Anyone use a router crafter? I was wondering how well they worked. Looking at the picture they appear to be a little Mickey Mouse and would do as much sanding as routing to make the parts usable. I thought I would just get one and see for myself but they have been going for about triple what they retailed for on ebay.
Forum member Daren used to have one. John Lucas used to have two.
I purchased one in July 2012. New old stock, still in the original box. I paid $40, which in hindsight was only $40 too much. :thumbdown:
I was hoping to be able to add the spiral style flutes to some turnings.
So far this "tool" has only met my expectations for ability to gather dust.
The first surprise is that the carriage does not travel the entire length of the rails. It stops about 9in before the head end.
The method of mounting the work piece in the head end assumes you are working with square stock, about 2+in. I made a jig with dowel glued into a piece of plywood to get around this issue. The jig effectively moves the head mounting point down the rails.
After I made the jig, the next surprise was the "slop" in the carriage. Slop is an understatement. I would not expect to be able to get consistent depth of the router due to how much the carriage can move on the rail. I would need to come up with some method to hold the carriage consistent to the rail. I have not yet spent the time for this fix.
The router needs to be screwed to the carriage. This part is expected. If I did not have the other issues, I would have drilled the holes in my DeWalt 611 router base. Unless I can fix the slop in the carriage, it is not worth drilling the 611 base.
Let me know if you need any pictures or have other questions.
