Hello all,
Ran into this forum while doing some research on router tables and router lifts. I'm a small one man shop of a general contractor in Seattle doing remodels and restorations. I currently have a rather large project of completly restoring an occupied 10,000 sf mansion built in the late 1800's and in need lots of love from decades of neglect and taking it back to it's original glory. The owner is the principle of a big architecture firm here in town and he's hell bent on doing in the original style and features. Which is great. I'm loving it. He is the third owner. The second owner was a single seattle police officer that as one of the first of many crimes of craftsmanship he committed during his ownership he installed a ten inch diameter fire pole from the ball room on the third floor all the way to the basement because he could and he turned the whole house into a swinging bachelor's pad in the 50's and 60's and couldn't sell it in the 70's so he let it run down and it sat empty for many years until it became the scourge of the neighborhood until the current owner bought it 18 years ago. The current owner had great intensions of doing all the remodeling himself but with five kids and a demanding career himself doing a lifetimes worth of work to build this place back to life on the weekends was just to much and his wife had finally had enough of always living in a construction project of some sort so she gave him an ultimatum and this is where I came in. Long story short.
So what I came here for was to get opinions on a very good router lift and table set up. I have miles of different trim styles with details I need to match and I need a really good, reliable, accurate router table to run them through. I know I can take a sample to a fabricator to have it matched but sometimes it's just quicker and easier to make it myself not to mention boatloads cheaper. Last year when I took some trim to get duplicated and I told them of the house I'm sure they must have tagged on a premium just because of the history of the house. so I'm taking a different approach this year. I've been thinking about the Bench Dog Router lift and portable table. Can anybody weigh in on this one? Rockler has a product but it looks like it will come apart at the seams after a short period of use.
Anyway there is my intro and I'll look forward to hearing your comments and staying in touch with the forum here.
Happy trails
BjR
Ran into this forum while doing some research on router tables and router lifts. I'm a small one man shop of a general contractor in Seattle doing remodels and restorations. I currently have a rather large project of completly restoring an occupied 10,000 sf mansion built in the late 1800's and in need lots of love from decades of neglect and taking it back to it's original glory. The owner is the principle of a big architecture firm here in town and he's hell bent on doing in the original style and features. Which is great. I'm loving it. He is the third owner. The second owner was a single seattle police officer that as one of the first of many crimes of craftsmanship he committed during his ownership he installed a ten inch diameter fire pole from the ball room on the third floor all the way to the basement because he could and he turned the whole house into a swinging bachelor's pad in the 50's and 60's and couldn't sell it in the 70's so he let it run down and it sat empty for many years until it became the scourge of the neighborhood until the current owner bought it 18 years ago. The current owner had great intensions of doing all the remodeling himself but with five kids and a demanding career himself doing a lifetimes worth of work to build this place back to life on the weekends was just to much and his wife had finally had enough of always living in a construction project of some sort so she gave him an ultimatum and this is where I came in. Long story short.
So what I came here for was to get opinions on a very good router lift and table set up. I have miles of different trim styles with details I need to match and I need a really good, reliable, accurate router table to run them through. I know I can take a sample to a fabricator to have it matched but sometimes it's just quicker and easier to make it myself not to mention boatloads cheaper. Last year when I took some trim to get duplicated and I told them of the house I'm sure they must have tagged on a premium just because of the history of the house. so I'm taking a different approach this year. I've been thinking about the Bench Dog Router lift and portable table. Can anybody weigh in on this one? Rockler has a product but it looks like it will come apart at the seams after a short period of use.
Anyway there is my intro and I'll look forward to hearing your comments and staying in touch with the forum here.
Happy trails
BjR
