Best router for DIY router table

Hi all
I know there are a lot of threads about this issue and believe me I have looked at many of them, so hope it’s ok if I start another one for my specific issue.
I had a GMC router table with built-in router; not sure how much it cost but probably under $200. Believe it or not it served me well for quite a while and I successfully routed some rails and stiles for cabinet doors on a built-in I’m making. I was using a Rockler cabinet door two-piece bit set like this one: Rockler 2-Pc. Ogee Stile and Rail Router Bit Set - 1-5/8" Dia x 1" H x 1/2" Shank
Unfortunately over time the top of the router table has become bowed and is no longer usable but the cabinet doors are not yet finished.
My limited budget means I have only a few options and I would like to know others’ opinions on which is best:

1. There is a Makita 3600BR available locally for $150. This seems like a good deal because although the model is very old, this unit is new in the box. I have generally seen good reviews of this model on the forum. The downside is that it doesn't have speed control and I gather I would need this to use the large cabinet bits. I could buy a cheap speed controller like this: 220V - 240V 8A Router Speed Control Variable Controller For Lighting Fan Tools | eBay for use with my proposed DIY router table (would be interested in people’s experiences with these cheap speed controllers – they seem to only have three settings: low, medium and high).
2. Buy a new Ryobi 1600W plunge router for about $150 and build a router table like this (well done Brend, an aussie in NZ): Ryobi RRT1600 - Page 5 - Router Forums
3. Use the collective wisdom of this forum to work out which better quality 1/2" routers I should look for on the second-hand market that would be best for my purpose and patiently wait for one to become available.

Thanks for your help folks.
Catherine

Hate to say it but the Triton I bought in a fit of pique is the best I've had so far.
Once you remove the springs it has a winder for up down, speed control, and when wound all the way up the spindle is locked, so no need for two spanners...

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Originally Posted by david.elliott

Hate to say it but the Triton I bought in a fit of pique is the best I've had so far.
Once you remove the springs it has a winder for up down, speed control, and when wound all the way up the spindle is locked, so no need for two spanners...

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Thanks David, which model is it?

The 3600 makita is a great router, it will swing big cutters no problem. They just don’t have the refinements of the more expensive ones. I’d take it over a Ryobi. Of course if you want to go all out you could get the Festool OF 2200, these are the V8 Rolls Royce of routers, awesome bit of gear.

I have this Triton router and it’s brilliant. Hope that this helps.

https://www.justtools.com.au/triton-...-router-tra001


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Can the GMC table top be “un-bowed” in some way? Or the router motor assembly removed and clamped into a homemade table top?

My first router table used a Ryobi plunge router and I have had zero issue with it.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f20/d...93#post2150195

No doubt that the Makita is a better router but I find the variable speed very useful.

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Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

Can the GMC table top be “un-bowed” in some way? Or the router motor assembly removed and clamped into a homemade table top?

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Good idea and one I have explored to some extent.

Being a cheap one, the table is not made to be dissembled easily and I doubt the metal top could be un-bowed.

I had already removed the motor assembly and I'm in the process of investigating whether it could be used in a homemade table but I'm bamboozled by the mechanism it uses to raise and lower the bit (which was its most annoying feature when it was working). If I can remove that part and the motor still has some kind of attachment point I can use to attach it to a table I may be in business.

I've attached two photos of the motor assembly. The black plastic ring was the mechanism used to raise and lower the bit, with a special straddling tool which didn't actually work for the large bits I was using. Between the main assembly and the smaller round metal plate with the plastic ring attached is a large spring. I need to work out whether I can remove the whole upper ring assembly and if I can I think I can attach the larger, outer ring to a homemade table. The problem is I won't know if I will have any way to raise and lower the bit until I've taken that second ring off. I will try to do that today and see what I end up with.

This would be a good solution because I never had any issues with the motor and it has the speed control and on/off switch still attached. I will let you know how it turns out and I would be interested to know if anyone else has ever disassembled one of these GMC motors.

Thanks everyone for the input so far.:U
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Originally Posted by samo

My first router table used a Ryobi plunge router and I have had zero issue with it.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f20/d...93#post2150195

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Yes, I saw and admired your elegant router table on the forum. :2tsup:

I am pleased to hear that the cheap Ryobi has worked out ok so I will go down that track if my attempts to use the old GMC motor assembly (as discussed above) do not work out.

copycath

Are you looking to just have a router table to finish this one job or do you wish to have a router table for use into the future? If the former it may be worth fiddling with the GMC, but I am not familiar with that style of machine. Normally the outer ring would be attached to the table but that doesn't look as though it would work at all as the other two circular piece including the black plastic ring would rise and fall. You might have to look more closely at the original table. In principle you should be able to make use of it, but in practice it may be too difficult.

If you are looking to the future for router table use I would not bother with the GMC repair but look at the Triton. While the bigger model is better for table use, even the smaller machine is larger than your current motor assuming it is the 1050W table model. I think the small Triton is 1400W (2HP), which is considered minimum for table mounted machines assuming you will want to use large diameter bits from time to time.

There have been some quality issues at times with the Triton, but it was designed with table use in mind (in fact I don't rate it for hand held use as it feels top heavy) and anything else with that power and variable speed control (I think essential if using larger bits) will cost a lot more. The above the table bit changing facility is a big plus that few other machines can offer.

Regards
Paul

OK, so I tried disassembling the GMC router motor housing to see if it could be attached to a homemade router table. This thing is not designed to be taken apart. :(

The way it works is difficult to photograph and to explain. In the attached photo I have raised the collet to its highest point and the spring between the outer and inner plate is now fully compressed. BTW the inner plate and the housing around the collet is all one solid piece. The entire assembly could be attached to the underside of a router table as it is now (using the screw holes around the outer plate) but the height of the collet would be fixed because to adjust it you need to rotate the entire inner plate, which is not easy plus access would be a problem when it was set in a table.

The only way I can see that the unit could work in a table would be if you had the whole thing attached to a sub-platform that went up and down. The sub-platform would need to be attached to the main table surface in some way that kept the motor assembly perpendicular and stable (maybe 4 vertical rods or something). Adjustment of the height of the collet would be via one of those mini scissor lifts people have been using (Router Laboratory Lifting Platform Lift Lifting Lab Lifter Kits Latest | eBay). I guess the kind of setup I'd be trying to emulate is this: JessEm 02310 Rout-R-Lift II Router Lift for 3-1/2" Diameter Motors | eBay but in a homemade, make-do, got Scottish ancestry kinda way. :roll:

Not sure it's worth all the trouble. Any new suggestions welcome.

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Some suggestions for an easy new table. For years this bit of 32mm chipboard (kitchen benchtop material) was used sitting on a couple of saw horses. Not too difficult to stand up and put out of the way even with the router in place. This is "noverivisual" (translation for those without a Scottish ancestry: Doesn't look much chop {English}: Don't look very flash {Aussie}) as it has been sitting out in the weather for about three years since it was retired. It was never a picture in the first place.

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It was long enough to have several transformations. Two different routers were used over time with the top hole being for a Triton (the lower one might have been a GMC but I can't recall now). It also at times used two different circular saws.

Attachment 469239

As you have discovered, a flat table is order of the day and even 32mm thick can bend a bit so I reinforced it with some steel angle.

Attachment 469240

Nowadays I have a different table (aluminium) but similar concept. It, I have to say, has suffered a similar fate in that a nice cabinet for it is a low priority so for the moment it sits in an angle iron frame that I purchased at a closing down sale. This is how it looked as a receptacle for everything that had no place:

Attachment 469241

But even I was shamed, so I tidied it : Just a little.

Attachment 469242

The Triton below.

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If I was making a new timber (mdf or chipboard) table, I would use two pieces of 16mm thick material. Cut the hole for your router out of one and then glue and screw the two sheets together. Then drill the hole in the top table. You may get away with just that or you could deepen the hole a little more into the second sheet to minimise lost depth of travel. The best method of course is to have an insert plate similar the one in the pic above, but much depends on the budget. If you go with a simple hole the table can be made for next to nothing cost wise.You may even have material left over from other projects. 600mm x 900mm is adequate for most purposes. I think my first table was smaller than that and was made from plastic coated form ply.

Yu may well be able to buy a second hand router that is suitable. Just be sure to check it out before buying.

Regards
Paul

Throw your $ at the best router you can afford. Make your own router table -common sense and not a lot of nouse will get you there. About to decommission a Aldi router table - not even the cast machined top seems worth saving. Can do better with some melamine board and odds and ends. (was a present from my parents - along with the 1/4" router that come with it. None of it is good really.

I had the Aldi table for a while. I used the power switch when I mounted a router plate in the tablesaw wing. It's not all bad.
Regards
John