Router Table Advice

[Mark Ruggles]

I am in the market for a router table and looking for advice.  I was leaning toward the Kreg Table top for both cost and space savings.  On amazon it has had some poor ratings, the full size Kreg has very good ratings.  Is it worth twice the money?

 

Thanks,

 

Mark

[John Schaben]

Hi Mark - I assume you are talking about the 2000 vs the 1040. Biggest thing I see is the table size is significantly larger on the 1040. The 2000 table top is 16 x 24. My starter table was 16 x 22 and was pretty dicey on stock over about 4 feet long. For some reason no table size for the 1040 was published, neither Amazon nor at the Kreg site. They said the plate was 9-1/4 x 11 3/4 so looking at the pics I'm guessing the 1040 is about 24 x 30 or so which is a decent size. I'm not terribly sold on the 1040 self-aligning fence though. On both the tables I don't quite understand why you're limited to only 2 sizes of plate inserts, 2" and 1-15/64".  They're both nice tables but I don't think I'd be interested in either, JMHO

[gdatomic]

Mark -

I just bought the 16" by 24" benchtop router table "system". The range of Amazon ratings probably depends on what you need. (I don't have any problems with my mounting plate. Knowing the guys at Kreg, if you did I expect they'd treat you well.)

To put this in context, I'm a weekend warrior who does some woodworking. Can't imaging my buying anything bigger or more complex.

Recently routed tracks for sliding doors into 60" mahogany pieces that are about 1.5" square. It was beautiful. All the precision I needed. The Kreg feather boards (I bought a set of 2) were critical to getting the accuracy and I may buy two more so that the board is supported on the infeed and the outfeed.

I'm using a Porter Cable router that has two mounts. So I've attached the fixed mount to the bottom of the table so I don't have to be taking it on/off. Works great. That leaves the plunge mount for portable routing.

Again, I'm not as experienced as some. But for what I need, it's all I need - and more.

Hope this helps.

...Doug

(Also, I do some paid work for Kreg. But this is my true consumer opinion.)

[kenny from Sundre]

I have the PRS 1020 table top with the Prs1010 Prescion fence and I added a KMS7215 Micro adjuster to it, and believe me, it makes one fine table router. I purchased a JessEm table top and fence at the Calgary trade show. after I bought it I went back and played around with it and the Kreg. Come Monday morning, I canceled the JessEm and bought the Kreg, and I have NO regrets. I made my own roll around base to sit it on. The Kreg fence allows you to do jointing as well by putting inserts behind the fence face.

kenny in Sundre

[Dan Thompson]

Mark. Is the 1040 worth the extra cost? It depends on your shop size, depth of your pockets, and frequency of use.

I built an adjustable table so that I would have an outfeed platform for my table saw, jointer, plane and now my router table, the stands are all on locking castors so I can minimize floor space used.

 I purchased the 1040 and put it on casters, so I could roll it over to my adjustable outfeed table to facilitate shaping 20 ft. hand rails for my stairs. I use it often enough that I purchased a new router so that I wouldn't have to waste time installing the router every time I need to use it. I am in my shop working on a project at least 20 hours a week

[Ralph Sarc]

I bought a Delta and mounted it to the far end of my layout table. It has worked well for 15 years!