How religious are you about the Festool branding?
A router table is a remarkably simple device that, as long as certain functional criteria are met, could just as well be made from am old washing machine motor and a plank or two. Okay, the additional requirements, few as they may be, are quite stringent. A collet with effectively zero play, some sort of height adjustment, speed control and an adjustable fence.
The CMS solution is certainly elegant and quite easy to use - the height adjustment is superb, for example, and it has that lickable tool-porn shiny-shiny sexiness that Festool does SO well, but if you're on a budget, you can get astonishing bangs for your bucks if you're willing to think outside the box.
I picked up one of these -
from Toolsave in West Bromwich actually but it's just a different badge - as an everyday jobber machine for occasions when beating a path to the Incra rig is too much trouble.
In fact I was astonished at how good the thing was (is). It's an all-in unit, with the router motor built in so it keeps your OF**** free for other use. It has a built-in lift which has a little backlash of course but that simply means if you overshoot your height setting you simply need to back off and take another bite which is recommended with even the very best, expensive lifts anyway.. It's still infinitely better than the height adjustment of most routers bolted into an insert plate. Front adjusting wheel, too, so no need to crawl under anything.
Loads of up-plunge and the collet comes right up above the table for spannering. The spindle lock is underneath and is simply a feel-for-it pull-tab pressing which is very accessible and easy to use.
The fence is basic but sturdy, with movable/removable front faces. They lack the calibrated offset outfeed fence of the Festool and Incra for jointing, but it's a ten second job to shim the outfeed fence with a piece of card or similar to get exactly the same result. The plastic fence can be replaced with MDF so it can be closed up OVER the bit for true zero-clearance, if that's what you want.
It has feather-boards and a very Festool-like bit-enclosing guard system, all included. 1/4" and 1/2" collets as standard, amazingly and it's even got a reasonable miter gauge; not exactly a sliding table but hey, look at the price.
Dust clearing from the back of the fence is pretty good. I taped a Bosch adapter to the fence spigot and the Festool hose just plugs in. No under-table extraction but enclosing it and putting a port on it would be simple of you thought it necessary - lust remember to make a door to get to the spindle-lock.
The big Issue: Performance?
As good as anything else, really, for light to trade use.
The parts that need to be square ARE square, the adjustment is all there, the motor is adequate if a tad noisy - but not as noisy as my DC, so not an issue for me.
I dare say if it were being used constantly all day everyday in a production environment turning out endless gibbet spindles or whatever it might not be as good as a heavier-duty machine, but for most of us, particularly those of us who are more than Festool trophy collectors, it is perfectly, amazingly adequate.
I'm sure the same thing is available to the left of the pond, probably far more cheaply than over the old country side but over here it's findable for around 220 of your rebel colony's dollars.
Amazon UK item
The money you don't spend on the difference could go quite a way towards paying for some other green-badged kit where the extra Festoolianicity is more justifiable.
Just a thought.
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Nah - I'll live dangerously.
