router for table use

[Texastutt]

it's MDF and any minor stresses would go around it... I don't think it would weaken it that much.

 

[MacMitch]

I have a buddy who has offered to allow me to play around with making some of these joints with him on his home made table and I may do just that. I actually have a router table one of the first commercial router tables made, the first Freud kit, and have used it a fair amount for round overs, grooves, rabbits... My table is not level now though as moisture got into the particle board, the fence is warped...

I understand about the confidence issue but there is simple math involved in those small "unavoidable" risks. There is a basic rule with knives, don't cut towards yourself. It strikes me that pushing a piece of wood over or across a router bit, even with push sticks, sort of ignores the same basic rule. I like the idea of a Mite-R-Slide between me and the bit. I like pushing parallel to the bit instead of toward it too.

 

[aloysius]

I've had an old Elu 177E for the past 25 years or so.  This has seen sterling service as a mini spindle moulder.

I've asked more of it than I really should have:  T&G flooring for 3 houses (over 600 sq. m.), V/J lining for walls and ceilings, thousands of feet of glue joints and decorative moulding, all in Aussie Hardwoods. I think it's spindle work could almost be measured in kilometres!

All of this was done in an old Triton router bench.  Don't be so dismissive of Triton gear: sometimes, primitive is good!  I now use both a Triton (2400w) and DeWalt 626 (2300w).

Over here, the Triton routers are 2400w., and have an excellent reputation for spindle work.  Their big router, and the big Trend, are as far as I'm aware the only machines on the market specifically designed for spindle work.  All the others are less well suited for using upside down, as it's always a frustrating battle to fight the plunge springs when fine adjusting your "plunge depth" in a table.

The Triton, in particular, is actually better suited to use upside down than right-side up, having springless fine depth adjustment, spindle locks etc. that make it the easiest machine of all to use in a table.  This completely negates the need for those ridiculously expensive router lifts, fine depth adjusters et. al.

The Triton is also one of the only routers available to offer a really useful "plunge depth" , or protrusion through the table, without resorting to bit extensions.  Having tried extensions before, I'd recommend against their use, as they tend to multiply problems with axial runout and imbalance, and place undue burden on the router's bearing assemblies.  Of course, with router lifts and other depth robbing devices, their use is in effect mandatory.

I'd recommend the simplest, most powerful setup you can afford, and the biggest & heaviest bits available (for flywheel effect), preferably with 3 or even 4 cutters around the circumference of your bits to smooth out the cutting process.  This, together with correct sharpening techniques and slow feed rates, will provide you with the smoothest and most chatter-free cuts, and the easiest setup, bit change and adjustment.

 

[bonesbr549]

I've been using the PC 7518 for ages now and it's never failed me.  I did a lot of research prior to purhcase and it's considered the go to router in most cabinet shops for table use.  I'm sure there are others but I know this ones a good one.  You can also buy it with just the motor and it fits most lifts out of the box.