Aluminum fence with MDF face plates; aluminum router mounting plate
Includes router table, 3 mounting plate insert rings, mounting hardware for most Bosch routers, 2 featherboards, adjustable clear guard, starter pin and guard, outfeed fence shims
Editorial Review:
A benchtop router offers significant advantages over a handheld machine. It's safer, because you're moving the wood over the bit instead of the other way around. It's also versatile, allowing you to do a number of cuts that aren't possible with a handheld. And because it has a fence, it gives you a degree of control and precision that is simply impossible with freehand routing.
Because you're sliding the wood across the surface of a bench router, it's important that the surface be as frictionless as possible. The RA1181 features a generous 27-inch long by 18-inch wide table that's made out of slick but durable cast aluminum. In addition, he surface near the fence is rough-ground to minimize surface contact, which further reduces friction.
Though the caveat "some assembly required" applies here, the manual is clearly written, and I found the setup process to be straightforward. Once fully assembled, the RA1181 attaches to just about any workbench via the leg assemblies, which have flat "feet" that you can clamp to the table. You can also use the pre-drilled holes to screw it to your work surface if you don't need it to be portable. (Note that most benchtop routers need to be mounted on a smaller table-using a standard worktable may leave it uncomfortably high.)
Once secured to the table, the RA1181 is very stable, and can handle high-horsepower routers and larger work pieces without bucking. The cast aluminum mounting plate accepts a variety of routers-and not just those made by Bosch. The fence is good and rigid, and is adjustable from 0 to 3-3/4-inches wide.
This is a great little machine, and its portability and capacity for bigger jobs makes it as good a fit on the job site as it is in the home workshop.--Josh Dettweiler
What's in the Box Two adjustable featherboards, three mounting plate insert rings, one adjustable clear guard, one starter pin and guard, two outfeed fence shims (1/16-inch thick), appropriate router mounting hardware
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Great combination with my Bosch router:
Read other reviews, here and elsewhere, of this router table, and all reviews were good (except for those who said it was difficult to assemble or some apparently early problems with inserts, I think). Anyway, I had no trouble with the assembly, although had to spend some time with the leveling of the middle plate to try to get it just right. The table is sturdy, allows for through the table adjustments, has the very useful feather boards (one more for the table might have been helpful), and has a good set... more info
Table is not flat:
When I laid the straight edge accross the table to level the throat plate I discovered that neither the table, nor the throat plate were flat. If you will be using it for joinery it will not work for you.
Wonderful Router Table, We love ours!:
We examined many router tables prior to making our selection of the Bosch Router table. We have mounted a Milwaukee router to it and it is been a pure pleasure to use since then. We are wood carvers and this has been a wonderful addition to our tool set. We were lucky enough to get this on sale from Amazon with free shipping. We mostly use this router table for creating profiles on our wood carvings.
Bosch Router Table:
Very nice table. I especially like the featherboards that come with the unit. Router plate is easy to level, but assembly is a bit tedious; took about 3 hours
