[Herb Stoops]

Just received this , a new Incra router lift,made by Jessem for those who use metric. Jessem are in my opinion the best lifts on the market. That said, I don't know why they came out with the 4 hole /tiny screw inserts.

https://www.incra.com/manuals/INCRA_Mast-R-Lift-II_Metric.pdf

Years ago (70's) I had a Craftsman router in a Craftsman benchtop table and the table inserts had those tiny screws in the insert. I was changing inserts and lost a screw, when I turned on the router,I found out where it went, ruined the router is the moral of this story.

Herb

 

[Herb Stoops]

As an aside to the above, I have a Rockler lift in a table that does the same, and I do like @ Cherryville Chuck suggested a long time ago to put a button magnet on the screwdriver when removing and installing the screws.
Herb

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

The magnet works like a charm doesn't it. I have thick fumble style fingers and I can't grip anything much smaller than 1/4" reliably.

I'm assuming when you say a metric lift that the adjustment scale is in metric? If you are making a home made jig that needs to adjust and you want to be able to measure the adjustment then using a 3/8" by 16 thread bolt allows that since every full turn moves the jig 1/16". But it's the only SAE bolt with that thread pitch. There are a few different size metric bolts that have 1mm thread pitch which means that every full turn will move the jig 1mm so going metric gives you more options in available sizes.

 

[Herb Stoops]

The magnet works like a charm doesn't it. I have thick fumble style fingers and I can't grip anything much smaller than 1/4" reliably.

I'm assuming when you say a metric lift that the adjustment scale is in metric? If you are making a home made jig that needs to adjust and you want to be able to measure the adjustment then using a 3/8" by 16 thread bolt allows that since every full turn moves the jig 1/16". But it's the only SAE bolt with that thread pitch. There are a few different size metric bolts that have 1mm thread pitch which means that every full turn will move the jig 1mm so going metric gives you more options in available sizes.

On my Jessem table that has the sidewinder crank to raise and lower the lift, the table top inserts are of the no screw type with a "C" spanner type wrench that rotates the insert to lock it.
Herb

 

[RainMan 2.0]

Nice Herb. I bought an Incra lift years ago , but haven’t found time to build the table base .
One day