Saving time with dedicated machinery

Great Setup. I like the dedicated routers. I’m going to do something similiar for dovetailing on the Leigh Jig one with the dovetail and one with the straight bit. Once you get them set for the wood thickness leave them alone.

I’m probably going to set up a table saw for Dado and leave the other saw for straight blade cutting. The router fence is also on the table saw and it requires a lot of resetting the fence for the saw – then setting it for the router. A real pain.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Ed,
Can’t argue with the logic there. Dedicated machinery will speed the job up and even make it more enjoyable, and, if you’re trying to make money with your woodwork, it will pay for itself in short order.

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

You are right.
Our guild used to meet at a local tech college that had a woodworking shop.
They had one three sided bench set up for just the same purpose.
Probably cost a lot more and you had to walk all the way around it to accomplish all the cuts but it did not take up too much space.

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

Nice setup. Wouldn’t work for me – because I don’t have the space – but I’m not making any money woodworking anyway, so I have the time to make the setups. Great idea.

-- Bill - "Suit yourself and let the rest be pleased." http://www.cajunpen.com/

Well don’t go assuming that I am overly gifted with space either. My shop is 24×22. Kind of tight when you consider that my table saw with it’s permanent outfeed table and extensions to left and right comes in at 8’ wide by 6½’ deep. I have a tractor shed on the one end (outside) that I closed in and I store my shapers, a couple of shop vacs, my 20’ x 40’ finishing canopy, 14” bandsaw, 2 portable heaters and a furnace out there. When I need the shapers, I lug them in and then back out.

Ed

-- Come on in, the beer is cold and the wood is dry. www.crookedlittletree.com

I’m with Karson on the deticated router for dovetailing. If there’s one thing I’ve learned using my dovetail jig, it is that once I get that bit dialed in, I don’t want to have to ever move it again. Nice setup.

-- Jesus is Lord!

Oh, I’m a big fan of dedicated machinery. My motivation is limited shop time and a reluctance to spend alot of it with setup. Thanks for posting!

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

So I take it you don’t own a “Shopsmith”? ...You are absolutely right. My table saw and router table are going through a divorce right now. A big step for my small shop.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.theeasellife.com

Nice set up indeed.

-- Carpe Lignum - Seize The Wood,

Gotta agree special tools are a real time saver.

In my world , my 16-32 Ryobi drum sander and 6×89 edge sander have saved me loads of time.

And made my woodworking more enjoyable.

-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com

Hey, Dan. Have a very good friend down your way in Hamilton. We trade visits back and forth. I absolutely love the area between Dayton and Cincinnatti.

Ed

-- Come on in, the beer is cold and the wood is dry. www.crookedlittletree.com

Hi Ed.
I am convinced the only way to make $ in any type of fabrication is with dedicated stations.

You are definitely on the right track.

Bob

-- A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner

I’ve done the same with dedicated routers, but I really like the idea of the drop in set up for the router table.
I’m looking to get a shaper to take up some of the slack also. Nice post.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

Hey Ed How do you like that RT 1000 LSE looks like a nice table …what can you tell me about the ins and outs of it in 10 sentences or less …or more if you like …I am in the mkt for a router table and dont want to build it…
Mike n Bonney Lake

-- Mike in Bonney Lake " If you are real real real good your whole life, You 'll be buried in a curly maple coffin when you die."

I was in the same boat. My original router station was, and still is, located in the table saw deck. Less than optimum for a cabinet shop. In the heat of a production log jam, I purchased rather than build the table you see. It is well built and fine for most applications. Having had it for a while now, I am developing a list of tweeks to incorporate into a table I will build later this year. Most important to me will be a more stable top surface. I’m considering aluminum plate, 1” thick with formica adhered to the top. I would also like a taller fence.

Ed

-- Come on in, the beer is cold and the wood is dry. www.crookedlittletree.com

great idea for production. Why do people criticize for buying a router table. If owning a commercially made one gets you closer to making valuable projects quicker for those of us that don’t have lots of shop time, then buy one. I personally dont have time to make one and my commercially purchased one works just fine

-- making sawdust....