bosch 1617evspk-above table adjustment

No you can't. The router base you are looking for will be the RA1165. This will give you the above-table adjustment abilty. The shaft for the fine adjustment on the fixed base that you get with the 1617EVSPK does not go through the housing and there is no hole in the base plate for teh above-table adjustment. I inquired from Bosch to get a parts diagram for the RA1165 to see if I could just swap out a couple of parts, but they will not provide that document. They tell me that there IS NO parts list for the RA1165.

All that being said, and because I have the 1617EVSPK myself, I'll tell you that the above table adjustment is not really necessary. You have to bend down and release the router clamp in the base to do any adjusting. You are PROBABLY going to be bent down eyeballing a height gauge of some kind to MAKE an adjustment. As long as you're bending over anyways, you release the clamp, set you height gauge next to the router bit, turn the adjuster right there by your hand that just released the clamp, then snap the clamp tight again when you're done.

See what I mean? You're down there anyways. If you're using brass bars for height gauging, or using a step-gauge, or a scale, then you'd have TWO hands above the table while you're bent over eyeballing the adjustment. If you adjust from under the table, the same hand that loosens and tightens the clamp, also makes the adjustment (under the table) while the hand above the table holds the height gauge.

Make sense?

Reworking Bosch 1617/1618 fixed base to RA1165 style.

The standard fixed base for the 1617/1618 series router can be reworked to make an "above the table" RA1165 type base by installing adjustment screw P/N 2610913877. The modification can only be done on the bases made from aluminum and cannot be done on the magnesium bases. The magnesium bases have attachment screw holes for the phenolic/plastic baseplate right where the "above the table" access hole needs to be drilled. (The baseplate screw holes have been relocated on the aluminum bases.) When you remove the baseplate you will see that the location for the access hole has already been partially drilled and you only need to drill it the rest of the way through.

The only glitch I've found is that the hex hole in the adjustment screw will quickly fill with wood dust and keeps the hex wrench from seating fully. To solve the problem I've cut off a short piece of the hex wrech and epoxied it into the adjustment screw. I then fabricated a wrench from a socket head bolt of the same size. You may want to redrill the hole in the aluminum base to a slightly larger size that will let chips and dust fall through. The hole in the baseplate only needs to be large enough to admit the head of the bolt used to make the new adjustment wrench.

As an additional aid, I've marked an arrow on the router insert to denote up and that 1/2 half turn equals 1/32nd inch. I've found the 1/2 or 1/4 turn increments to be quite accurate as long as sequential adjustments are made only in the UP direction. If you need to lower the router, lower the router a little lower than needed and then readjust in the upward direction.