Archived from the Tools In Action forum (In The Shop). This thread is read-only.
I am looking to get a good router table for my garage. I don’t need a lift, I just need the table, fence, and stand. My router setup will consist of a Porter-Cable 7538 with Router Raizer installed. This is a pretty big router so a good top and mounting plate that won’t sag would be ideal. I am not interested in something that mounts to another tool/table I just want a stand alone floor standing unit. I have heard the phenolic tops can be hard to work with/hit or miss so I would probably go with a cast iron top if I can.
Any suggestions?
Jronman wrote:
I am looking to get a good router table for my garage. I don’t need a lift, I just need the table, fence, and stand. My router setup will consist of a Porter-Cable 7538 with Router Raizer installed. This is a pretty big router so a good top and mounting plate that won’t sag would be ideal. I am not interested in something that mounts to another tool/table I just want a stand alone floor standing unit. I have heard the phenolic tops can be hard to work with/hit or miss so I would probably go with a cast iron top if I can.
Any suggestions?
Honestly I’d shoot over to a Rockler or Woodcraft if you have one and check out what they have, quite a few table set ups, the Incra are supposed to be pretty good
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
JimboS1ice wrote:
3 hours ago, JimboS1ice said:
Honestly I’d shoot over to a Rockler or Woodcraft if you have one and check out what they have, quite a few table set ups, the Incra are supposed to be pretty good
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The nearest woodcraft is 2-3 hours away no idea where the nearest rockler is.
That sucks, they usually have good displays to get a good feel for what your looking for
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
JimboS1ice wrote:
32 minutes ago, JimboS1ice said:That sucks, they usually have good displays to get a good feel for what your looking for
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I am thinking I would probably go with either the Benchdog cast iron, SawStop cast iron, or Jet cast iron. All have their pros and cons. I am leaning more towards the Benchdog because it includes the correct mounting plate for my specific router. It may not include wheels, an on/off switch, or a lift but I already have a lift kit that is compatible, the wheels shouldn’t be too hard to add, and there are plenty of on/off switches available. The switch should be reasonably easy to install.
I would also take something from Woodcraft, because for the last couple of years they sold me nothing but quality goods. When I was looking some great table for my router DeWalt DW618PK 12-Amp, it was also not so easy, but i looked for some reviews and some examples from my friends, who already owned it, and purchased too different parts, connecting them into one table.
The cast iron tables are nice but they are kind of small depending on what your are doing. If your going that route I’d look for a used shaper that accepts an adapter to run 1/2 in router bits.
At work we typically make router tables. At home I have one mounted in a 4×8 work table which is nice as there is plenty of area to support the material.
A lot depends on how much you plan on using it. a couple of months ago I bought this one on craigslist for 200.00with the routers
A shaper would be fine except they are so big and heavy especially for half a 2 car garage. Also I already had a router to go in it. I needed something that could easily be moved around. I went with the bench dog from rockler. It was on sale at the time. The porter cable router I already had wasn’t light. I didn’t want to risk having sag by going with a laminate or phenolic option.
Welcome to the forum.
It looks like that Freud FT1702VCEK router will work w/ any standard router table.
Here is my router table. It eyeball measurement looks compatible.
[External image (m.media-amazon.com), not copied]