Another router table advice thread

[Opy]

Happy Easter everybody

I've been looking at various options for my first router table.
mostly with the idea of buying a Triton TRA001 and either a small bench top kit or just a mounting plate and build my own.
Now I am considering this all in one unit which seems cheaper than my other potential plans
W846 | hf-50 Bench Top Router | For Sale Sydney Brisbane Melbourne Perth | Buy Workshop Equipment & Machinery online at machineryhouse.com.au

My question is should I give up on the 2400W TRA001 and settle for this 1500W unit?
Oak and Pine are likely going to be the most common materials used. Mostly for contouring edges and the occasional dovetail and dado work.

Thanks
Opy

[rayintheuk]

I would still go for the TRA001 as it gives you more flexibility and future-proofing. Although the Scheppach is a good brand, you can't use it on, for example, a Leigh jig or anything else that requires a hand-held router. It will probably do what you want it to for now, but I don't think it will serve for anything other than the simplest of jobs. Also, there's no substitute for power and 1500W seems a little feeble for a bench-top machine.

Ray

[Opy]

Thanks Ray.
I should have mentioned I already have an 1100W plunge router for hand held work. Some no name thing that was handed to me, previously unused. Possibly a GMC relabel.

[DaveTTC]

So happens I was looking at options and saw this one

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...897707&alt=web

I dont know if it includes a router or is just the table but thinking just the table

Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

[Opy]

Nice find Dave
I don't have the space that I can dedicate to a full setup like that though, even if I mounted it on wheels.
A full Triton setup of router table and stand will cost me $913. Legs are removable so I can store it on a shelf. Which is where the Sheppach would live if I went the cheaper option. Half the price but less than two thirds the power.

[RoyG]

The Scheppach HF-20 Router Table that you're looking at has a history of having issues with the fence and the table not being flat and aligned. There seem to be a few slight variations in the fence over the years - some had a mix of plastic and pressed sheet aluminium (?more recently cast aluminium?) in the fence. I bought one (new) back in 2012 and returned it a week later as I was unable to keep the fence square to the table, and the table wasn't flat. H&F recommended shimming the fence to square it, which did work, but the plastic fence fittings are not stiff enough to keep the fence square for long.

Some people love these Sheppach Router Tables, and other people have had nothing but problems. My take after buying one, and having to return it, was that it is a low cost machine utilising lots of plastic components - which probably explains it's lack of precision and rigidity. I didn't use it long enough to determine how durable it would be in the long run. After returning the Scheppach Router Table, I went and bought a Triton TRA-001 and a Carbatec Cast Iron Router Table. The Carbatec cast iron table has it's own set of issues, but at least is durable and reasonable accurate - and not a bad price.

I think it all boils down to what you want to use the Scheppach router table for. It's a light duty router table - expect to use only smaller diameter router bits, and take multiple shallow cuts (instead of two deeper cuts) to get a clean cut surface. The Scheppach Router Table is limited in the max size of router bits that it use. In any case the table surface in front of the router bit is a bit small to be making kitchen door sized raised panels on anyway, so large horizontal panel raising bits are not going to be suitable.

However, I do know a bloke who uses vertical panel raising bits (like this one) in his Sheppach Router Table, along with a shop-made tall vertical fence and shop-made tall finger boards, to support the panels vertically for raising. The motor in teh Sheppach router table has more than enough grunt to turn a vertical panel raising bit - but forget using a horizontal panel raising bit in it.

These two long threads on this forum should provide you with some background info on the Scheppach Router Table to help you decide.......

Scheppach dedicated bench router

Scheppach dedicated bench router - Part 2

Hope that info helps.

RoyG

[MrFez]

I had one of the Schppachs for a short time and found a couple of niggling issues with it. The spindle lock was difficult to engage and the motor lift/lower mechanism wasn't the most accurate. I also agree with other sentiments about the build.

Long story short, I now have a TRA001 which I mounted under a home made table. I found the sticky at the top of this thread a good source for making your own table.

Good look with your efforts.

[Oddy]

If you want to do joinery work on it, an Incra fence on a home made table is hard to beat.

[Opy]

Thank you everyone. Lots of fantastic feedback.
TRA001 currently on special. After a fair bit of effort working around the faults of the site I was buying from I managed to fill the cart with Triton router, table and stand. At the last moment, I figured I'm not fully sold on the Triton table and it's not going to help much with the current project, so I dumped them. Ordered the router alone.
Now I am happily committed to not buying the all in one style benchtop unit and can focus on a design that suits the storage space I have in my over crowded single car garage of a workshop. And I get to use the impressive power of the Triton, which is orange so will suit my workshop well, which is a highly critical attribute, right?

[rayintheuk]

gs03.jpg

In the above picture (click to enlarge) you can see my expensive router table, hinged off the left-hand wall of my garage/shop. It's a piece of strategically-reinforced ply with a Rousseau phenolic plate inserted, supported by two custom lengths of softwood (stood in the slight alcove adjacent) when horizontal. They needed to be custom, because the floor slopes down slightly towards the front! Coupled with my home-made MDF fence (with state-of-the-art Formica facings) and any of my Triton routers and I'm good for anything. I've let a track into the table for a mitre gauge, but that's rarely been needed. No patents apply, so feel free!

Ray

[Bob38S]

So happens I was looking at options and saw this one

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...897707&alt=web

I dont know if it includes a router or is just the table but thinking just the table

Dave TTC
Turning Wood Into Art

G'day Dave, first time I have seen this one but in the pix, apart from the stand it looks surprisingly like the bench top version sold by Aldi a while back, don't recall the price but from memory it was nowhere near what the eBay version is going for. The quick look I had at the Aldi version was the top did appear to have a dip and the extras, including the fence appeared to be fragile.

Not a professional opinion but I dismissed it as one of those, "it seemed like a good idea at the time" moments.