Craftsman 21828 and Bosch 1617

[brenthumphreys]

I am at my Wits End. I have the craftsman version of the BT, and I cannot seem to find a way to mount my router (Bosch 1617) to it without drilling.

I have seen comments on this thread from people who have done this pairing successfully.

I even bought the Bosch Plate, thinking it would help, but it has the same hole pattern as the Accessory Table on the sears unit. I would appreciate any help, or photos showing how this is set up.

[thestinker]

I had to drill holes in the plate to lign up with the router, but the holes from plate to table top matched up fine. Which set of holes are you having problems with?

[brenthumphreys]

Mounting the Plate to The Router.

What is interesting is the plate manual says it works with 3 or 4 hole patterns, and the Bosch manual says it will mount to standard 3 hole pattern, or 4 hole bosch pattern.

[LCHIEN]

I answered the exact same question (different brand router, maybe)
earlier today. Drill the holes.
http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=29461

[brenthumphreys]

My question was specific that I didn't want to drill. Others have posted that this router works with the plate, so I am trying to determine how.

[steve-norrell]

I have a BT3100 and Bosch 1617 Router. I had to drill holes in the aluminum plate before attaching the plate (with router bolted on) to the underside of the Ryobi accessory table. As you might imagine, the holes in the aluminum plate have to be carefully positioned, drilled and countersunk. The aluminum plate comes in the Ryobi accessory kit. Several folks on this site have described how to make one if necessary.

I saw the Craftsman clone the other day and it looks like the new accessory table does not use an aluminum plate, the router being bolted directly to the underside of the accessory table. If I interpreted it correctly, you would have very limited options as to which router you could use -- probably one of the Craftsman Ryobi clones or an actual Ryobi.

Hopefully I am wrong in my last observation. If so, others will add to the discussion and correct my comments.

Regards, Steve

[LinuxRandal]

The 1617 that would directly mount to the Sears tablesaw, is probably the CRAFTSMAN branded, red 1617. I picked that one up for my dad, since he had tons of Craftsman stuff (bushings, etc).

[LCHIEN]

I'm limited by (1) don't remember and (2) by lack of knowledge of the Sears saw which has a slightly different aux/router table.

I don't recall for sure but I think the Bosch 1617EVS has two sets of mounting holes in the router. The black plastic scuff plate base uses only the three-hole pattern which is all I've ever used to mount my router in fixtures. I believe somehow my memory says there's a four-hole pattern in the base, with a different threading/hole size. I'll have to look later. Now, as Randall said, there is a Craftsman Professional router which is nearly identical to (and made by Bosch for Sears) the 1617 and I understand it has a hole pattern in its base that will match the Craftsman/Ryobi hole set.

I've not inspected the 21829 Sears saw, but I know it has no adapter or mounting plate. The router bolts directly to the table.
If the "flat" area where the router lands is of uniform thickness then it should be simple to drill it. If the top is flat but the bottom is not flat but has "bosses" or raised areas where the existing mounting holes are then it will be more difficult to drill since there's no "meat" where the holes have to be. that meat is required for flat head screw countersink and strength.

I'd have to look at this saw next time I go to sears.

problem is, both the Bosch sets of holes are obscured by the plastic plate and the Saw aux/router table requries looking underneath, both are not visible in normal photos.

Anyway, that's what the limiting parameters are.

[Garasaki]

My question was specific that I didn't want to drill. Others have posted that this router works with the plate, so I am trying to determine how.

Same router, Bt3k, drilled holes.

Your gonna have to get over your aversion to drilling the holes. It really isn't that bad. I can see your hesitation if you were drilling the saw top, but all your doing is drilling an aluminum plate. No other drilling experience required. Mark holes, drill, countersink a lil, done.

I've never drilled aluminum that thick before, and the process took me all of 4 minutes with a 30 dollar tool shop corded hand drill and hand me down bits from my grandpa.

Don't reinvent the wheel.

[kirkroy]

No go on just drilling unless I misunderstand what you're saying. Here's the bottom of the thing:

[Garasaki]

Kirkroy, he's not trying to mount directly to the table.

Mounting the Plate to The Router.

Router mounts to the plate, which mounts to the accessory table. Drill da plate for the holes you need, it should already have holes drilled and tapped for connection to the table.

[LCHIEN]

No go on just drilling unless I misunderstand what you're saying. Here's the bottom of the thing:

Oh, my, it does have bosses for the mounting points.
Complicates things greatly.
Looks like the bosses are almost 1/4" tall and the table is approx 1/8" thick where there's no boss?

I see what I'd call three sets of bosses - one set of three triangular shaped. One set of four on the rim of the circle but from the angle, it looks like theyre not in a square nor even in a rectangle pattern,
And another set of four farther out. That set of four could be used to hold a 1/4" plate like the original BT3000 plate, but one disadvantage is that the router will be suspended about a half inch below the table surface. Routers with short shafts would have problems.

Another solution would be to check the router, as I said I think the bosch has an alternate set of holes, matbe something matches the bosses.

[brenthumphreys]

Just an update. There is no way to mount the 1617, and with the bosses at the bottom, drilling the top is not an ideal solution.

Yes, I could drill the Ryobi plate, and attach that, but with the thickness of the bosses, and the plate, it doesn't leave me much room to adjust the router.

I went ahead and bought a $60 router from sears, that fits.

[wan2fly]

You can do it.

I have the 21829 and the bosch 1617 too.
I know your problem.
I bought a piece of lexan, drilled holes for the router base to mount with and then drilled more holes to mount the plate with mounted router to match Assessory table's existing holes. Works just fine. I did drill a small hole in the assessory table to access the fine adjust screw from on top of the assessory table. It's a good set up and required no significant drilling into any important pieces except for the fine adjust hole.. It makes a good little unit.

[kirkroy]

I was thinking of using a plate and then a collet extension to get my PC router mounted up...