Woodworker's Journal 1993-17-2, страница 12
Shoptest Craftsman Industrial Router Table Sears has a new larger router table. Marketed as their Industrial Router Table, this model has several improvements over previous Sears tables—most notably a removable "throat plate" table insert. With other Sears router tables, the machine is fastened directly lo the underside of the table. This is okay, but if you change often from the stationary setup to handheld use. you soon lire of unscrewing the router from the underside of the table and reattaching its sub-base. Do this several times during a work session and you're ready to buy a second router so that one could be left permanently attached to the table. The throat plate on this new table is a 7tyg in. square steel plate that replaces the factory-supplied sub-base on your router. This permits the router base to be lifted through the top opening without a lot of hassle. Sears provides screws to secure the throat plate to the table top, but I found the router weight sufficient to hold the machine in place. Six snap in plastic inserts of various sizes are provided for filling the gap between the bit and the center hole in the throat plate. Routers up to 13 in. high and having a base within the size of the throat plate can be used on this table. The mounting holes on the Sears routers align without any modifications; other 12 i brands may require drilling and countersinking the appropriately spaced holes. The unit was shipped knocked-down and took about one-half hour to assemble. Assembly was primarily attaching the folded steel legs to the top and attaching the throat plate to the router. The instructions were clear and well illustrated. The top is a ribbed die casting that measures 14 in. by 24 in. (33 percent larger than its predecessors). The throat plate rests in a recess on the table. Leveling screws allow the plate to be _ adjusted to sit perfectly flush with the top. A miter gauge is provided and fits in the in. by !/»in. groove in the top. Molded Fence Assembly The adjustable fence assembly is molded from rigid, glass-filled plastic and has several features: a groove to guide a pushblock. a bit guard, a dust collection hookup and a pocket fence for jointing. The fence assembly has two mounting locations (depending on desired proximity to the bit) or it can be easily removed for free routing. A lulcrum pin (or starting pin) is provided to make free routing a safer operation. I lie supplied pushblock is a molded unit that incorporates a slock clamp. It slides .ilong the fence and has a clamp capacity of 47» in, I found this to be a convenient feature for cutting joints on end-grain. The dust chute is molded into the fence and can be used in conjunction with a shop vacuum. It did a great job minimizing airborne dust. The bit guard is a simple flip-up clear plastic guard. It provides adequate protection and also assists the dust collection by enclosing the bit. The |*»ckct fcncc is a small adjustable fence that resides within the out feed side of the main fence. It allows you to use the router as a jointer by adjusting the pocket fcncc to support the outfeed (the fences act like tables on a jointer). While it sounds good in theory. I could not get very satisfactory results. It may be a reasonable approach for short stock, but longer work needs more support and guidance. Conclusions The new Industrial Router Table offers some real improvements over the previous Scars models. The larger table with the removable throat plate is a big plus for convenience. The pushblock, hit guard and dust collection are good features thai worked. The pocket fence for jointing produced poor results, so I would limit its use to short stock. The miter gauge was adequate, but it would have been nice if Scars made the groove 3fs in. deep so that most of the other gauges could also be used. Craftsman Industrial Router Table, model no. 171.25490. Scars Roebuck and Co., Chicago. IL 60684. The current price is $99. O The Woodworker's Journal |
