Thread: What Are The Alternatives To Triton?

<o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com<img src=" images="" smilies="" sad="" shock.gif="" border="0" alt="" title="Shock" smilieid="413" class="inlineimg"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com<img src=" images="" smilies="" sad="" shock.gif="" border="0" alt="" title="Shock" smilieid="413" class="inlineimg"></o:smarttagtype><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <wompatibility> <wreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <wseAsianBreakRules/> <wontGrowAutofit/> </wompatibility> <wrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</wrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> Last year I could have walked into Bunnings with my money and walked out with the Triton 1400W router, and router table and stand that I wanted…but then I didn't have the money. This year, thanks to Kevin, I do have the money, but now of course it's Triton that's no longer available.
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I have used the Triton saw table with the Triton 235mm circular saw for a number of years now and wanted to upgrade my skills. I was more than willing to continue to support an Australian company that had a good reputation for quality tools, affordable prices and excellent spare parts and service. Finding its demise was a horrible shock. In my view it is yet another excellent example of how stuffed our global economic system is, but that is getting away from the focus of this post. What I want to know is,..what alternatives to Triton gear are there, in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1>Australia</st1></st1:country-region>, for someone like myself.? (Note a previous post this year < https://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=94559 >focused more on saws and cutting while I want to focus on routing in this post)
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I'm a wood work beginner, unskilled, not financially employed but very interested in using my time to pursue a lifelong interest in working with wood. My 'workshop' is a friend's garage and so I needed a router table that could be dismantled and stored when not in use. I was quite prepared to save up and pay the retail price for a new Triton router and stand alone router table, but that option has now gone.
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Turning to second hand Triton gear I recently looked at ebay, but as you guys have noticed, Triton router tables are currently going for 150% above their previous RRP. Maybe they're worth that much, but if I pay $600 for the router table, that’s $200 less I can spend on the router (and the choice of that is yet another problem).
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Some of you may suggest I make my own router table and I've looked into that, but how viable an option is that for someone without a router table and with no experience with a router? According to author Pat Warner "the easiest way to make a router table is with a router table!"
http://www.patwarner.com/router_table.html
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Is there anyone else out there in the same predicament? What are your thoughts? Can anyone, with some experience, make any suggestions as to where I could go from here?
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How about these three questions…:
Are there any reasonably priced, demountable router table alternatives to Triton, that my research has failed to locate?
Exactly what will I not be able to do without a router table?
Should I be focusing on the router first? (I gloomily note that according to the view of the 2009 Australian Power Tool Buyers Guide, the Triton 1400W (at $299) was the only mid sized, variable speed, router that was suitable for table mounting. So I will probably be having to spend more for a higher power one.)
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Finally, it seems to me that the high prices currently on ebay for Triton router tables don't so much reflect collecters, as reflect the need for this type of, router table now that Triton gear is unavailable for retail.
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Thanks for reading this guys.
M.