Hello Joe,
Thanks and glad you are liking the series. I do have an Incra fence on my Sawstop, which also has an Incra router table extension mounted to the right. If I want to use that router table I can slide my fence over, attach the Incra Wonderfence, and I am ready to rout... the only caveat is if I need to use my table saw, I'd have to switch back.
Nevertheless, I really like the Incra system for dovetail and box joinery. With the LS positioner you can cut a wide variety of dovetail joints, and some really fancy joints like double dovetails and cornerpost dovetails. My favorite part is that once you dial in a setup, you can batch out a whole bunch of dovetails really quickly.
If you're getting a solo/standalone router table setup, I would go for the 27"x43" router table and pair it with a 17" LS positioner system.
While I really like the CMS as my go-to router table, if you want joinery capability, I wouldn't recommend it unless you are able to pair it up with an Incra fence system. I've seen it done but it will take you some tinkering, as well as extra materials to make it work. The CMS does many things well, and I really like the sliding table, but I don't use it for dovetails... horses for courses.
The only way you are going to be able to do dovetails on a router table is if you have some way to consistently index your workpiece, and that's effectively what the Incra system does best.
Pair it up with a Keen Products Dust Router, and you will also get great dust extraction with a Festool CT Vac.
I also have a cast iron table, and while I do agree that the cast iron significantly reduces vibration during routing, I haven't seen a significant difference in cut quality between the different materials. More importantly is your bit speed, how you feed the workpiece, and how sharp your bits are. As long as the table is flat and stays flat, you are good to go. Let me know if you have any more questions, would be happy to assist.
Papajoe said:
great looking cabinet, and i enjoyed the "how-to" using several festool tools. i noticed you had a incra fence on your table saw(sawstop?), and wondered if you had a router fence/incra also? I need to purchase my first router/table and have came down to a cms/vt or incra super fence setup. with your experience i would like to know your opinion? I have seen a gentleman name Peter from the UK, setup a cms, and replaced it with a cast iron router table, and pushed the cms into the rear corner while he raved about how the cast iron did everything better in routing. I dont need portability, but would like box joints or dovetails capability. I heard on several post about a festal #600 dove tail jig, but it seems to be discontinued.
thanks
joe
