Posts Tagged ‘router table inserts’

It has been an interesting week in reference to router table insert plates.  Lots of questions and lots of comments on different types of plates.  One of the biggest comments has been why are router plates all different sizes?

I think the best way to describe it is money.  If a manufacture can make their shape conducive to their own brand they will keep you locked in as a customer.  What I mean is this, say you buy a router plate from Bench Dog and later on you want to upgrade to a router lift.  If you made your table, or bought a Bench Dog table, you would have to buy a Bench Dog Lift because nothing else will fit.  Its that simple.  Most guys will not start over.  It is similiar to computers.  I am a PC, but  I would really love a Mac.  Why, well to be honest PC’s kind of suck.  They are bloated with a pig of a operating system, they crash a lot, have all kinds of problems and are always being exploited by hackers.  But I am “all in” because of the software I need and use is not available on a Mac and starting over from scratch seems more of a pain than its worth.  There is also the money.  The Mac costs more than the PC and there you have it.  Back to the plates, is one any better than the other?  Nope.  Just know you may be committing yourself to a brand in the name of budget and time.

Last thought.  There has been a lot of questions abot aluminum verses phenolic or acrylic.  Aluminum plates are very expensive so does that mean they are better?  Not necessarily.  You will always have the guys that have to have the very best of everything so aluminum is great for them.  But what you really need to look at is what size router are you hanging from the insert.  You should never store your router on the insert in the table.  Most of us do and that is where the problems start.  After a while the gravity bandit comes and your insert is now not flat (acrylic or phenolic).  To complicate the matter, some people thing they need the big 3 1/2 HP router in their table. (cause bigger is better right..uh no) So they buy this monster 23lb thing and hang it on a phenolic insert and let it sit in the table for a year.  You guessed it, bad news for the insert plate.  Why in the world do you need a 3 1/2 HP router in a router table in the first place is beyond me.  You still can only shave off so much in a single pass unless you love the smell of burnt wood and dull router bits.  If power is your game, buy a shaper.

This video gives you a good overview of mounting an insert to your router.  You can apply this to any router plate brand, however they do have a pretty nifty template that they use for the insert.

• Good visual on how to line up the handles with the plate
• Keeping the router lift hole in a good spot for use
• Marking your base plate and matching it to your router plate
• Line up the very cool template and tape it to the plate
• Remove the base plate and size to a drill bit
• Place base plate face down and center
• Use a drill press to drill holes, this keeps things straight
• Use counter sink bit to keep screws flush
• Connect to router

There really is many ways in which you can do this, but this will get your mind going.  Most people really fear the idea of mounting or drilling their own router plate.  As you can see its pretty simple.

Here is a free download of a router table review.  It is not exhaustive, but it will give you an excellent idea of what is available and where to get them.  Some of this links are not working correctly since its a PDF file, but it will give you some excellent information.  Get it by clicking the link below.

Router table review

I saw this on you tube the other day and I thought it would be good to add for mounting a router to an insert plate.  There are a lot of different ways to do this, but using the routers base plate is the easiest and most accurate.  The quality of the video is not great, but it gives you an idea of how to do it.  You can use any router base plate but this author uses a dewalt router.  I will add some more router insert plate videos as time goes on.

Here is a table that often gets overlooked. It is a full sized cabinet table that is comparable in features to the Larger Bench Dog 40-300 table, but a lot more inexpensive. This table is a custom table that is sourced and built for Router Table Depot Customers. When you look at the price, remember to factor in the larger delivery fee on bigger tables. As with all large router tables, this one is heavy and costs about $100 to deliver. Even adding that to the price still brings you in far less than a name brand table. It really has good looks too, plus a really nice cabinet with lots of storage. Price $469

At this printing there are no customer reviews for the table, but we will add them as they become available.

From the site:

RTD presents a little something different, a custom hand built router table. If you’re tastes vary from the typical name brand table, this deluxe router table might just be the ticket. It is chock full of features and is bound to help you create all sorts of unique projects and special memories for you and your family.

Cabinet

• Cabinet is constructed of solid wood core Oak veneer panels. This material is not common plywood, it is solid wood laminated on both sides with Oak veneer, very strong! Inside shelves are mdf Built in floor leveling system compensates for uneven floors and keeps the unit stable. Total height to table surface is 35”.
• 2 drawers hold 28 – ½” bits, 2 drawers hold 36 – ¼” bits and 1 wrench drawer. Lower storage drawer is mounted on KV roller slides and large enough to hold several routers. The side 2 ½” quick-connect dust port draws dust through the fence and out of the router compartment while ventilating the router motor.
• Router compartment light is great for changing router height and bits. Plus being able to see the work as it contacts the bit under power. Once you use a table with a light you will wonder how you ever managed without. On/Off switches for the Router and Light are mounted in front for easy access. Both recessed for safety. Two 120-volt receptacles in back. Equipped with 6′ Power cord and casters.

Top

• Top is 22″x 30″ x ¾” thick with durable ThermoSet Plastic Melamine on both Top and Bottom surfaces. Table edges are thickened to 1 ½ and wrapped in Oak for durability and plenty of heft for clamping fixtures down. Two ¾ steel reinforcement struts run the width of the table top to insure it stays flat Plus two additional steel bars under the router opening to support large routers without worry. The 9-¼”x 11-¾”x 3/8’ opening in top is sized to accept many of the most popular router lifts. Clear 3/8”Acrylic plate with 6 leveling screws ships blank for custom fitting to routers up to 3 1/4 hp from All manufacturers.
• Plate is offset to the backside of the table to allow more working surface in front where it’s needed. Aluminum ¾” x 3/8” miter track runs the width of the top.
• Steel Reinforced

Fence

• The fence is constructed of 9 ply cabinet grade ½” Baltic Birch using glue, brads and screws with enough supports to insure it stays square.
• The fence is mounted to the table with large Star Shaped comfort grip knobs. A few turns of the large knobs and the fence lifts off, leaving a smooth unobstructed table for pattern and freehand work.
• The 4 1/4″ tall-segmented fence is ideal for control and accuracy in vertical routing operations. The top section has a “T” slot along its length for attachments such as feather boards, hold downs, stop blocks and guards. The lower section opens from 0″ to 3 1/2″ for the safe use of larger bits. Fence adjusts Forward and Back 5″. Dust is collected through the fence from under the table surface.
• T-track on fence is included

Shipping

• After inspection the top and base are removed for shipping. Assembling the table, with the supplied hardware, is a simple project requiring only a few minutes.

• Assembly and illustrated router mounting instructions included.
• Fixed rate shipping on this item. ($89) No shipping outside of USA nor canada, HI, or AK

• This table needs 7 to 10 days lead time, this overrides the statement that says it ships in 2 to 3 days.

They should have called this one “the Big Dog” instead of Bench Dog, cause its the top of the line in their series. If you want to pull out all the stops on adding a table to your shop this is where you go. Cast iron on the top of a cabinet is the best of the best, giving you strength and stability no matter what season or humidity level in your shop. The cabinet provides some great storage and keeps all your router bits and accessories in one spot. You have to buy the insert separate, but if you spending this much money it really should not matter. $840

The Bench Dog 40-300 is a the Cast Iron top, Pro Fence 32 and Cabinet system. All you have to do is choose your insert of choice.

This cast iron top is heavy duty, it will meet all your expectations for any project that you can throw at it. It is a solid one piece unit weighing in at 100lbs.

• machine ground to .008
• 12 point leveling and locking capabilities
• Fits both Baltic Birch Cabinet and the Steel ProStand
• Dual track miter and t-track, molded into top.
• Fence Slots fit Pro Fence 32
• Insert is sold seperately

Pro Fence (Bench Dog 40-132)

Heavy duty Aluminum, one piece

Fence length is 32″ x 3 1/2″

Adjustable Subfences

Bit Guard included

28” x 3 5/8”

accessory t-lock, accepts 1/4″ & 5/16″ t-bolt plus 1/4″ hex bolt

Dust Port 2 ½”

Hole free sub fences

Pro cabinet (Bench Dog 40-110)

• Baltic Birch
• bolt and cross dowel construction
• pull out router bit tray
• built in dust port
• fits pro caster 40-188 (sold seperately)
• Best looking cabinet on the market!

If your looking to order the top and the fence, that item number is called the Bench Dog Pro Max 40-301, Cast Iron table and fence combo

Make sure your order your insert for this table

Bench Dog Large Router Group 1 Insert

Bench Dog Standard Group I Insert

Bench Dog Large Router Group 2

Bench Dog Standard Group 2 Insert

Router Table Insert Plate Sizes

Ever wonder why different companies make different size router plates? Although it can be somewhat aggravating, it does make sense if you look at it from a business level.

Lets look at a couple of examples:

1. First of all, if a company makes a plate that only fits their table.
2. A customer comes along and buys that plate to use to build their own table.
3. Their table comes out great and they are happy.
4. Their table does not come out great so they buy a table from the same place since they already have the plate.

Here is another

1. Company makes a plate that only fits their table. Company also makes a lift that is the same dimensions as the insert plate.
2. The customer comes along and wants to buy a more inexpensive router table and put the better lift into it, they find out it does not fit and then proceed to decide which they want more, the cool lift or the cheaper table.

The Last Scenario

1. Company C buys an insert from a previous made design that is available for purchase. They design and build their line of tables around that insert. This saves company C a lot of time developing and paying for a new plastics mold for a custom design.
2. A customer comes along and sees a router plate from company C that looks the same as Company B, and wonders what the difference is.
3. There is not difference if you look at the specifications that the vendor lists on their site.
4. Noteworthy: A plate that measure 12” x 9” may actually be 12 1/16” x 9 1/8” some vendors take the short cut and say 12” x 9”

Router plate sizes tend to be proprietary since the insert cutouts only fit certain tables. Manufacturers are trying to get people devoted to one particular brand, theirs. The funny thing is it is not true in other aspects of the table. Lets look at miter track or t-track for example. Most miter track is “industry standard”, which means it accepts most third party ¾” accessories. The idea is to be able to sell the accessories as well as the table. Everyone carries accessories and there are some really neat ones out there. Here is the kicker, the “industry standard’ scenario is only as good as the factories specifications that made them. If they are just a hair off, the accessory may have a sloppy fit or may be even too big. I hear all the time that a miter gauge that came with someones table saw should fit this miter track. Actually it should but sometimes tolerances are not always right on the money. This can be from the tooling getting dull that the factory uses to cut or build these accessory parts.

Whether it is a router table insert or a router table accessory, look at the size and determine where you want to be in the future. Chances are pretty good that if you stay with the same vendor, website, company or brand, that you will be in good shape. Just know that there are differences out there and they come mostly from an economic standpoint.