# DeltaTek Router Table



## Aurora North (Sep 11, 2015)

Ahhh yeahhh baby.





Today was a shop clean out day and my boss was scraping an old woodtek shaper that had a dead motor. The thing had been sent out for repair 3 times and fried within months each time. Price of a new motor was almost as much as a new shaper. 

So... It was a perfect opportunity for me to get a cast iron router table top with an adjustable fence for $30 as opposed to $400-750.

Took the delta radial arm stand also because it was getting thrown out and was the perfect height. Just needs some braces welded in to sure it up because that top is a good 100lbs. 

Pretty excited about this score. The nice thing too is the top is milled for an auto feeder. That's next if I can find a good deal on one.

Reactions: Like 2 | Way Cool 1 | Creative 1


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## barry richardson (Sep 11, 2015)

Id love to have that setup. I would machine it to accept a router lift first thing, not sure about the auto feed, are you going to be milling a lot of molding? Fantastic score at any rate, I hope to find something like that someday, sick of sagging MDF table tops....

Reactions: Agree 1


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## woodtickgreg (Sep 11, 2015)

Great score and useful repurposing of discarded items, I love that.

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## ripjack13 (Sep 12, 2015)

Man I love a good story....nice find!!!

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Nature Man (Sep 12, 2015)

Congrats! A little ingenuity and you will be in business. Chuck

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Tony (Sep 12, 2015)

Very nice, great score!! Tony

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## Aurora North (Sep 13, 2015)

Thanks guys!

I was looking hard at making my own table out of MDF and laminating it. That plunge router (which is what I will have set up on it) is 21lbs. I was worried about sagging over time. So I've been putting the router table on the back burner until I could afford a cast iron top and whenever I had the money I kept putting it towards other machines. I just couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money on a metal top, but I really wanted the precision for molding runs. 

I do plan on the auto feeder eventually because they give you excellent results when running moldings. Even feed rate and constant pressure gives you a much smoother cut without stop marks. Just means less time in sanding which you come to hate really quickly when you have to sand 100s of feet of trim. I do plan on making my own doors and drawer fronts and until I can afford a shaper for that I was hoping to get by with the router. I figured once I have a solid router table it will always be handy. 

As for the lift I hadn't really given them an extreme comparison and hard look. I know they're pricey, but I also know they make precise set ups easy and quick. So it probably is worth it to invest in one. It's one of those things though where I start adding up the price and thinking... Why don't I just buy a full on shaper? So we'll see. Also considering I have to send out to a machinist which costs $.

I was planning to either make a round insert to hold the plunge router or mill holes into the larger ring spacer and just adjust height manually with the stop rod and set up blocks for the time being.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Aurora North (Sep 14, 2015)

On second thought, Barry, your suggestion to get the top milled is the way to go. I spent a few hours researching router lifts. That's the way to do it. Have to get a quote on having the top milled for a plate. 

Any suggestions on which lift to go with? I was thinking the benchdog pro lift and while I'm having the top milled I would have steel inserts machined also.

Reactions: Like 1


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## woodtickgreg (Sep 14, 2015)

Way more bits available for routers and a lot cheaper too, versus shaper bits.


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## barry richardson (Sep 14, 2015)

I only have experience with the Jessum lifts, We have 2 tables set up with them at work and they have taken a lot of abuse and still work as designed with no problems, I have the smaller version Jessum on my home router too. If I were buying another I would probably get Jessum... but I imagine there are plenty of people happy with the Bench dog and others too...


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## Mike1950 (Sep 14, 2015)

I have a jessum - No problems in 12 yrs.


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## Aurora North (Sep 18, 2015)

So... I was looking at the table the other day. Rather than having the top milled out for a rectangular router plate that the lift attaches to... Would there be any issues with just having a round plate milled to fit the hole that's already there and mount the lift to it? 

I need to find specs on the lifts to try and figure this out. Hard trying to think of it without seeing what the tool looks like in person and being able to take measurements.


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