Router / Router Table Combo Recommendations?

[muskyslayer96]

Hey fellas,

My router/table is junk...I hate it. I bought it a few years ago cheap at one of the retail lumber shops and it is at the end of its useful life.

Can anyone recommend a quality set up I was hoping to pay less than $250

Thanks in advance for the tips

MS

[RayburnGuy]

Is building your own an option or is that not something your wanting to do?

 

Ben

[Travis]

You aren't likely to find a a good router and router table for that price in my opinion.  Craigslist/used would be about your best bet if set on that price.  You need to determine what specifically are you wanting to do with this router and research from that aspect. Dedicated  router for table?  Hand use?  Bit change?  Lift kit?   Is router table needed or table saw auxiliary set up work?

 

For your price range best bet is to build one but even then 250 bucks isn't going to go far.   A decent mounting plate will be 60 bucks, t track and knobs 40 or so.   Add wood, router, etc... and should be able to creep in around 300.   Perhaps some of the popular budget tables like Grizzly or Rockler.

 

When I think router table I think 3 hp and up routers, lift kit, easy bit access, good fence, solid flat table, etc..enclosed cabinet with dust hook up, etc.... More of the 700 to 1000 range.

[atremblay]

I just bought one on Craigslist for $65 without any bits. Keep your eyes open. I used it for the first time the other day with 3/8 rounding bit with a bearing....shapes great freehand!

[CarverGLX]

I use a dewalt laminate trimmer. Only holds 1/4" bits though. Works great. Something like $85-90 if I remember.

[tekoutdoors.co]

If you want a really high quality one you will be looking at about $400 to $500 bucks.  They have some for about $115 on http://www.mlcswoodworking.com/ that seem to be pretty good quality but not cast iron.  www.rockler.com also makes some nice ones.  In my opinion you cant beat cast iron but wood ones have been good to me over the years.

[Travis]

Rockler is having one of their router tops and plates on a Black Friday Sale for around 120 bucks (in store).  No fence, no stand, and no router.  

 

If you already have a table saw you can build or buy a router extension to slap onto the table.  Add an auxiliary fence to the table saw fence and should cut down on costs.  Several options have been given but much will just depend on what you are needing this router to do.  CarverGLX mentioned the laminate trimmer.  A lot like this set up for the portability and ease of holding and does great for smaller jobs but with 1 to 1.5 hp really it just dust measure up on other applications.  Start going larger and they become a little more cumbersome.

[joliepa]

Question:

 

how would a router table help anyway?   is there some kind of attachment that can help with lure shaping?? or is this mostly about dimensioning the initial blocks of wood.

 

(in which case a table saw would do just as good, right?)

[RayburnGuy]

A router can be used to cut out the initial shape as well as rounding off the corners (neither of which can be done on a table saw) and cutting pathways for through wired baits. I'm sure there are other things that can be done as well.

 

Ben