Reply by HorizontalMike

IMO, there is always some point that well intentioned frugality becomes rather unworkable/impractical. As for me the best solution for your needs would be a lunchbox planer. You could then build a planer based jointing sled and have the best of both worlds. And the lunchbox planer has a small footprint.

Other than that, I would imagine that you could/would end up burning through a number of routers and countless hours of time. But then again, that is just my opinion.

-- HorizontalMike -- "Woodpeckers understand..."