Crank Handle to Raise & Lower Router in Table?

[Dave Ballard]

Okay, so I had to make the drive to Williamsburg to find a Lowes that still had the Hitachi M12V. (I got one of the last two in case anyone wants to go grab that last one.)

Now I'm looking at the various ways to raise & lower this monster while it's mounted in the router table. (It will stay mounted in the table; I have my PC690 for handheld operations.) Most of the commercial solutions (Router Raizer, Rout-R-Lift, etc.) are out since they cost almost as much as (or more than) I paid for the router. Fiddling with the plunge lever looks too clumsy, and the fine-adjustment knob would be way too slow. I seem to recall reading of a home/shop-built arrangement consisting of a cable attached to the router's plunge mechanism on one end and a crank wheel mounted to the router table cabinet on the other. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any instructions/directions online?

TIA for the replies,

Dave

[Tomeshew]

Yes, it was just that, a speedo cable with a nut driver welded to the end, that turned a like size bolt used on the router. Sorry, but the details and where I saw it elude me. Maybe my neighbor had the plans. Stay tuned. Tom Dave wrote:> I seem to recall reading

[Tony D.]

The one I made for my table,(D/walt router) was just a old broom handle drilled out with the proper size nut jb welded into a recess, with a window crank type of deal on the end, made of plywood and a cabinet pull. Work's great! (Nick Elgers,Woodworking Wisdom) Thanks, Tony D.

[Dave Wetmore]

Something that worked well for me:

I bought a handle with a crank. I took the crank off the handle. I took a

1/4 socket of a diameter just a little larger than the inside of the handle. I turned down the socket wall so the socket just fit in the handle. I brazed the socket in the handle, square hole up. Now I've got a crank which is, in essence, a 1/4 socket. Add a cheap driver handle, and you have a very convenient (ratcheting) handle on the router.

Dave Wetmore