RA1181 Benchtop Router Table

BOSCH RA1181 Benchtop Router Table 27 in. x 18 in. Aluminum Top I put it together. Haven't yet put it to use. I'll only speak to what I can tell from the assembly. Great instructions! Bosch has gone to great lengths to take all guess work out of the assembly process, something other manufacturers should take a lesson from. The paper booklet is much better than online manuals, although I used both at different times. For those of use who think manuals are an unnecessary imposition on our God-like intelligence; I suggest you read the manual at least a little in advance of the parts you're assembling. It might save you some assembly-disassembly-reassembly. Don't ask me how I know. You know how I know. Ever wondered which bolt is the #10-16 x 1/2" and which is the #10-24 x 1/2"? The paper booklet has a true-to-size print of each and every bolt, washer, nut, etc. that solves the mysteries of identifying an incredibly large number of parts that come with the router table. How many parts is a large number? There are 161 parts, a few of which are for other models of Bosch router tables. A key identifies each part with a number that matches the true-to-size part's representation in the booklet. BTW: I didn't notice any Chinesium fasteners whose Philips head screws round out with the slightest bit of aggressive twisting of the old driver bit. All the fasteners are of a quality you might find in something like automotive manufacturing. All the main component parts are solid and well-made. Plastic is not all made the same. Time will tell how the plastic components hold up, but I expect they'll do just fine. I was very surprised at how sturdy the aluminum fence was. The same for the aluminum router plate and table top. I did not expect them to be so heavy. When I was removing the table top from the carton I wondered, due to its weight, if it was steel rather than aluminum. Leveling the router plate: I've seen reviews that made comments about the difficulty of leveling the router plate and aligning it to the same plane as the table top. I found no problem with this at all and verified the results with a TSO MTR-X triangle. I didn't go so far as to get out a set of feeler gauges to look for thousandths of an inch differences, but I don't expect to be routing components for use on Space-X. It's woodworking, not rocket science! Price: I got a terrific Black Friday price of $172.81, or so I thought. It's still (12/20/24) listed at about the same price on Amazon. I am not a connoisseur of router tables. I did the usual due diligence one might expect a penny pincher to do when making a purchase that offers the best of everything at the lowest price available and I think it went a lot better than expected. I wasn't looking for a table that cost $400 or more. I wasn't looking for the largest table or one that attaches to a Festool MFT. I wanted a table I could use in the basement or out on the driveway and pick up and carry to a job site without too much muscle strain that was suited for making moldings, dados and so forth. I was first looking for a table with a two part fence so it could be used for jointing. I admit to being disappointed that the best table I found did not have that feature. It took a while to find a Youtube video that spoke to this problem. But Bosch solved it by including two 1/16" "Jointing Shims" that slide behind the out feed fence to allow edge jointing in increments of 1/16" to 1/8". It's not an infinity of adjustments but then no fiddling is required to set up the table for jointing. Just slide a shim behind the fence and you're ready to go. So, that may actually be an advantage over two separately moveable fences that require careful alignment to get the right cut on an edge joint. I rarely give five stars but I think they are well deserved in the case of the Bosch RA1181 and the great Amazon price. For $175, how can you go wrong?

A result of downsizing was that I sold my wood shop of 50+ years that held some pretty serious equipment for a serious but hobbyist woodworker. As I lost my great router table to the downsizing, I still needed some sort of router table for my projects. I've always had good luck with Bosch tools, and this router table has not changed my views. It is compact enough to allow me to store it in a small space, but stout enough to handle small to medium sized routing needs. The fence and adjustments are fairly precise and fast to set up, the bulk is enough so that I can simply clamp the table to my workbench and create a solid base. Excellent product. If I had room, I would build it onto a cabinet which would hold bits and accessories. Very happy with this purchase.

I'm writing this from the perspective of a beginning-moderate woodworker in a 2-car garage who bought this table when I was still quite green. I wouldn't say I regret the purchase as I got a screaming goldbox deal on it, but I wouldn't say it's a good value either. I'm now mounting this table on the extension wing of a new table saw and this is DEFINITELY the way to go, especially if you'd like to dual-use a good table saw fence. Pros: - Aluminum top is excellent, mine is perfectly flat in every measurable way - Included plate fits many routers (including Craftsman Professional 27680 (FANTASTIC router) WITH ABOVE TABLE HEIGHT ADJUSTMENT, no accessories required!) - Included accessories are numerous, but don't see much use. Nice to have - 2 x 1/16" shims and a separable fence to use as a make-shift jointer with a gigantic straight bit (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00004T7CW/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_sol_1). It's no 8" jointer, but nice to have in a pinch. - Power switch is well-built and handy, and removable - Standard 27" width accommodates mounting between the rails on a standard-sized table saw top (had to shim mine 1/2" on each side). This was perfect for me as a growing woodworker, as I acquired a full sized tablesaw later Cons: - Super chintzy plastic legs hold table steady but don't inspire confidence. Could be improved with rubber feet. Just pitched them after Table saw attachment. - Featherboards have very limited range of movement - this is better left to jigs anyway - Fence is limited to ~3" of inward cut. Also corrected by mounting to TS - Mounting plate is very hard to get leveled perfect with 8 contact points Other Thoughts: As a standalone, stowable router table, you'd be hard pressed to find a more versatile machine. The Bench Dog is nicer but at 250 it's pretty far into DIY territory. However, if you have or ever want to buy a full sized table saw, this is a pretty bad buy. When I bought, I was too green and didn't have the confidence that I could build a good router table, but looking back it's a no brainer. Another $20 buys everything you need (kit or self-designed), there are hundreds of tutorials, and you can customize it to your application. Now that I'm mounting mine in an extension wing, I see the amount I paid as a kind of sunk cost, even though it's nice to have a good-looking aluminum top. Special note with Craftsman router: I didn't know this in advance, but if you use non-Craftsman holes for the 27680 (don't remember which), you can actually line up a hole for above-table adjustment. Bosch charges for an attachment to do this on their OWN routers that looks inferior, and I got a 2.5+ HP (14 amp), soft start, variable speed, LED-lit plunge-and-fixed base combo kit with tons of accessories for less than half what Bosch markets their big router for. The combo of table+router gets five stars, and I couldn't beat it unless I employed a router lift.

I just finished a set of raised panel cabinet doors which is about the most challenging thing I use a router table for. The doors ended up nice with good fit, the minor flaws are most likely do to the operator not the tools. I am by no means a pro but here are few points I noticed while using the table: 1. Assembly was not particularly difficult but expect to take some time to do it right. The instructions were adequate. 2. Leveling the mounting plate got a little frustrating, but I tend to get hung up making things perfect when they don't need to be. In the end I got it level with the table (more on this later). 3. Setting up the table for use was easy, the feather boards were solid, worked well, and stayed in place as did the fence itself. I have to admit, the guard that attaches to the fence didn't last long with me, but removing it is easier than installing it. I will most likely regret this decision the first time I get my fingers tangled up in a spinning bit. 4. The table surface left some mar on the wood I was using, but nothing that wasn't easy to sand out. I imagine that this will go away as the table surface gets used. If you really wanted to I'm sure you could polish the table surface before first use. 5. I have a Bosch router so the table top depth adjustment feature worked with my router. However, the combination of having to clean out the dust from the hole every time and keeping track of the allen wrench made it a rarely used gimmick. I ended up just making all of my adjustments from under the table. This is how I adjusted on my old table so it was not a big deal for me. 6. Chip collection was decent using a 1HP shop-vac, but I would continually blow the breaker in the table switch with both the vac and the router plugged in to it. Based on the current rating of the switch (15A) I shouldn't have had both things plugged in to it; so chalk that up to operator error. Now for my main complaint. As was mentioned in a few other reviews my table top had some significant crown (a little over 1/32" or 0.03125"). 95% of the time this probably won't be an issue but I emailed Bosch anyway. Per the response I received, the manufacturing tolerances are a max crown of 0.5mm (0.02"), so it would seem my table is out of spec. It's the weekend so I will have to wait for Bosch's response as to what I should do, but even with the out of spec crown the table performed well. Overall, I would recommend this table to a friend who was in the market for a sub-$200 router table. *EDIT* After a brief and friendly email exchange with Bosch tech support they shipped out a new table top which showed up just a few days later. This one was perfect and they did not ask for the old one back making it a rather easy process. I upgraded my review to 5 stars due to the excellent support I received.

Okay, I know my needs are quite specific, but I've not seen my solution anywhere and it's working great, so I wanted to share it: I bought this Bosch router table because of the size of its top and the fact that the top is METAL (I'm distrusting of the durability of those MDF tops). The table is terrific and an incredible bang for your buck! My specific needs, though, were for a capable and PORTABLE router table. I use it at home but also will need it for building film sets at my company's first video studio (we're currently building the studio itself). "Benchtop" implies that you could set this on a bench and use it... bad idea. You'd be routing at face level. The stand makes the tabletop too tall for a bench or a miter saw stand and too low for the ground. "Tabletop" would be more accurate, but even a kitchen table height makes it uncomfortably tall. Regardless, I had portability to consider and a budget I wanted to stay within. My entire routing solution was as follows: I purchased the Dewalt 618 router package with the fixed and plunge bases. I mounted the fixed base to this Bosch table, leaving the plunge base available for buying a second DW618 motor only for handheld routing. Then, after a lot of research, I bought the DW7440RS Rolling Table Saw Stand. It's very low and puts the Bosch router table at the PERFECT operating height for me (I'm 5'9"), with the added bonus that it folds up and rolls away. I may have the world's most portable routing setup. Haha! Anyway, it took me a lot of research to figure all of that out, but I feel those three items were a great compromise for my budget requirements. On the DW7440RS stand the Bosch RA1181 is sturdy but portable, and I've really been enjoying it!

I purchased this router table recently for my Bosch MR23 router. I have a small shop so a huge router table is out of the question. I have always liked Bosch products so I gave this a try. After reading a bunch of material on the different Bosch router tables I was directed to go for the aluminum top model instead of the other models for durability and accuracy. TAKE HOUR TIME putting this together and make sure you use the exact recommended screws in the exact positions they go in. The direction photos can be hard to make out at times but the directions are thorough enough to allow you to get the job done. It took a few hours to put together properly and square/level everything up. You will have to use a zip tie around the trigger button of the router because you will now turn it on from the included switch which is a nice included avcessory. My first job was rooting a bevel edge on a door threshold piece of corian I was needing and it handled it flawlessly! The table exceeded my expectations. It comes with 3 different inserts to fit different size it’s, a corner guide pin starter, feather boards, etc. For this price I simply can’t imagine anything being better than this. I checked the squareness with my gauges and the table/fence is dead square out of the box. If you are looking for a small benchtop router,I think this is the best in its class by far!

This is my first router table, so take this with a grain of salt. It's definitely not cheap, and I can't really comment on whether it's worth the price. However, the table seems like quality to me. The top is made of cast aluminium and weight more than you'd expect. The legs, although made of plastic, are thick and appear durable. The table I got is level. I've seen a few low score reviews that clearly show a straight edge going across and leaving a 0.2 in gap one end. Mine doesn't have that. A few of the reviews claim to have gotten a replacement that still had the same problem. I don't see why anyone would lie, especially since those people provides video evidence, so I would say that there is an element on luck here. Buying this may be a bit of a gamble. Given the overwhelming number of high reviews, I would think you're more likely to get a table that is straight than warped. The fence is also very heavy duty. I wish there was a built-in way to move the fence as a whole in line with the table instead of having to adjust the two slots and line it up by eye using the two gauges or a straight edge, but that may just not be a thing with router tables I guess. The other thing I'd say is you probably want a router that's compatible with the above table height adjustment. I tried it at first with my Dewalt router and having to adjust it under the table with the twist mechanism was a chore. Made me dread using the table, to be honest. It's pretty smooth sailing with a Bosch router, though. Again - take that with a grain of salt since this is my first table, but this seems like the best table you're going to find for this price range.

Purchased this to finish up a cabinet project I started like 6yrs ago to surprise my wife when she returned from a long trip. Because time was a factor I picked the seller that had the most reasonable price and could get it to me quickly. When it came I noticed several issues. First off the box was damaged. When I opened the flap it appeared that it had been reglued shut. Further investigation I found saw dust in some of the parts, scratches on the plastic legs and all of the nuts, washers and bolts were screwed together. It was fairly obvious someone had bought it, used it and sent it back. I reached out to Amazon and they sent me to the seller. Seller has a few back-and-forth with me, I provide the pictures I took unboxing it, and they offer for me to send it back. But as I explained to them I had limited time to finish this project and couldn’t loose a week in transit. That’s when they ghosted me. As far as the product goes I still give it 3 stars. My rating is based solely on the router table, not my experience dealing with the seller. Why the rating? Several reasons: - it was a pain to assemble - it wasn’t clear that the height adjust feature was only when used with Bosch routers, so my Hitachi router can be height adjusted from the top - the fence slides if you don’t crank down the screws super tight. I ruined $70 worth of 1x3 poplar because I didn’t tighten the fence screws enough and it slide back on me. - the fence is hard to adjust square to the grove in the table - there should be a place on the inside to wind the router’s power cable. There is not. - the plate that you attach the router to is a complete pain to get adjusted. It “floats” on these screws that essentially stay in place only because of gravity. And instead of 4 screws, one for each corner, there are like 8 or more, corners and some in the middle. This took me over an hour to get right, and honestly I am not sure I did. - the ground aluminum top seems “mostly” straight but I can tell it’s not perfectly straight. - the legs are plastic. Not sure when I thought they weren’t in the pictures, but as a result it’s very top-heavy. I took to using some bar clamps to keep it from sliding as I worked. All-in-all it’s an ok table. Not sure if it’s worth the premium over some of the others I was considering.