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Finally Bought a Router Lift (Woodpecker PRL V2)

4526 Views 13 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  tulowd, 
M
Around the holidays I bought my first router lift. It replaced a Rousseau plate I had used in a table saw extension with my DEWALT DW 625 since the 90s. Here is the new setup.
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The Rousseau and Woodpecker plates are different sizes. Fortunately the Woodpecker lift is larger in at least one dimension. I was able to enlarge the hole to fit, drop it in and get to work.

I made my own router plate template by first using the lift plate itself as a template. I then tested the template in scrap to make sure it worked well, then used it in enlarge the hole in my existing table saw extension, and soon I use it again to make the opening in a new and larger extension.

After some initial headaches with the lift that required weeks to work through with the manufacturer, I am now one happy router (camper). The result is now a lift that works as sweet as one could hope. And boy is it fast and accurate. I expect this to last until I can no longer work with wood.

If any of you PRL V2 lift owners have issues with your calibration ring not rotating accurately as you turn the fine-adjust thumb wheel, let me know. I may have a simple fix for you.











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Cherryville Chuck
Hi mbrun and welcome. Woodpecker makes quality products but the price can be hard to digest at times.

When you get a chance edit your profile so we have a name or nickname to refer to you by. We hate referring to people as N/A.
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bryansong
Very nice job working through that m, bet you’ll appreciate the quality and ease of use of that for years to come.
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DesertRatTom
A lift definitely spoils ya. Happy event.
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Stick486
Welcome N/A to the forums...

nice execution...
Can I ask what you did for dust collection???
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Bstrom
Cherryville Chuck said:
Hi mbrun and welcome. Woodpecker makes quality products but the price can be hard to digest at times.
Click to expand...
I agree the Woodpecker brand is a premium one but if you’re going to invest for the long term and get the most out of your tools, the best is usually worth it. The Kreg router fence is a good example of a well designed tool but requires their table - also an expensive proposition. I’m quite happy with my Jessem lift retrofit into the Bosh table and am glad it wasn’t a compromise solution. Just shows that we need to look long range to make these choices.
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M
Stick486 said:
Welcome N/A to the forums...

nice execution...
Can I ask what you did for dust collection???
Click to expand...


I added a box with door about 12x13x15 beneath the router. See below:


I tapped into the DC line that serves the table saw. Although the picture does not show it, I added an air intake on the top left with a movable cover that I can adjust as needed to keep the DC from being starved. Air flow is from top left to bottom right.

I have been quite pleased so far with how it works. I have done both edge routing and grooves so far and each resulted in minimal dust left on the table. A far cry from the performance without the box and DC.


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Cherryville Chuck
It's not just your DC you have to worry about starving for air. You also need to worry about starving the router for cooling air. If you can sense that the router is getting very hot in there then you need to either open up the box or get rid of it. The cooler your router runs the longer it is likely to last you.
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Stick486
Cherryville Chuck said:
It's not just your DC you have to worry about starving for air. You also need to worry about starving the router for cooling air. If you can sense that the router is getting very hot in there then you need to either open up the box or get rid of it. The cooler your router runs the longer it is likely to last you.
Click to expand...
Woodshop Dust Control.....
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tulowd
2
Very nice. I have only used mine once, half heartedly, but will be firing it up sometime in the spring to make various panels for the car.

Boxed in the PC router and added a blast gate inlet and D/C outlet to the enclosure, so fresh air can be ingested to cool the router, while creating an air path for the D/C outlet and above table ingestion to get some assistance.

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Stick486
add a ''snorkel'' for motor air supply and cooling..
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M
tulowd said:
Very nice. I have only used mine once, half heartedly, but will be firing it up sometime in the spring to make various panels for the car.



Boxed in the PC router and added a blast gate inlet and D/C outlet to the enclosure, so fresh air can be ingested to cool the router, while creating an air path for the D/C outlet and above table ingestion to get some assistance.
Click to expand...


TULOWD that is a pretty cool use of a plastic tub. Quick and easy and you can see that the box is being kept clean.


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M
Stick486 said:
add a ''snorkel'' for motor air supply and cooling..
Click to expand...

I like to think of this version of the box as a prototype. I mostly wanted to see the degree to which the box with DC collected the dust. In part, I wanted to see if I really wanted to go the extra step of venting the fence. Based on my experiments, not so sure I will add DC to the fence.

Up to this point I have never had DC at my router. Always had a big mess to clean up. The box with DC is proving already to be a gem.

I have read about the snorkel idea and can see its merits. Perhaps the version of box that makes it onto the new extension will have it. Good bet I will be taking some baseline and afterwards temperature measurements.


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tulowd
mbrun said:
TULOWD that is a pretty cool use of a plastic tub. Quick and easy and you can see that the box is being kept clean.


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Click to expand...

Thank You; the lid also pops off easily for cleanout, the inlet gate is where the router power cord runs to the speed controller and switches. Walmart box $20 CAD, about an hour of work. In my case the table top limits the depth of the box compared to a full size table setup. I couldn't stomach the price for the Incra or Woodpecker dust boxes until I at least tried making one and seeing how it really works with my setup....in the spring when the door can be open lol
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