Help set up my router table, please?

[MichaelMouse]

®smpr_fi_mac® said:

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I need to cut bridle joints in some table legs. I have an Incra table with a Bosche 1617 hanging under it.

Bosh is a German manufacturer, so let's work with the pun.

The cut needs to be 1" deep, which is far too deep for a single pass. My problem is that I don't have a method for raising the bit without removing the router from the table, which throws off my fence set up.

No problem for a thinker. Clamp stops up against the fence prior to removal, raise (why enclose the base when the chips are produced up top anyway??) the router and snug the fence up against the stops. Shim and drop would also work. I have a 1617, but it's not my tble router. A simple access to the height adjusting mechanism would be easy, and save a LOT of setup time.

Aside from buying a router lift that will attach to the top, I guess I'm out of luck, right? If that's the case, which router lift is the least painful to buy?

In the image, I'm using a piece of scrap to set up the fence.

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Tablesaws, if you have one, will handle your cut. Not sure what they will produce that's non-square, but cleaning up with a chisel is a pretty standard thing for a close fit. Also a way of squaring the ends of a mortise made on/with a router. Though I'm not clear what a tablesaw cut bridle joint would have that needed squaring up.

Shop-made tenoning jigs are pretty common. Do a search if you're inclined to use the saw.

[jteneyck]

If you are cutting dados you can run the stock in either direction as long as it's pressed against the fence. I know convention says to go from right to left, but it works just fine the other way. The forces are neutral except the bit does want to push the stock away from the fence. If you use a feather board, as shown in the OP's photo, it works fine. I often do this when routing off center bridle joints on the ends of table legs. It allows you to leave the fence in one position for all the cuts; half you feed right to left, half left to right.

For rabbets right to left is the only safe way w/o a power feeder.

John

[JGrout]

IMHO this is not even a good solution for cutting the stopped dadoes.

use a fence and a hand held router considering you cannot make depth adjustments on your router table.

Also: if you intend to use your router table without a lift ( which I have done successfully for years and years) make one the the dust box sides a door so you can get at the router to make adjustments.

That is the simple way out of this.....

Joe

[Paul-in-Plymouth]

I have the same Bosch 1617 router mounted to the same Incra plate in a table I made. The 1617 is designed so it can be adjusted from above the table with one of those long 1/8” hex keys that come with it. To do this you have to have a hole in the plate to allow access.

Like yours, my plate did not come with the adjustment hole bored at the factory - probably because there are 3 possible orientations of the router body, and you only need one adjustment hole for the orientation you use. It’s easy to add the hole in the 3/8” aluminum plate once you know the orientation you want. 1/4” diameter works fine.

That said, it seems to me you must have access to the router below the table to unclamp it for adjustment and clamp it back up to use, whether you make that adjustment from below the table or from above the table. If the router is inaccessible in a dust-collection cabinet, then how do you ever adjust the height at all or even change the bit?

Maybe the micrometer handle on the router is just in an unfavorable position to adjust the height with respect to the door on the enclosure. As I recall, there were 3 possible orientations of the router body consistent with the mounting screw holes. Maybe choosing another of these, i.e., rotating the body ±120º, would make it easier to adjust from below. Without seeing your setup, I’m just speculating, but it’s something to try. In my setup only one of the 3 orientations worked well for a right-handed person.

Others have suggested using shims as a work-around. That will do, but it should also be possible to adjust the height of the bit easily. Something to figure out. The dust collection hood that comes with the router works pretty well without an enclosure, with a little plumbing under the table.

Finally, I’d use caution when making an L-R cut, as you show in the photo. I understand jteneyck’s argument about wanting a single fence setting and about balanced forces and the feather board, but fences and router mountings are not always perfectly rigid. It’s possible for a “balanced” cut to become unbalanced, especially on deepening a cut with multiple passes. Proceed with caution if you do it that way.

[Alan S]

The Bosch 1617 is well suited to DC without obstructing the adjustments from below, which I find very convenient.

A thin baffle, set 3" below and parallel to the router table top, had a hole cut in the shape of the router, with maybe 1/4" clearance all around. A large hole in this baffle, or sub table top, allowed DC to pull from between the two tops. This does not obstruct the clamp or the router fine adjust. Essentially no dust makes it to the inside of the router table below the baffle, and the router air intake is clean. It does not block sound as well as complete encapsulation.

I was disappointed to find that while this works great with the Bosch 1617, it does not work well with the Hitachi M12V series because of the shape and positioning of controls.

[jteneyck]

If you put this on the underside of your router plate you wouldn't need a dust enclosure at all.

John

[handi]

Alan S said:

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Get some 1/4" to 3/8" thick flat stock, and make a set of shims to put on the table.

These should be long and wide enough to run your stock on, have a cleat at the infeed end to keep them from moving, and a hole for the bit to stick through. The holes are offset so they will be aligned when stacked.

Set the bit to the final height, stack the shims, and make a series of cuts, removing a shim after each cut.

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^^this^^ since you do not have the ability to raise the bit without moving the fence. Make the shims THINNER than you think you need to. More shallow passes are better than fewer deeper ones for a lot of reasons, and the shim removal will make the process go quickly.

Ralph

[Paul-in-Plymouth]

Last night as I lay pondering how your Bosch 1617 could be so different from my Bosch 1617, I remembered that I also bought the special “RA 1165 Undermount Base” that allows the motor and collet to be mounted under a router table without the big wooden handles, etc.

It is the RA 1165 base that has provision for adjusting from above the table with the hex key. That might explain things if yours is mounted with the original fixed base.

https://www.boschtools.com/us/en/boschto...ra1165-27301-p/

I’m sorry if I caused confusion with my comments. I completely forgot that the base on my router table was an add-on, not part of the original 1617EVSPK Plunge/Fixed Base Router combo set I bought.

[jteneyck]

I have the standard 1617 combo package. The fixed base has wooden handles and can be adjusted from above the router table with the included hex wrench. I have it mounted in my router table and have used that feature on occasion, but you still have to be able to reach the lock on the base.

John

[Bill Wilson]

I have the fixed base 1617EVS mounted in a table. It has the above the table adjustment capability. Based on what is described on the Bosch website, this may be a recent development.


•Now includes RA1161 fixed-base with system for adjusting bit height from above a router table