I was dead set against using those router lift systems for years. Finally caved and bought one last month.

Always figured they were just a fancy way to waste money. I've been doing it the old way since I started in my uncle's shop back in 2005. But I had a job making 12 raised panel doors for a kitchen remodel in Akron and kept getting tiny inconsistencies in the panel heights. After spending a whole Saturday fighting with my old fixed base router, my neighbor let me borrow his lift. First try, all 12 doors came out within a hair of each other. I still hate spending the cash but I gotta admit it's legit. Anyone else stubborn about a tool then get proven wrong?

2 comments

2 Comments

hollyl4515d ago

My buddy Mike who does custom cabinets down in Canton had the exact same problem. He swore up and down that router lifts were a gimmick for guys who didn't know how to set up their tools right. He'd been using the same Porter Cable 690 since 1999 and bragged about it constantly. Then he had to do a whole set of shaker cabinet doors for a rich guy's lake house and his old setup kept drifting. He spent three days messing with it before he finally bought a JessEm lift off Craigslist for cheap. Now he won't shut up about how smooth everything cuts and how he can change bits in seconds. Even admitted he was wrong which for him is like pulling teeth.

-1

bennett.nora15d ago

My 14 year old Ridgid with no lift still cuts dead on after thousands of doors.