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Update on kreg...

8.2K views 15 replies 9 participants last post by  Jimwarren  
#1 ·
So it's been a few weeks with my triton and kreg, and all has been well...

Reason for the post is this: its been a few weeks and the thing is sagging quite a bit already... About .040...

I already returned a top to kreg for .018 of sag, now this one exceeded...

This is where I need the experts of this forums advice: does this affect anything? I would think this could throw off a route being square.

What would you do in my situation?

Thanks Ricky
 

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#3 ·
Actually, the sag will cause an edge profile to have a different depth along the length of the edge. Is .04" that much? It's > 1/32 which will be visible to the eye in many situations. Consider a rabbet joint - somewhere along that rabbet will be a .04" gap while in other places it will be tight..

At this point, you have four choices - live with it, return it for a new one, return it for your money or fix what you have.

If I recall correctly, shimming was earlier suggested as an approach. I'd bet you could get it to fairly flat.

Personally, I prefer to make my own top. Cheaper and you can use more durable materials than 3/4" MDF.
 
#4 ·
is it possible to just double up? cut a 1" thick board, and glue it to the under side of the kreg?
If not, then its a money back job and move onto something more substantial.

I made my own table from a yard square kitchen work surface off cut. Its 1 1/2" think.
Funny thing is, I bought a Kreg mounting plate, and its not completely square. After reading your problems, kreg wont be on my shopping list in the future.
 
#5 · (Edited)
I was going to mention torsion box , but as I'm looking at the pic I thought it was the router mounting plate that was bent and not so much the table so I kiboshed that idea . Can't get a good enough look from that pic to access .
I know the Kreg plate at our plywood store was less than straight so I opted out of that product entirely.
I'm liking Incra as they use a thick aluminum plate. I'm building a torsion box under there table regardless though
 
#6 ·
I was also wondering if it is the plate or the entire top. The plate can not be compensated for but the top can be by putting it on a torsion box like Rick says. A plate sagging .040 is quite a bit a will cause problems when doing something like a rail and stile joint or a lock miter joint.
 
#8 ·
From your pictures it looks like the mounting plate and not the table that is not flat. There are several ways for this to happen. I thought that the plate on my table had warped (changes in temperature, humidity) but it was the base of the router that was not flat, typical Bosch quality. I lapped the base and then shimmed it to get it perpendicular. The other thing is that the Kreg system is a bit touchy. I don't really know how to describe this, but here goes - you can bend the plate by very slightly loosening the corner screws and tightening the top alignment screws along the length will bow the plate up slightly. You could also get a cast aluminum plate from Woodpecker. I did and that was how I found out that it was the base of the router and not the plate.

I would play with the alignment screws. My neighbor has the same setup as you have and all is flat, but we worked on the alignment a fair amount.

Otto
 
#11 ·
I bought the makita rp 1801 and fitted it to the kreg plate. Although I have a minor issue with the plate not being level on the back edge, the plate is marked with concentric circles for very easy router drilling and mounting.

In all other respects the install went well, into my home made table, and the fact that the up curve is behind the bit means there is no problem in use.
 
#10 ·
You can go here Rockler - Search Results for router table insert plate to see a wide range of predrilled router plates. Group A does include the Makita 1100 but not the 3612C. All of the Rockler plates are 33% of right now.

So you may just have to get a blank plate and drill your own holes. This is also available at the link above. This is easy to do. Just remove the plastic base from your 3612C and use it as a guide to locate the holes on the blank plate. Then drill out the holes and countersink the holes to accept a countersink flat head screw.

Glenn
 
#12 ·
All of the Rockler plates are 33% of right now.

Glenn
Wow Glenn, 33% off and I thought 0.040 was bad,,, :fie: :lol:

Thanks for sharing Glenn. I hope you can appreciate my humor :)
 
#13 ·
I only see one plate at rockler that's on sale - the large blank. You would have to drill and counter sink the holes but that's not too hard. Just use the sub base as a template.

The 1/4" aluminum plate is much less likely to sag.