Quote Originally Posted by Chris Parks View Post
Forget the price, the problem I have with that is it hangs from the top and needs the top to be thick enough to prevent the weight bending it. Side mount the spindle and that problem goes away, no router insert plate needed and the top can be made to either hinge or just lift off if needed. There would be another benefit to side mounting, the spindle could rise through the top to clear the chuck if a suitable insert was made.
Totally agree Chris, this is what I'll be doing when I switch to the CNC motor, and I already have the table top hinged for lifting.

As you likely know, I also don't have an insert plate in my table, and the only reason I mounted my custom base plate into a recess in the table top was (as you said) to allow the collet to rise through the table to a height for one spanner auto shaft lock bit changing with the Triton router. That height (travel) restriction is no longer a problem with a CNC motor and there is no reason to even mount the CNC motor to the underside of the table. The motor, DRO, and lift mechanism using a linear actuator with speed control can be built as a robust solid mounted unit that sits independently below the table with no loss of precision in height adjustment with respect to the table top. And I retain the design I use with purpose built swappable inserts plates in the table for different routing and dust extraction tasks, and without a stupid lump of insert plate blocking bit dust extraction and air flow, which was the reason I made a custom base plate in the first place.

But of course this is for my simple DIY home workshop, not a business situation which I fully understand will likely have totally different priorities with respect to dust extraction performance, table setup, and large scale repeatable routing tasks.