OKAY!! It's 98*, it's Texas....and I ain't turning the fan off for a video, but I WILL leave my New York dead of winter hat on so everyone can see how hot it is down here...huh!!! :)
I bought this router table and that exact same bit set five years ago and everything is still running great. Harbor Freight does have some gems, and this is definitely one of them. definitely modify the fence though.
I bought one and took the legs off, Got an old dresser and took out the center drawers. Dropped that whole set up in the 6 ft. dresser and it works awesome, Plus I use the existing drawers for storage... Oh, I also made my own adjustable fence.
Great review...! I never remove my router from the table so frankly that wouldnt even phase me a bit. Can't beat the price, that's for sure - looks like you got a good deal there. Congratulations on the new addition to your family. Hope your wife gets to feeling better soon.
This is my first router and table (Thank You Santa!). I sure appreciate your candid review. It makes me much more comfortable since today will be the first day I hit the Power switch.
I purchased one today at Harbor Freight $109.00 - %20 coupon $87.20 I have never used a router. Thanks for the video and congratulations on the new born.
First off great video, I'm always hesitant to buy on the cheap side of tools but you answered all my basic questions and that is really all I need for a router table. Second, it's 98° in Texas and you're rocking the Yukon Cornelius hat!! Good for you dude! great job! Looking forward to checking out more of your vids.
I bought this one about a year ago. The only gripe I have is the huge hole in the fence. I cut a board to cover it and drilled a 1" hole at the bottom. It works great now.
Pleased to have you representing my Lone Star State in the woodworking world. You are an excellent teacher and a fine young man! I just bought the router and needed help understanding what the parts were all about. The instructions were very difficult to understand. Your video was quite helpful. I appreciate your self-deprecating remarks about being "too lazy" to make sacrificial fence and your puzzlement over the loss of the plastic pieces. That was one of my first questions: How am I going to keep from losing these? All the best to you and your young family. Count me among your followers.
Bro. Congrats on your baby. Hope your girl is feeling better. Thank you for making me laugh with the “I’m not your boss,....I’m not YOUR, boss.” And thank you for the review. I needed that. Was in the store bout to by it with my daughters, I had it in the cart and thought. Hmm maybe hold off.
Great review, simple and to the point and no b.s.!! You answered all of my questions about this router/table combo and I’m about to get one for my guitar work, just perfect for guitar neck work…THANKS and I just subscribed!! Congrats on the new family edition!🎉🎉👍👍
Congrats on the Baby! I think buy that table and a handheld router is a good choice. Besides the obvious applications, you have redundancy too. Looking forward to the next vid from you.
You have the most natural presentation style, and I like it. I bet no matter what topic you ever cover, you would be outstanding. Because content is honest, and style is genuine, I will Subscribe, that’s what I’ll do, Subscribe, and a give the video a Thumbs Up. And watch your other videos.
Thanks for the video! Very informative and not boring at all. I just purchased this router and there are 5 collets [i think that's what they are called} of different sizes that came with the router that fit in the hole which should help with one of your gripes...
Thank, man! Glad you enjoyed the video. I lost almost all of mine. Which is my fault lol. I’m sure I will come across them one day around the work bench.
It still works well. I like it. I have been playing around with the idea of making my own router table, but since I don’t use routers on every project, it’s not too much of a priority right now, so I’m pretty content with it.
Thanks for the sub! Every little bit helps! I’d say overall for what it costs, if you’re not going to be doing a whole bunch of routing like me, it’s not a bad investment.
I have the same exact router I bought 4-5 years ago at harbor freight only the router, I think they just took the plastic slide plate off the bottom and looks like they took out the plunge springs out and attached it to a table, it could be used as a hand held router if a slide plate was made but not good for plunging without the springs they should have just thrown the springs and the plate in the box for people who wanted to use it as hand held router, be careful with bigger router bits no speed adjustment exceeds alot of bits rpm recommendations, I only bought this router because I purchased their raised panel bit set and didn't have a 1/2" router to put them in, I learned this later after watching router videos from people who knew a lot about this stuff, this router without speed control is really only safe with 1"-1-1/4" bits and cheap harbor freight bits makes me question whether it's even safe at all so you are very right about eye protection
Bought mine a year ago just now have time to use it. It worked great for 3 or 4 cut but then the bit would not hold it kept popping up. On the upside I have a table now
FYI to make it a fair comparison. The Kobalt router table at Lowes DOES come with a router. Additionally the table is cast aluminium (not MDF) as is the router mount. Also it currently sells for $129 not on sale.
Great review, you didn’t mention that you can hook up a shop vac and and take care of those dag burn wood chips right away. 😂 also if you need a hand held router let me know I have 3 of them and I only use 1
Hey, Todd! Yeah, I didn’t think about it. I think it probably supports about a two inch vacuum hose. Which I definitely need to invest in lol. Shoot, a hand held would make a great addition to the shop! What’cha askin for it?
Mean's Woodshop you cover the shipping and you can have it they are just sitting in my shop collecting dust, I would just need your address again and I can send one out and let you know what the shipping cost is
For a hundred bucks , it seems to be a okay tool in regards to the Miter Guage if the slot in the table is decent you would probably do better with a homemade “Sled “ with a hold down to run material
Good review. I'm a big fan of Harbor Freight and if you don't know 20% off coupons and free items with purchase coupons are readily available online. So your $100 router table can be had for $80 and you could also get a free magnetic tool holdet. Keep up with the videos and I think I'll subscribe.
Thanks, man! Yeah, poor Harbor Freight kind of gets a bad rap on RU-vid most of the time. I’m often pleased with most of what I get there, like the router table. I forgot about the coupons, I’m also a member of their track club thing too, which gets extra discounts. Feel free, I’d love to have you on board!
If you have Sears still open in your area get the Craftsman router table, it's $104 and so.much better then this heap a crap. For one thing the center of the router matched the measurements lines on the table
Thank you for the review. It was very helpful. I also gotta give you a little crap wearing a ski cap with the Shaggy and Scooby-Doo hair when it's 98. Thank you
No problem! Glad the review was helpful! I’ve gotten quite a few comments about the hat in hot weather, believe me, y’all are lucky you don’t gotta see how heat and humidity affect that shaggy hair 🤣 but it’s an older video, so the hat and the hair have been gone for a while.
So much risk buying some Harbor Freight tools. (But.....there are plenty of things that are fine.) I went and purchased this (used) from a friend and planning on testing it/tweaking it with cedar fencing and reproduction exterior trim projects first. If this thing works as a dedicated exterior work setup? Win. You did just fine on this vid and delivered the most important info for it. (Better to wear a hat.....than be an ASSHAT!)
I don’t have a video on it, but perhaps I could include that in process in a video. Usually I won’t let the bit slide all the way down into the router, which is kind of annoying because I have to hold it in place while I tighten it up.
Mean's Woodshop yes I was thinking that I needed to to stay higher. I felt like I needed three hands to do it. Therefore, I enlisted the help of my hubby. Well I guess I didn’t leave enough shaft because I started to cut and it flew out! Thankfully, missed me! Still have all my fingers and eyes! Whew! 🤪🤦♀️
Scary stuff! It’s definitely not a fun task, and it’d be a lot easier for me to show rather than explain. I’ve never had an issue with them coming out, but I am a bit wary of that happening. I’ll usually raise the router as high as it can go, hold the bit flush with the top, then proceed to tighten. Oddly enough, (and I have no idea what happened) they’ve almost been going in too high now about the last month or so 🤷♂️
Thanks. Going to get one today!! I only make bases for my sculptures otherwise I would sub. Great channel bud! Not my boss, not my father Lol I like your style “the fans staying on”. I never even noticed any noise Sir. 👍✔️
Awesome! Some folks are concerned about exact height measurements of the router bit adjustment, but if you’re just making bases, I think it’ll do a great job. I’ve upgraded a few tools around the shop and I still haven’t felt the need to replace the router table. Glad you enjoyed the video!
Thanks for the sub! If you’re interested, me and my brother have videos every Wednesday where we reply to comments on recent videos ourselves, it’s our way of trying to keep interactive with the community.
Is this a competition? I live in Las Vegas and we're making records this week, lucky me its gonna be 114° today. Yay! Couldn't really hear that fan at all. Thanks for the video, was looking in to possibly buying this... I will now. Harbour Freight should start sending you free tools for helping out their sales.. Cheers mate.
New to wood working.. I need to replace my cabinet doors can you tell me what the general size is for the rabbets on the back of the doors,and what roundover bit I need? Great video! Just bought this table
Help! Just got this thing, put in a new 1/4 inch bit, tightened it, but totally loose. Called them, they said this router can't take regular bits, it needs extended long bit shanks but harbor freight doesn't carry them. They suggested Amazon or Home Depot, no luck. Where the hell do I get them???
That’s odd. The bits I use are ones I got from Harbor Freight. I use the thickest collet (I think that’s what they’re called) in the router itself and find that I always have to make it as tight as possible.
Don't buy this junk. Save your money and get a good router table and router too. Or make a router table yourselve. This thing is garbage' I bought one just to see and this thing was 100% garbage and I tossed it in the garbage too. I didn't want to even give this Pos away and honestly it's not safe either
I brought this table to do some routing 1/4" straight bit, its too short. So I raised it to get it over the table but found that it still too short. So I raise the bit, but it keeps flying off each time. Now, I have to go to Home Depot to get a longer shank, 3 ' to get it up on the table for a 1 inch wood stock to route.
I'm new to routing. But I have a question. Could you run like an eight foot board through this particular router table? I'm putting a new wood bed in one of my trucks, and the stainless steel slats that lay in on top of every board must have a groove cut out... And thanks for the video, it was informative and interesting!
I’m sure it could be done. With a board that long you might need an extra set of hands. I’ve run boards about four feet in length through it of table aprons and didn’t have any issues. I’m glad you liked the video!
@@MeansWoodshop Thank you very much for replying Caleb! I'll be picking one up most likely before the weekend is out. You have a great channel I've stumbled on, so I will be subscribing!
No, thank you for the sub! Yeah, like 98% of my videos are projects, but I’m probably going to be doing another review video soon. It’s a good router table in my opinion. I used it to route some grooves on my recent dining table project and all I had to do was some light hand sanding afterwards.
I have one. My gripe is setting the bit depth into the arbor. Most bits I have need to be 1/2" or more from the arbor to give me the cut depth I need. It is a pain in the arse to keep the bit height set while tightening the arbor down. Any suggestions?
I agree, I tend to have the same issue with mine as well. Right now I have to sort of hold the bit with one hand and try and tighten it with the other, which is frustrating and may impede accuracy.
Lol I was wondering when I was gonna get that question. I’m a huge fan of the Monkees, and Mike Nesmith was always seen wearing his knit hat. So that’s why I wear it. I usually keep it off while I’m working since the heat gets so intense
That’s a good question lol. I’m a big fan of The Monkees and Mike Nesmith was always seen wearing a wool hat. It really doesn’t get too hot unless I’m working.
