If you are looking for a woodworking router to add to your tools, getting a router table combo is an excellent idea. By getting the router and a table at the same time, you can make many tasks that are normally hard to do with a hand held router a lot easier.
It’s a well know woodworking fact that there are times when it is best to bring the tool to the work, and times when it is best to bring the work to the tool. We all know how much easier it is to rip a board on a stationary table saw rather than trying to do it with had hand held power saw. The same goes for using a router. There are many operations that are much easier to do when you have your router mounted in a table and bring your material to it.
When installed in a router table, your router acts like a small shaper. You can put an edge on a long thin piece of wood a lot easier by running against the fence on the table. And the split fence on most tables allows you to do things that you could not do by using the router hand held. By adjusting the split fence where the outgoing side is forward of the incoming side, you can safely rout the entire side or edge of a board.
And if you have a bigger project with multiple pieces to route, you’ll be a lot happier using a table and taking the pieces to the router rather than hand holding the router for each one.
There are many other router operations that are much easier and safer to do when you use the router in a table. One good example is if you want to only partially put a route one the edge of your work. It is much easier using a table to bring the piece into the cutter at your starting point and pull it off exactly when you reach your end point. It’s easy to see how many operations work better when you are holding your part and bringing to the cutter rather than having to hold and control the router.
A full size router table, usually similar in size to a medium sized table saw top, is usually the best choice if you have the room and can fit the price into your budget. Having a full size table and working surface makes many jobs much easier. But if you don’t have room for the full size router table, you can find a router table combo where smaller bench top sized tables are included. While these don’t have the full size of a regular table, they still give you the advantage of having a fixed table where you can mount your router and allows you the same (although smaller) work area and functionality.
If you use the smaller bench top tables, be sure to firmly mount the table to your workbench before use. Don’t run the risk of having the table slide or tip when you are using it. And be sure to be safe when doing any operation with a router. We all know it, but be sure to be safe.
Check the web and woodworking sites and you will be able to find hundreds of ideas for projects where you can use your router. You’ll find Bosch, Porter-Cable, Craftsman and many other brands that make woodworking routers and tables. This tool, and the number of bits and cutters that are available for it, is one of the most versatile of the modern assortment of power woodworking tools. And if you are looking to get your first router, or if you want to buy a router table and could use a second router that you could leave permanently mounted in the table, consider the many router table combo packages that are available. Maybe we don’t consider a table a tool, but it sure makes your router into a super usable machine.