New tools

Congratulations. Getting new tools is just like Christmas as a 10 year old again. There are trade-offs of course. Now she will probably expect you to spend more time in the shop and create more projects- for which you will need more tools of course. There are no free lunches in life after all. What a bummer.

Let’s make some sawdust.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

I think you’ll find the fixed base easier to use with the dovetail jig. I have a fixed base for my Dewalt router permanently mounted in the router table.

Nice. As to the router. It is easier for me to set the depth on the fixed when mounted in a table (890 series). So mount the fixed base in a table and keep the plunge available.

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Good deal! As to the router, you do what you are used to. I have one plunge router and 5 fixed base routers.
I think I have used the plunge router twice in 10 years, and I could have done it with the fixed base router.
Having a router table with a router lift makes setting the depth as easy as turning a knob.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I use my multiple fixed based routers 10 times more than my plunge. I have a large fixed in my router table, a small fixed for edge work, another pair preset for my dovetail jig, and a palm router for detail work, laminate trimming, and fun stuff. I have a dedicated plunge for my mortise and tenon jig, and an another for hand work.

Most of them I got on sale or at yard sales. The best thing about the DIY movement is people buy lots of tools they never learn to use so that their spouses can sell them in mint condition at a yard sale a year later.

-- making sawdust....

Thanks for the fixed base suggestion Recycler and I will be getting the mounting plate from Rockler for the router Table especially since this comes with the above table height adjuster. One question though – I thought the plunge router used the height adjust on the router table, do I instead use the fixed?

-- RickM