anyone seen or used a Router Boss ? WoodRat ?

Slappy

Slappy

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Aug 21, 2013
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Router-Boss.jpg


http://www.chipsfly.com/

the deluxe model  Router Boss with that Dewalt is around  $1,300.oo plus shipping & taxes .  [blink]
says it prevents break-out  BUT I don't see how it does that myself
  I M O maybe it'd be good for make small boxes But seems you'd be limited to smaller wood sizes I M O

wr600-straighton.jpg


http://www.woodrat.com/

06-Web-Elements_01.jpg


 
Don T said:
Richard/RMW said:
I think this is a knock off of the Woodrat.

http://www.woodrat.com/

It always looked like fun but waaaayyy too much brain damage for my simple mind.

RMW
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That's why I wanted to see in person because it looks complicated.
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YUP !

That's what I was thinkin' on both those observations guys .  .   .    .     .       .         .            [blink]

that and it looks limited on what size board you can work with
 
Don T said:
Richard/RMW said:
I think this is a knock off of the Woodrat.

http://www.woodrat.com/

It always looked like fun but waaaayyy too much brain damage for my simple mind.

RMW
Click to expand...
That's why I wanted to see in person because it looks complicated.
Click to expand...

Woodrat has some good videos, the inventor is very entertaining. Not in person but the next best thing.

RMW
 
I bought a Woodrat earlier this year and I like it. It seems complicated until you realise how you're meant to use it. From what I've read about the Router Boss it looks as though someone saw the Woodrat, liked parts of it but felt they could improve other parts. They copied the parts they liked (e.g. the basic principle, the frame, the router plunge bar, the left to right and front to back traversing) and added improvements (digital read-outs, the ability to plan your work on a web site and print out parameters to set the DROs etc.). The result is a machine that can do the same as a Woodrat. I don't know if it's easier to use or more accurate. It's certainly more expensive. Is it a ripoff to see something and improve it? You'll have to decide.

The Woodrat is certainly idiosyncratic. It makes you feel it's helping you with a lot of things, but I have a niggling suspicion that if Festool had started with a brief to solve the same problems, the result would have been somehow slicker and more complete. That's not to say I could tell you how the Woodrat could be improved. It seems sensible to me now I'm getting used to it. What it doesn't do is take away from the skill that you need to use a router, or the satisfaction you get. It does make it easier to position and move though, and it isn't geared to a single operation like, for example, a dovetail jig.

 
that one WWGOA video has some breakout at the start of the Dovetail cut  :-\
 
greg mann said:
Wayne Tinker has had a WoodRat for some time. Hopefully he will chime in soon. Wayne?
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Good memory Greg.

Been playing with my Sno Rat for last few days.  Fixin' and then usin'.
Usin' to push Gold Dust out of peoples driveways and spreading some dust of my own back onto those same driveways.
Just tuned in and spotted this thread.

Yes, i have a WoodRat set up with the DW625 as shown with Router Boss.
I really like the Rat. Its limitations are really limited by your own imagination.
I have done some things that were impossible (for my brain) to accomplish with anything else.
Before i ordered mine, i had several conversations with a guy down in Tennessee who did some pretty large projects with his Rat.
He even cut a hole in his shop floor so he could handle DT's and box joints on ends of long boards.
For trial, I set mine up on a piece of 2x12 and clamped with my B&D Work Mate.
I cut a couple of DT's set up that way, but could not see the bit to the wood.
The joints came out ok.  You don't really have to see the bit, you just lay out with pencil marks on the Rat frame.
I never did a project that way, but it can be done.

At first, I had to do a lot of talking to the Rat to explain that it was not cooperating with me very well.
Once i finally got it to understand just what i wanted it to do, it became very cooperative.
Since i only get chance to spend time in the shop for a short span of winter months, I need to study my little booklet with each use.

My biggest concern has been that it loves to spit lots of dust and chips for quite exceptional distances.
I have given up trying to capture before it all ends up on the floor or the far wall.
I keep a flat shovel handy when I set up to use the Rat.

I met Louis Stepp, who developed the RouterBoss, at a show up above Albany a few years ago.  He has set the RB up so he can collect dust from in front under the platform and from behind the frame.  He uses a "Y" the same way as with CMS.  He was capturing nearly 100% of the dust.  He was making some very complicated joints.  I was considering the RB but decided there were some Blue & Green toys I wanted more.  Even with the dust problem, i don't think I want to part with the Rat.  When i need it, it is the simplest toy to be using for the specific problem.  I haven't used it in two years, but there are other toys i would part with first.

Louis Stepp was the US distributor (the only dealer i know of) for WoodRat for several years.  He observed the many problems with the Rat and designed the RB eliminating most of the problems. He has designed many jigs to mount on the RB and seems quite willing to make adjustments to his designs to make life easier for Rat users as well.  You can find out all about the RB by going to chips fly.com I have written to Louis Stepp several times and he has always been very prompt with replies.

When i ordered my Rat from across The Pond, it was set up in my shop in 3 days.  I had ordered the DW 625 from amazon and it took two weeks for delivery. Godfrey (WoodRat) told me it would take 2 weeks for delivery of the Rat.  Amazon had told me 3 days delivery for the DW. Rat must have taken advantage of the tailwind that had been headwind for Amazon.

It can be a fun toy to play with once you begin to understand the idea of using pencil as a jig  [unsure]
Tinker

 
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