I was in a small commercial woodworking shop about 5 years ago and noticed
> that they had an older Craftsman Radial Arm Saw that had a different
> carriage on it. This carriage was mounted in place of the original saw
> carriage (which was sitting nearby). This alternate carriage assembly held a
> barrel type router which was capable of being positioned in all of the axes
> that the saw motor could normally be positioned in. It appeared as though
> they could change back and forth between the saw and the router carriages
> quite easily.
>
> I now have a need for such a device, but cannot find any information about
> it and I cannot remember the name of the shop where I was when I saw this
> unique tool. During that period my job had me in many woodshops across 42 > states. >
> Can anyone provide any information about this "router carriage"? Is it still
> available? If so, from where? My only lead is this: The Router Bracket
> Company, PO Box 533, Richmond, Va 23204 but they don't seem to exist any > more. >
It's called an overhead pin router. If you can find an old PowrKraft(Montgomery Wards) RAS with two aux spindles (3450 and 20,000 RPM), you won't have to change the heads - you can use the high speed spinidle with 1/4" shank router bits - in any orientation that a RAS head will turn.
-Doug