Router to router table?

[Gaogier]

Hello

Spoiler: Back story

Okay, so a good 10 years ago, the cable for my MacBook Pro started to lose some of the outer protection rubber coating. I “fixed” this using both heat shrink and some sugru. Later that month I brought a new power cable for my MacBook.

Via dog walking, we became friendly with an old man, who didn’t serve in WW2 but was sent to the mines. In the 50’s he went to Germany for a bit, where he was taught to drive a tank, he never saw any combat, but any chance he got, he would tell you stories of him in Germany driving tanks, but never told anyone it was some 10 years after the war.
He worked in the dockyards as a general “fixer”, but he did shoddy work. He was at my home when the new MacBook charger came, and he miss understood why I needed a new charger, as he took my charger (brand new) - without me knowing, stripped all of the wires, opened the adapter box with him breaking it, unsoldered the wires, put new heat shrink on each wire, then a new heat shrink outer case, followed by a second outer case. So it had “extra” protection.

I was given a router about 7 years ago, before I got into DIY. The man who gave me the router somehow had this router connected to a badly built router table. It was made up with scrap wood, some completely rotted, some bits were from an old fence panel.

The router in question is a Bosch POF 500 A. I brought a new universal router table insert, and it doesn’t seem to lineup correctly. So I am not sure if I am missing something, if the man merged 2 routers together or I just got the wrong plate. I am not sure if this is actually something that is doable with the router.

The man took a car part, from a different car’s engine, and did some shady stuff but he managed to get his car working by heavily (I assume) modifying the part to fit.

So, if I am doing something wrong, please let me know, I don’t have a manual for the router, so if you know of one, please let me know too please.

If the router won’t work as a router table and as a hand held router, can you please recommend a new router please.

 

[jj4091]

Google universal router table.

 

[big-all]

from memmory that router is a base clamped to its body type

if the plastic body /clamp/base/plunge action are out off line it wont cut propely

i would seperate the plastic body from the base clean them up and check they sit square and true and take it from there

 

[Munroast]

have you got some pictures, I have put a few of these together over the years and they can be a nightmare to match up
where are you, I have a semi decent one I could sell you, all working (we have just been given a better one, so the old one is for sale)

and what are you going to use it for, I have found they have very very little use and very dangerous, they always look like they could take my fingers off. Very very occasionally i find a need for it.

 

[big-all]

have you got some pictures, I have put a few of these together over the years and they can be a nightmare to match up
where are you, I have a semi decent one I could sell you, all working (we have just been given a better one, so the old one is for sale)

and what are you going to use it for, I have found they have very very little use and very dangerous, they always look like they could take my fingers off. Very very occasionally i find a need for it.

to be fair a correctly set up correctly used router is very very safe and impossible to cause harm because ----

with work in place there will be no gap greater than 6mm because all the guards required cover the work and stance requires hands at least 6" away

now in the real world ---
feather and guards will be reduced a bit to fully missing
machines will often be underpowered for task and forced causing cutter chatter as the body off the machine /plunge pillars and any other place any slack exists will allow the blade to move on and off line with varying load

cutters will often be blunt and badly installed and possibly work there way out in a dangerous fashion
if you dont poo yourself a small bit to large bit every time you turn on an upturned router with cutter in you are loosing respect for the tool

 

[mrrusty]

I have that router and it is totally unsuited to router table work. It's a 1/4" tool and doesn't have an inbuilt shaft lock. You have to detach the motor from the base, stick a lock-pin through, to release the cutter. No variable speed so can't use large diameter cutters safely.

Nice little router for cutting hinge pockets on doors, or doing some simple edge profiling, but for a table, not only is it totally unsuitable it is arguably dangerous as well.

A table set up needs power, 1/2" router, NVR switch, lifter, and decent featherboards for safety and control, otherwise don't bother

My kit https://trenddirectuk.com/trend-t14...8muwLA0IEkyqvQO6pIulZD0s_WNixnUwdp9E00nJ5UzYM

except I have the older T11. Highly recommended as a very useful bit of kit.