router table newbie

[spongebrain]

I'm shopping for router tables, and I am a little confused. Does a normal router table fence require manually setting square with the miter slot?

I can't stand the idea of having to loosen two clamps, hand nudge and measure, then square the fence every time I make a new cut.

Router fences that I've looked at that make sense to me are the incra, jointech, and kreg.

The jointech and incra are basically the same thing, with incramental micro adjustment, and the Kreg is self squaring with micro adjustment. Are there others I should be looking at?

It's just important I have a self squaring fence, and an accurate easy to read and adjust rule.

Another thing on my mind, is setting myself up with a system for making dovetails. What is the best, fastest method for making dovetails. Is a router table the go for this? Has anyone used the incra for dovetails, is it fast and easy?

Thanks

[malb]

Peoplle can get by with a flat top table and either no fence or a clamp down fence. This is the approach promoted by the router workshop guys on their videos and the woodworking channnel. The Woodworking Channel Video Library (http://www.woodworkingchannel.com/dolphin/vidego_video_library.php)

(There is a right arrow at the top right of the topic list for this site, if you hit this the list will scroll and reveal Router Workshop, clicking on this will give you access to about a dozen short videos)

With the clamp down fence, you rough position it, clamp it at each end, then tap it into the final required position.

Others like a full featured setup like the Kreg table and fence, or a table and Incra positioner. Incra is nice if you anticipate needing a lot of repeatable setups i.e production run dovetails etc.

Ultimately, the router bit is circular and it doesn't know which way the work approaches it , so the fence doesn't need to be square to the table edge. This is different to a table saw where the fence, Mitre slot if used and saw blade all have to be parallel to avoid binding as the blade disk remains in the kerf through the cut.

[joe greiner]

No relation necessary between the fence and the miter slot. The miter slot is useful only for end returns of the shape on a long workpiece. Cut the ends first, so that tearout occurs in waste material.

Both the fence and the miter slot are self-squaring, with respect to the cutter.

Cheers,
Joe

[artme]

No need for any complexity with the fence because of what Joe says.

Make tour own table. Use Roger Gifkins plan.

I have a Jointech fence. Not worth the money unless you have the whole system of stuphph for their dovetailing and box jointing.