[Steven Owen]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Steven. I'm from Edmonton Alberta Canada and I'm planing to buy my first router table in a few months. I'm leaning towards a Kreg, I have to do more research on dust collection since Kreg has never developed their own under table system.

It's pretty much in between Incra and Kreg. I'm leaning towards Kreg because of the micro dots, and the fact the table is a pretty shade of blue.

I'd love to tell you that shouldn't count for anything. I like the look of the Kreg table better than the Incra.

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

Hi Steven and welcome. I've only ever had one purchased table, a Lee Valley steel top. The rest have been home made. We have a very long running thread on building your own. You can search router tables on our Community Search function. You'll need a fair amount of spare time for that. It will give you an insight into what others felt were important table features. I'm sure that either of those tables are functional. Quite a few of us have used a sheet of plywood with the router bolted to the underside and a 2 x 4 clamped to the top and even that works.

 

[Stick486]

welcome Steve...
have you looked into JessEm...

 

[DesertRatTom]

Hi and welcome. I like that blue aluminum extrusion myself. As you get into this, you'll have a lot of choices to make. For a router, consider a Bosch 1617 EVSPK kit which has both a fixed and plunge base. If you want a router lift, you might cnsider buying a Triton TRA001, which is more powerful than the Bosch and has a built in lift. It costs about the same as a lift for the Bosch. The Bosch is blue, the Triton is sort of orange.

What kinds of things are you interested in making?

 

[RainMan 2.0]

Welcome to the forum fellow Canadian

I'm for Incra , not to hot and bothered about Kregs stuff other than there jigs

 

[Semipro]

Hello and welcome to the router forum, Steven. Blue a nice color.

 

[old55]

Welcome to the forum Steven.

 

[Shop guy]

Welcome to the forum, Steven.

 

[MT Stringer]

Welcome aboard

 

[Steven Owen]

Hi and welcome. I like that blue aluminum extrusion myself. As you get into this, you'll have a lot of choices to make. For a router, consider a Bosch 1617 EVSPK kit which has both a fixed and plunge base. If you want a router lift, you might cnsider buying a Triton TRA001, which is more powerful than the Bosch and has a built in lift. It costs about the same as a lift for the Bosch. The Bosch is blue, the Triton is sort of orange.

What kinds of things are you interested in making?

Cabinet doors, a stair rail, a replacement for an entry way banister are on the list.

My two router choices are between using an Incra lift with a Porter Cable Motor or the Triton 3.25 router. The Incra lift is tempting. It's above table adjustments and dust collection options are pretty nice.

I would've liked to have the Incra table but storage space is at a premium, the Kreg is more compact and can store in a tighter space.

 

[DesertRatTom]

Yup, storage space is always at a premium. I'm not much for Porter Cable these days. I have a couple of the Bosch 1617s which I use for hand held and plunge tasks. I have the Triton in the table. If you already have the Porter Cable, you can use it for freehand work.

BTW, the Triton has built in dust removal and is very good at it. I just think the 3.25 is too beefy for me to horse around freehand, but then, I'm old.. It does adjust from above the table, by the way, comes with a little crank marked for tiny incriments in height. Given what you're working on, I'd go for the higher horsepower.

You might also wish to watch some YouTube videos of Marc Sommerfeld. He sells premium router gear, but he's also an old cabinet maker and watching his technique is a serious lesson for anyone. He uses the Triton and I've learned a lot of advanced technique watching him work. He also makes matched sets for door making and other tasks, which means you don't have to reset the height when you change bits. He also turned me on to the trick of dropping a half inch grommet into the bottom of the collet, rather than trying to lift the bit an eighth 3mm above the bottom (you're not supposed to bottom a bit out).

I'm into making picture frames for my wife's art work these days. But I have a large back yard the needs some shaded seating areas, and my wife wants a little greenhouse, studio space out there as well.

 

[Danman1957]

Hi Steven,
Welcome to the forum, this is the best place to learn and share almost anything about woodworking. Nice to see a new member from our great country.

 

[DaninVan]

Hey, Steven; welcome! (from BC)

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

Steven if you are really pressed for space you can make a top that sits on a Workmate. You put cleats on the bottom of the table and open the top up until the two halves touch the cleats and that keeps it from moving around. Many of us just let our router plates sit in the table opening so that we can take them out to change bits and make initial height settings. Gravity holds the plate and router down just fine. This would allow you to prop the top against a wall or even hang it on a wall and the workmate would fold up and store when not needed too.

A number of routers are adjustable from above the table including the Hitachi M12V2, Bosch 1617 and MRC 23, Triton TRA 001, and the Milwaukee 5625 that I know of. By the way, with those plunge models if you need to use them free hand you can leave the plate on them. It makes them more stable that way.

 

[MT Stringer]

I have two 1617's. Love them. The combo has the fixed base for table mounting and the plunge for hand held operations.

I also have the Triton TRA001 mounted in a table. Heh heh, my table is a hybrid with dual routers and adjustable top so I can raise it for routing or lower it for assembly work or match the height of my work bench for supporting longer objects.

Good luck. for a table, you can make your own out of a couple of pieces of mdf and cover it with Formica or whatever you can find. I would suggest a router insert plate for the Triton that has the hole predrilled so the crank handle can fit trough. Crank the bit all the way up, it locks in place. Then change your bit with one wrench. Pretty easy, I tell ya.

In the past, I had a simple top made as I described. I clamped it to my work table and let it overhang and rest on a roller stand.

Mike

 

[DaninVan]

The Canucks are all here; pull up the router table and we'll have a game of Euchre*


*Euchre ? Card Game Rules | Bicycle Playing Cards

 

[MT Stringer]

Steve, check this out. It was my inspiration.

 

[Steven Owen]

I have two 1617's. Love them. The combo has the fixed base for table mounting and the plunge for hand held operations.

I also have the Triton TRA001 mounted in a table. Heh heh, my table is a hybrid with dual routers and adjustable top so I can raise it for routing or lower it for assembly work or match the height of my work bench for supporting longer objects.

Good luck. for a table, you can make your own out of a couple of pieces of mdf and cover it with Formica or whatever you can find. I would suggest a router insert plate for the Triton that has the hole predrilled so the crank handle can fit trough. Crank the bit all the way up, it locks in place. Then change your bit with one wrench. Pretty easy, I tell ya.

In the past, I had a simple top made as I described. I clamped it to my work table and let it overhang and rest on a roller stand.

Mike

Thanks Mike.

I'm leaning toward the Triton. That decision has been made. The money to buy a lift can go to buying a Infinity Coping Sled or a Festool Domino.

Stanley has really been cutting corners on staff over the past years. Even products made in the US don't have the same quality control as the routers they were making 5-6 years ago like the 890.

The Router Table is between a Kreg and a Incra. Incra does a better job with their mounting plate designs than Kreg.

I have to do some homework on the the Incra plate. It appears you have to drill the hole for MLP7518-AL Triton Height Adjuster rod in the Incra compatible plate yourself.

It's a bit anoying that Incra did not predrill the hole on their Triton compatible plate for the Triton Height Adjuster.

The other deciding factor for/against the Incra is, "How easy is it to remove their complex sliding fence for storage." It looks like the Incra Fence bolts from underneath and is not designed for quick and easy Fence removals like the Kreg.

 

[DesertRatTom]

Before you decide on a coping sled, watch the Marc Sommerfeld videos and see how he does rails. Working on a table using his method, you work face down and simply use MDF blocks to feed the piece in. Far easier and more accurate that the coping sled. Wanna buy my coping sled? Only slightly used.

I recently replaced my Rockler plate with a Woodpecker plate, which has a really nice twist lock insert so you don't have to unscrew the insert, find the screws and screw them back in. It isn't cheap, but it is extra thick in addition to the twist lock. Again, my decision on this was informed by the Sommerfeld videos and the method he uses. I've popped for his matched sets because they are so nice to use and don't require special gear to make them work well.

I don't want to seem a tout for his stuff, I don't get a toaster or anything, but after fiddling around with this method and that, this jig and that, this tool and that, I found his simple and direct methods produce equal or better outcomes. I've spent a lot of bucks over the years that I could have spent on elegant material.

BTW, my mom was Canadian, does that count?

 

[Steven Owen]

Before you decide on a coping sled, watch the Marc Sommerfeld videos and see how he does rails. Working on a table using his method, you work face down and simply use MDF blocks to feed the piece in. Far easier and more accurate that the coping sled. Wanna buy my coping sled? Only slightly used.

I recently replaced my Rockler plate with a Woodpecker plate, which has a really nice twist lock insert so you don't have to unscrew the insert, find the screws and screw them back in. It isn't cheap, but it is extra thick in addition to the twist lock. Again, my decision on this was informed by the Sommerfeld videos and the method he uses. I've popped for his matched sets because they are so nice to use and don't require special gear to make them work well.

I don't want to seem a tout for his stuff, I don't get a toaster or anything, but after fiddling around with this method and that, this jig and that, this tool and that, I found his simple and direct methods produce equal or better outcomes. I've spent a lot of bucks over the years that I could have spent on elegant material.

BTW, my mom was Canadian, does that count?

Given all insanity going on down south for the past 7 months. I think they'll be a lot more former Americans; soon to be Canadians on the forum soon.:grin: