Router table - Bench dog or Rockler?

[toby]

I was enlisted to help my neighbor buy a router table and router for her husband. She wants to pick it up quickly.... She got a quote for a 893 router pc and rockler router table. I looked at another shop and for a couple bucks less I can get the same router and a Bench dog portable table set up... If you guys could give me your opinion and any experiences with these... The one difference I can see is the Bench Dog is a portable with a smaller table then the Rockler.... Any quality issues? I want to take care of my friend and get him the better of the two, unfortunately that is the only shops in the area...the router tables are around $225. He does a lot of cabinet work with building raised panels and such..... Thanks...I am more of a wood turner and don't have a ton of experience with routers... Toby

[Leon]

I have no experience with the Rockler but do own the larger Bench Dog table and fence. It has been copied a time or two. I think very highly of it.

[mnterpfan]

Check out the tables at:

They are 1 1/2 inch thick, laminated both sides, with mini t-tracks to hold and adjust the fence. Also, the new table at ttrackusa has a miter slot and t-track at the front. (This is not shown on the picture on the website, but I picked one up that way at as recent show.) The Rousseau router plate makes a nice upgrade to the lexan plate. Show prices are great, internet prices are pretty good, shipping prices are possibly steep. If you live in Atlanta, go to the store.

The Uni-T Fence sections are really nice but don't come with the package deal. You could probably work that out with a phone call. The website doesn't have the option though.

The Rockler table has slots cut through the table to hold and adjust the fence. That leaves exposed mdf. Also, their table is only 1 1/8 inch thick. They do have a nicer legset that has nice optional casters. I live in Minneapolis area where there are four Rockler stores locally. I really like them and get a lot of products there. However, I was not impressed with their brand of router tables.

I'm not really familiar with the Bench Dog table but their featherboards are excellent. I think that they also make a nice cast iron router table extension for a table saw.

Good luck to her.

Eric

[TWS]

Eric, thanks for the lead. I've been looking for a table top only and sent an email to Rockler since I couldn't find JUST a top in their catalog or online store. I have not heard back from them. The top you referenced looked good but they don't say how large the plate opening is. I have a Jessem Mast-R-Lift and the plate opening needs to be large enough for that. Obviously I could route it larger myself but that's a PITA - I will if I have to but would prefer to have it all precut.

What is the size of the opening? LxWxT?

TWS

[mnterpfan]

It is 12 x 9 x 4/10" thick. The thickness can be adjusted with levellers on the lip though.

You might try calling them and see if they can cut one to your dimensions. I think they do this with their aluminum fence blanks.

Eric

[TWS]

Hmmm, the Jessem lift is 9 1/4 by 11 3/4. I'm not sure I like having a 1/4 inch gap around the plate. Great place for chips to build up and lift the workpiece off the table.

I'll think about some way to fill the gap and, if not, you've saved me a bad purchase.

Thanks, TWS

[Routerman P. Warner]

Screwed a benchdog right under this top. (See

picture link). Not easy, but a good tool & handy. Might even want to ignore the expense and trouble altogether, see the link for a few words on that.

********************************************************* Neither cheap,

[patriarch]

[e-mail] (toby) wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I love my homebuilt, but since that's not an option...

The Adult Ed school last September replaced 3 shop made tables with the large Bench Dog tables. I've used them for a number of projects, and they work just fine. And they seem to stand up really well to the stress of many users, not all of whom are particularly experienced.

Now, about the choice of router (to open a can of worms). You may want to Google the archives for remarks on the PC 89x series, and some of its early production issues. And you may want to consider a similar product from Bosch or DeWalt, or, if it is to stay in the table, Hitachi.

But Bench Dog makes a very solid product.

Patriarch