Bosch 1617EVSPK Mounting Plate

[volk23]

Hey guys. SO I have BT300. I bought a Home Depot Routing Kit for it (http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-Acc...keyword=bt3000)
I also just bought a router Bosch 1617EVSPK and realized that the mounting plate does not fit the router base.

At this point what are my options? Do i need a different kit? Is it possible to buy just a correct mounting plate? Thanks in advance.

[Black wallnut]

You will need to drill holes in your plate that will lineup with the holes in your base of the router you have.

[tfischer]

Yep, drill some holes to match. I had to do that for my Ridgid router - my previous router was a Ryobi which fit the base but after it (literally) exploded I replaced it with the ridgid and had to drill holes. You'll need to countersink the holes... a standard "made for wood" countersink bit works fine on the aluminum...

-Tim

[LCHIEN]

it's easy to do. That's an excellent router so I sure wouldn't return it because the hole pattern is not the right one.

Take the black plastic scuff plate off the router. Use it as a template to mark the plate you have in the router mounting kit. Drill the holes and countersink them.
If you mess up, rotate the scuff plate a few degrees and drill another set.

Aluminum drills real easily. The secrets are to use a sharp bit - you can tell when the bit is sharp the cuttings will come off in a long curl. A dull bit causes a lot of little ships to come off.
Use a punch to mark the center of the holes (using the scuff plate as a template). Start by drilling a smaller hole in the dimple formed by the punch so the bit does not walk off. Then use a successively larger bit to enlarge the hole.

[volk23]

thank you guys. I was thinking about drilling it but decided to ask first. My concern is: How precise does it need to be centered based on the plate?

BTW, love the saw and definitely love the new router

[LCHIEN]

thank you guys. I was thinking about drilling it but decided to ask first. My concern is: How precise does it need to be centered based on the plate?

BTW, love the saw and definitely love the new router

Well the normal requirements for centering the router over the hole in the router table are mostly important if you have guide bushings attached to the table. I don't think the BT3 inserts have any way to support guide bushings so the immediate answer is not all that important. Saying that, if you use the inserts for the router table you'd like for the router bits to be centered in the inserts and not be offcenter, so it probably behoves you to center it as well as possible even though the functionality of the router will not be affected.

[atgcpaul]

A word of caution. I mounted my Bosch router to the BT3 plate and reused the same base plate bolts to hold the router base to the BT3 plate. They are long enough to get you started, but over time with vibration, the bolts backed out and the whole router fell off the plate--while it was spinning. I was extremely lucky it didn't fall on my feet/legs because it continued to spin even when it landed on the floor taking a chunk out of my wooden mobile base.

I don't believe the mounting holes in the Bosch base go all the way through, but there are some holes that do go all the way through. I drilled new holes in my mounting plate for those location, threaded through the appropriately sized bolt, and tightened on a star headed washer nut. Never had a problem after that.

I suppose you could use locktite on the factory Bosch bolts, too.

[vaking]

Router mounting kit includes rings. One of them has a hole that is about 1/2". That is close to a diameter of a bit shank. You can use a 1/2" shank straight bit with this ring to help center the router. For even better precision - there are centering pins that are used to center template guides. For instance - this kit includes such pin:

http://www.sears.com/milescraft-base-plate-bushing-set-1201/p-00928822000P?sid=IDx01192011x000001&kpid=00928822000&kispla=00928822000P

[LCHIEN]

Router mounting kit includes rings. One of them has a hole that is about 1/2". That is close to a diameter of a bit shank. You can use a 1/2" shank straight bit with this ring to help center the router. For even better precision - there are centering pins that are used to center template guides. For instance - this kit includes such pin:
http://www.sears.com/milescraft-base...a=00928822000P

That's a good idea.

[volk23]

ok, its all clear now. Thank you very much guys!