Routers Reviews

I bought two, to upgrade my table saw, since I usually do larger projects, and wanted to increase the weight of my table saw as well as make sure I have a flat, surface. The twelve inches is the most I found available, normally 8 inches is what is sold. The extensions came in two boxes with the hardware. The special washer (angle cut peices of bar stock) had to be ground down so that they would not contact the radius in the casting and push the extension up on tightening. in the instructions they say to use masking tape to shim flat with table, it is better to buy a set of feeler gages, and use the steel feeler gages to shim as required. any table that mounts on about an inch and a half, over twelve inches will need to be shimed flat. I used an indicator to level with the saw table which gave excellent results. I ended up with a 52" wide by 27" deep cast iron table that was well worth the money. If your thinking of installing a cast iron extension this it the way to go, the casting and the grinding are well done.

This knob is good for table use, but unfortunately, you have to remove the height indicator, and you still need to release the lock. It is helpful for fine adjustments, but it is still pretty hard to use. I use it occasionally, but I still think it was a pretty good buy for the times that I need to be deas-on accurate.

The most concise way to review this product is a breakdown of pros and cons:

Pros:

--Nicely finished top (and bottom).
--Very flat.
--Insert cutout perfectly sized for Rousseau router table insert.
--Insert cutout is located toward one edge to allow convenience when working small pieces or large, so the tabletop can be oriented whichever way gives you the best working position relative to the work.
--Uses six leveling pins for the insert to get it perfectly flush with the table.

Cons:

--Fence mounting holes are rough (significant chipout on both sides of table).
--Fence mounting holes are on the wrong side of the plate (they should be drilled to allow the fence to be mounted toward the center of the table, rather than the edge, so small work can be performed without leaning way over the tabletop).
--Edge banding is soft plastic--it's relatively easy to ding up--and has a gap of nearly 1/8 inch where the ends meet.

All things considered, I like this tabletop a lot. I plan to fill the factory fence-mounting holes with epoxy or flush plugs, and then to redrill the table on the other side of the insert hole for the RM-3301 fence. I may also replace the edgebanding with hardwood instead of the plastic wraparound edging. But overall it's a good value.

The completed table is a great solid product. The instructions however for assembly are not very clear and not to be undertaken by a beginner.

The leg assembly table insturctions indicated that the top should be drilled into the holes on the long table extentions, meanwhile the pre drilled holes are in the short table..........

The router fence came with no instructions except a templete for a non rousseau table

In general.........this needs improvement..........how do I like my completed table..........LOVE IT.

This router table is an ok piece, but not at $130.

I just bought the exact same table at a local store for $80. For that price it is 4 stars or more, for $130 I wouldn't even consider it.

This a hefty little beast and to me a great basic router and should give me many years of use. My only problem is finding a decent edge guide for it. Anyone have any suggestions?

The Skill 1845 was the first router I purchased. The price was low and it had the plunge feature I was looking for. I had lots of fun with it and learned a lot. I am now moving forward and looking for something bigger. The 1845 is a fun router, however I have reached a point where I need a 1/2" collet, the 1845 only comes with 1/4" collet. Changing bits is hit or miss! No wrenches are needed, you must pull up on the collet to release the bit and push down to lock it in. Sounds good, but sometimes it can be very tough. The plastic sheld gets easily scrached and makes it hard to see. The 2hp motor is very good, it has soft start and speed control.

If you are just starting out and want to have fun and see if woodworking is for you, than this is the right router for you.

....I find that this is a very nicely engineered tool. It is easyto set up after watching the video, though the written instructionsare poor. Some of the non-essential parts are poorly machined, but this does not effect their performance, just their asthetics. I would recommend this tool for anyone who would like a duplicator regardless of the lathe that you own. With a little help from Vega and Amazon, my duplicator fit my vintage Oliver lathe perfectly.

I have owned this router table for approximately 8 years, and overall it has been satisfactory. Once you get it you have to drill out the top to fit your routers base and it is a pain to get the router absolutely centered in the opening. The top is flat and quite stable, but the fence leaves something to be desired. the fence locks into t slot nuts and ends up getting clogged with dust regularly making it difficult to reposition and move the fence. Additionally, the fence is in two parts and I have added an additional solid sub fence to tie the two segments together. The two things I wish this router table had were a better fence system and a way to incorporate one of the new router lifts available from bench dog or jessem.

The switch itself is good and the parts are easily replacable if they go bad. However, the screws that attach the back to the cover are round top screws, which means that you can never mount the unit flat on a peice of wood without replacing the screws with different ones. That's one lame mistake for the manufacturer to make! So this unit gets low marks from me.

i am new at this and all i can tell you is it works. i wish it had a place to plug in two cords because i built my router table and installed a small shop vac in it. i put on a duplex plug-in adaptor so the shop vac would go on every time the router did but it would have been really nice if the switch came that way.