Router Lifts

[MJ]

Finally have some "post holiday" money and been looking at router lifts.

Anybody have some experience with them?

I like the Bench Dog one at the moment. JessEm is second.

MJ

[SonomaProducts.com]

The Benchdogs that I have used can get sawdust in the lifting shaft threads and start jambing up. I have seen others mention this also.

I haven't used Jessem.

I have a Woodpeckers Sidewinder and I love it. - super nice to have the crank handle on the side of the router table - Super sweet and smooth operation - It has a nice concept of a quick lift wrench that allows you to instantly release the srecwdrive and lift the router all the way up to change bits.

Note, I ended up mounting the router higer in the lift than the instructions indicated. This lets me lift it higher because I have a bosch that requires two wrenches to unlock the collet. I have always been able to lower the bits as much as I need but I could always readjust it lower if I really had to.

[Doug Miller]

I have an older model of Xacta-Lift that I'm more or less content with (notice I did not say I'm happy with it), but it does have a few issues:

1) The plate isn't perfectly flat, which means that it can't be used for any precise joinery. 2) Getting a router in and out of the mechanism is a *major* PITA. This may be true of other brands as well, so check the ease of doing this on any router lift you intend to buy. My solution (version 1.0) was to buy a second router base on eBay, so I can leave the base permanently mounted in the lift, and just remove the motor. Solution (version 2.0) was to buy a second router. If you already have multiple routers, and can dedicate one to a router lift full-time, this is probably not a consideration for you. It isn't an issue for me *now*, but it sure was when I bought it. 3) Provisions for dust collection are very poor.

4) The fence is adjustable only by loosening its mounting bolts, giving it a nudge, tightening the bolts, rechecking the distance, lather, rinse, repeat...

5) The fence is one piece, fixed -- the sides left and right of the bit cannot be independently adjusted except by inserting shims.

Bottom line: I wish I had done more research before buying a router lift; if I had, I probably would have bought something else instead -- and if I were in the market for a router lift today, I would *not* buy this one again.

[Dave]

My preference is the Woodpecker Sidewinder. Don't have one yet, but when I buy, that's the one I'll go for.

[Larry]

MJ wrote in news:24323618.12.1325266533835.JavaMail.geo-discussion- forums@prmu8:

I haven't had any experience with any of them but the one I've had my eye on was the one made by Woodpeckers. It appears they have teamed up with Incra but I'm not sure of the relationship.

have several of their tools and they are of the highest quality in a time where quality is difficult if not impossible to find. If they made everything I needed they would be my one- stop shop.

Larry

[Bruce]

I have the Woodpecker PRL and it has been berry berry good to me.

-Bruce

[tiredofspam]

[Limp Arbor]

You could always build your own...

[Pat Barber]

Jessem seems to make several lifts for "other" folks, but I bought a early Jessem that remains a real piece of equipment.

[BobS]

Finally have some "post holiday" money and been looking at router lifts.

Anybody have some experience with them?

I like the Bench Dog one at the moment. JessEm is second.

MJ

I have one of the original Jessem Rout-R-Lifts and its built rock solid. Believe I got it in '99 and although it shows its age with some scratches, it's still as accurate as when I installed it. Never had a jam and none of the parts show any signs of wear.

I see they have changed the design considerably but it looks as rugged as the original.

Well worth your consideration.

Need a router fence? I built the original model of this one

that Pat Warner designed. There was an article in FWW that Pat wrote for building this fence. The latest revision has some minor changes and he added a safety guard but the rest of the design is pretty much the same. I used the same hardware and type wood (walnut / ash / MDF) as he used, and had about $100 in parts. It's a challenging project to make one and requires some very precise cuts if you want the .001" accuracy. That fence and Rout-R-Lift have had a fair workout in the past 12 years and I see no need to replace either.

Bob S.

[Jack]

one of these:

has a great lift, and fence, and can use all your 1/4 and 1/2" router bits, as well as shaper bits.

If you're short on space, toss out your router table and use the router for it's intended purpose, a portable shaper...

No I don't own this shaper, mine doesn't take router bits, which is ok with me.

[dpb]

The key point is tool tip linear velocity, not rpm. Running a small router bit in a shaper certainly gets low tip velocity relative to running the same bit in a router. But, when you ratio in the relative diameters of the router bit and the equivalent shape on a shaper cutter, the discrepancy is reduced drastically.

But, the shaper cutter is more expensive owing to the size so the story always comes back to "there is no free lunch"...

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[SonomaProducts.com]

Good point but do they even make the standard shapes like an 1/8" roundover or small ogee spindle cutters? I suppose they must but I can't imagine the prices and hassle of doing spindle cutters. I use my collet shaft in my shaper whenever I can.

[dpb]

...

"...the shaper cutter is more expensive owing to the size so the story always comes back to "there is no free lunch"..."

It is true what you said earlier; I was just amplifying that there is some more to it than just pure spindle speed.

The shaper and a router are not the same device; if you're using small diameter router bits, the router is the device in which to use them most effectively.

One _can_ modify a shaper to run at higher rpm, but it then is a very high risk operation if one forgets and loads a large diameter cutter on it and doesn't change the speed. That's why manufacturers don't...

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