Steve - Thanks for this video! I’ve been wanting to make this for years and finally did this month with my extra shop time from the pandemic. 😃 It was a challenging build for me but I’m happy with the results. I’m looking forward to using this. I appreciate all of your awesome tips. 👍🏼
Excellent idea. One point I differ with you on would be locating the hole in the top plate (not the blue insert). Instead of relying on the 3/4" bolt rod to be perfectly plumb and square with the base, I would have lowered the top down to the bottom plate and simply marked the hole through the hole already drilled in the bottom plate.
I had a great time building this and I really like the way it works. Cost me about $50 in parts and materials plus the scrap peices of ply I had. Thanks Steve.
Steve This project was just released in the Woodsmith Tools and Jigs magazine. The shop notes magazine as a pain to find, this is in the stores now. Planning to build and add to the shop. Thanks for all your videos and work you do to show us woodworking should be fun to do. Keep the ideas coming!!!!
I read the Shop Notes article on building a router lift some time ago. But it seemed so complicated. Your video makes the project realistically doable. Thanks Steve for giving me the nerve and confidence to make the attempt. Often seeing a thing done is preferred to just reading about it.
great video i just built the same lift 2 weeks ago, used it lots, once trued up have no issue with height adjustment going out. Keep up the helpful videos for the hobby shop woodworkers.
Thanks for this great video Steve. I purchased the plans from Woodsmith Plans and they are "pretty okay" but your video makes it seem completely doable. I ordered the "specialized" hardware from McMaster-Carr, and the Kreg insert plate from Amazon. I have the clamping block glue up in clamps in the shop now. Really looking forward getting this built and I don't even have a router for it yet. I am making due with a small DeWalt trim router and an old Craftsman router in their tabletop router table, but the way that old Craftsman sounds when I use it, I think I'm gonna need a new one pretty soon, so trying to get out ahead of it. Thanks again for all you do for us Mere Mortals!
This video, combined with your router table video, are first on my list of shop projects to build. I've been wanting a router table for a very long time, but cant afford a nice one, and the ones i CAN afford are junk. Yours looked great,and i love the funtionality of it, especially as you showed you can use it as a jointer as well. Thanks for the fun videos. Keep it up!!
Hello, Steve. I'm impressed with the amount of things you do and the ease with which you run the projects. Too bad that here in Brazil we have nothing to provide us with plans and projects. Congratulations for your work and thanks for the presented real lessons that you give me. Best regards, Alberto Thomaz
Great video Steve, Looking forward to seeing you make some projects with it now, And to see the height adjustment at work. As always thanks Steve, You're awesome!
Thanks, SadieTXClaus, I've made my own table, although I have no experience in woodcrafts at all... it has kind of worked quite well... Thanks again for your tips... Regards from Brazil.
I can not watch anything wood working for 6 months, have an idea for something i want to do, and you ALWAYS come up. Thanks for another great video. Love your work.
Hi and thanks for the video. Where is the on/off switch for your router? I am planning to turn the switch to on permanently, and to have a switch in the cable between the outlet and the router conveniently placed on the front. Do you have any thoughts on hingeing the table at the back to improve access without going under neath?
Very nice design. One possible improvement I can think of; if you know the threads per inch of your threaded rod, you could make a couple of gears based off of that ratio to give yourself precise control of the height difference. Then it's simply a matter of mounting one gear on the threaded rod, putting the other at a 90 degree angle in the cabinet with a shaft to a crank on the front, and mounting it in the cabinet with a bearing. In addition to giving you more precise control of the height change, this would allow you to alter the dept of your cut during operation.
WOW Steve!!! That is one cool build!!! As soon as my left thumb gets better (table saw) that will be done. Been using a table saw for over 25 years and every once in a while, It gets me. I was really tired, still no excuse.
I gotta say, I enjoyed the video. I've been debating with myself if I should build one and I think I will. Thanks for mentioning where I can get the measurements. As it happened, I already had the DVD that had the Shop Notes on it. Honestly, If I hadn't your video, i probably wouldn't have built this one.
its indeed very nice vdo methodic simple and self explanatory.... neat and cleanly executed job and work methods.... excellent... you have set a benchmark very high
Steve--I just started building mine today. The only snag I had was finding the hardware. HD and Lowe's don't carry much of it (the threaded rod, lock nuts, and set screws), and Grainger only supplies them in large quantities. I'm hoping McMaster-Carr will have them! It's a very easy build; I'm looking forward to completing it!
I am in the process of building the same thing. Thanks for this. sometimes watching someone build it is better than just imagining it from the magazine.
Thank you Steve...Would like to give it a shot. Like very much your videos; very down to earth... cheers....rr from Normandy(already conversed regarding dato blades here(or not) in Europe
So I watched this video several times before attempting to make the router lift. I ended up making some piece a couple of times to fit properly. I tweaked it in two places. First with the V-grooves. After cutting the V and the V-grooves, I expoxied a couple of pieces of 1/8" x 1" x 90 degree aluminum angle so that it wasn't wood-on-wood sliding, but metal on metal, ... less wear over the long run. For my second tweak, I found that the 3/4" lock nut on the top side of the assembly eventually didn't want to hold because the weight of the router and assembly put pressure on the nut, and it eventually lost its "locking" ability, ... this resulted in the top nut actually threading itself up the threaded rod, defeating the operation of the lift. To stop this, I drilled a 1/8" hole through the nut and the threaded rod. My intention was to follow that up with putting a pin into the hole which would stop the nut from threading up the rod. As it turned out, when my drill bit punched through the far side of the hole, the bit snapped off inside the hole, ... so i had the pin already in place, via the broken drill bit. After everything was done (about 6 hours of tinkering) the lift worked pretty well.
quick question steve: does vibration cause the router to move while in use since there is no locking mechanism once in the desired operational position?
Thanks for the great video Steve. I really like what you've done. I think I'm going to try this prior to purchasing a store-bought lift. One thing I plan on doing is, after threading the holes for the adjustment screws, I plan on soaking the threads with thin CA and re-cutting them after the glue has cured. Really makes the threads harder and wear better. I, too, am wondering how to keep the threaded rod/carriage from "drifting" while using the lift. Have you had any issues?
very nice work. i spent 1200 on my jessem master lift excel table and lift and another 250 on the mitre r slide. took about 3 hours to put it together. love it. has zero bit slippage with the lift lock. digital bit height read out is nice. the table and lift you made although not as nice is still great. love the solid phenolic top as well on jessem. hate dealing with the inserts. always going out of whack. do not like the stand though.may build a nice cabinet like you did with casters.good job.
At the hardware store...in the nuts and bolts area. I got mine too long and had to cut it down. Helps to have a store with employees that know their business!