) and he sold me the other one for $159.00 They ordered me the casters that are recommended for that stand (4 - per stand) for $59.00 per set and now I have two!

My plan is to build a VERY STURDY rolling (but lockable) T-Track Table to be built into one of the stands (for routing with any one of my hand-held routers) and use the other as intended with the Triton TRA-001.

My questions are:
1. Does anyone have photos to share of T-Track table(s) similar to what I've described?
2. Do users of the TRA-001 require table-mounted router ON/OFF switches for safety?

Thanks SO MUCH!

Otis Polk Guillebeau III
Auburn, Georgia USA
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Otis I don't know where I was but I had heard nothing of your ordeal and wondered where you were. Sorry to hear that it happened but am in praise to God of the progress made!!!

I have the Triton TRA-001 Router mounted in the table. A safety feature would be the table mounted switch but it is also a huge convenience to turn it on and off standing at the table than to crawl under the table and manually turn the router off. I had not thought of it until now but a Deadman footswitch (On When standing on it.. Off When the foot lifts) might be something one could use for most applications. I have nothing on the T-Track tables. It sounds like you already have a vision for it..... should work.
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Otis,

I hadn't heard the story either. One thing is for sure, I need to apologize to my dogs.... I have accused them of trying to kill me when we are out on walks.... I guess it could be much worse!

Glad you are doing well, and still pursuing the hobby. It is amazing what the body can heal. Thank the Lord it has turned out OK.

Lots of videos and instructables on how to install T track in the tops.

Installing T-Track // Assembly Table Build Part 2 - YouTube
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G’day Otis glad to see things improved for you. I can remember Jericho taking you through the brush pile but never the damage caused to you. I can remember contacting you about using a halti harness for Jericho to keep him in check which from memory you purchased. Is he still going?
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Otis, your story today is the first I've heard of it. I was stunned to read it. Your recovery to date is absolutely remarkable. God bless you and I wish you all the best.
You're in someone's good book.
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I applaud your surgeon and medical crew for a job well done and I congratulate you for the guts, determination and persistence to do the physical therapy necessary to get you back to your current condition. Well done!!
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Thanks so much guys for the good wishes and encouragement! Sincerely I was of the belief that my "routering days" were over. And TRUE TO THE MAX - GOD has blessed me mightily. Even my surgeon has commented that he doubted that I would ever be able to "shake his hand again"! I've had quite a few mishaps and surgeries (3 - melanomas) and this is the same surgeon that repaired both of Joy's knees with compartmental replacements several years ago. On the 21st of June (this month) we have a small surgery planned to removed a "bursa" from my elbow. I don't normally worry too much about GQ appearance (cause it would be false hopes), but the large lump on my left elbow got so large that I felt need to wear long-sleeved shirts! Short-sleeved shirts had lots of people asking what happened to the elbow.
There was no pain whatsoever, but I have gotten tired of strangers asking about it.
Doug, thanks for the link about T-Track! I studied it carefully. I actually made a T-Track surface that's 34" x 27" with a center cross of tracks using "store-bought" intersection and in two of the "quadrants" I've added diagonal tracks. I still have two Porter-Cable 690 Routers. When I gave-away my Inexpensive Router Table (that I purchased used) I gave the guy one of my 690's (fixed base) and numerous templates - so he could go into immediate production of the Garden Flag Holders that Joy had designed. Book Stores were buying them as fast as I could make them - but I just enjoyed making the templates and the end product, but if Jericho had thumbs and could use a router...He and his wife wanted a small business with a woodworking opportunity, so we set him up in business!
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Welcome back Otis. I had not heard about the accident like so many others. I'm glad you are back in the shop and ready to work on things.

Keep us posted on the projects you are working on.
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Wow....Glad to hear that you are on the improve, Otis....

I use my Triton in the Oak Park table, and have no problem reaching under to switch off/on...

The Triton table does have a safety switch and I will send photos of that switch.

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This is the Triton safety switch....
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Hello, A few years ago several of you may remember that I was in an accident and tore-off my right arm. That accident caused me great pain and a bleak outlook for many things in my future. The arm came-off in one piece and was reattached by a surgeon that has done a lot of orthopedic work on me in years passed. I had a mediocre router table in my home wood shop and I was pretty sure my routing days were over... That accident was March 21, 2015 and my dog Jericho was providing the "thrust" that lead my flying 205 pound "me" over a huge brush pile that was bordered by a stump about 6" in diameter and 24" tall. Said stump caught my right armpit and my dog, retractable leash and arm left my body behind. Temporarily, I was unconscious and gasping for air. Jericho is highly trained and he returned to me immediately and began to cry as he realized what had occurred. I was unable to reach my cell phone - so I walked the half mile or so carrying my severed arm. Joy got me to emergency medical care, where a team went to work. They were able to get my preferred surgeon to me. I had severed blood vessels, nerves, ligaments, tendons, muscles, you name it. Bones were broken and they quickly gave me strong medication during most of my treatment. What you have just read is "The Reader's Digest Version" as it's really a long and terrible story. It took 8 - surgeries to get everything working properly and now I am blessed beyond imagination in that I have full use of all 5 - digits!
I'm still inventing things as many of you are well aware. Many of my products are construction products - used in the concrete forming process. There are over 7,000 shapes and sizes of my POCKET FORM ISOLATOR product line and they are being sold worldwide in the non-communist countries.

The reason for my writing this is that I've purchased two "Kreg Precision Router Tables" and one Triton TRA-001 Router to be mounted in the Router Table. I've been atrociously busy with a number of projects (we are thankful for this), so my time availability is in bits and pieces, but I am currently doing assembly of the table "fence" - which seems straightforward.
Interestingly, I shopped online (after deciding on the Kreg / Triton setup) and discovered that the lowest price for the Table was from Rockler, or for one nickle more; I could get it from my local Ace Hardware Store (7 minutes away). Atlanta traffic is horrendous and on a good day it takes an hour for me to get to Rockler, so I opted to spend the extra $0.05 and save the driving! I ordered the Triton TRA-001 from Highland Woodworking and they had a great price on it and it was here in less than 48 hours.
The Ace Hardware called and said the Router Table (3 - boxes) were ready for my pickup, so I went fairly soon. The large flat box (the table surface) was quite damaged. The store owner said, "Take it home, all three boxes and we will get you a new one." That what I did. When the new one arrived, I got a call and I was told to come and get it. I asked if I should bring everything or just the tabletop? He said they got all 3 - new boxes. I took my 3 - boxes from home back up there and I told them all I needed to trade-out was the table top. I had inspected the damaged tabletop while it was at my home and the only thing damaged was the 24x32 top - nothing else was damaged! I said that I would love to buy the contents minus the damaged top and they said, "It's free to you because Ace Warehouse damaged it!" I inquired about the other stand (neither was damaged) and he sold me the other one for $159.00 They ordered me the casters that are recommended for that stand (4 - per stand) for $59.00 per set and now I have two!

My plan is to build a VERY STURDY rolling (but lockable) T-Track Table to be built into one of the stands (for routing with any one of my hand-held routers) and use the other as intended with the Triton TRA-001.

My questions are:
1. Does anyone have photos to share of T-Track table(s) similar to what I've described?
2. Do users of the TRA-001 require table-mounted router ON/OFF switches for safety?

Thanks SO MUCH!

Otis Polk Guillebeau III
Auburn, Georgia USA
I have a Rockler T-Track table still in the box. haven't got to the point of setting it up
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Wow what a horrific story. Sure glad you have fully recovered.
I am in the process of building a 6 intersection T-track table. Being a conservative guy I used both screws and epoxy glue. Mistake! At the intersections the mitered ends of the T-trac "pushed" the glue to the mitered joint. Very difficult to clean up. The table top is 3/4" material and 3/8" screws are more that sufficient.
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Cool story, Otis.
Would have liked to help you with the T track, but I build a table for ea router set up.
You are very blessed. I'm sure you remind HIM regularly.
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Welcome to the forum, @AEW
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What an inspiring note. While battling cancer I have relied heavily on Psalms 118:24. Just get out of bed and live the day. I am happy to see that you are so determined to rejoice and be glad for today. Keep on truckin' brother.
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Welcome to the forum @AEW
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Otis, my dear friend.
This is the first time I read about your accident story. An impressive fact but, thanks to God, your wild spirit allowed you to get well.
Hope you will be with us for a long time.
God bless Jerico.
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