Bosch RA1181 Benchtop Router Table

What is up with all the positive reviews? Where to start? Mounting plate was so rough and uneven (NOT flat, as others have noted) that it literally served as a brake, preventing work piece from sliding across the surface. Fixed that by grinding it level, sanding it smooth, cleaning/polishing with fine steel wool and wax paste, and buffing with white rag till clean. (No black residue ended up on work piece this way.) After all that work, wood slides beautifully across the surface. But…then it’s time to re(re)adjust the plate. The countersunk leveling screws and plate screws, if adjusted properly, SHOULD keep the plate tight and level, but they don’t. They vibrate loose with EVERY PASS throwing everything out of balance. Finally, the fence: it will not stay square no matter how well you set it up and tighten it down. Was trying to joint boards, but the littlest bit of pressure threw the fence out of alignment every time. Trouble shot the issue eight different ways before throwing in the towel.This was my first router table. The only positive thing I can say is that I learned a LOT about what features are essential in a good router table. Unfortunately this table has none of them.

Disclaimer: I’m a wannabe woodworker headed for retirement and a mechanic of 40 years experience.Assembly was a breeze really. I got it mounted and running in 90 minutes. Identifying and sorting all your parts first will help. Having a ratchet with an allen-head socket will speed things along too.Although I would have preferred a full sized router table with a cabinet, my limited space made it impossible. (If I told you how small my shop was, you probably wouldn’t believe it.) Naturally, in the process of buying something I really didn’t want to buy, I did lots of research. I buy with value in mind employing a computation of price, quality, quantity, reputation and life cycle. I have NO allegiance to any brands or where any product is made. I had a chance to see and touch some of the competing models of bench top tables including Bosch’s other model 1171 and rejected them all for one reason or another. The numbers (including a great sale price from Amazon) landed me on the RA1181 with trepidation after reading many reviews and not being able to get my eyes and hands on one. As a mechanic/technician, I’m fairly picky about machine tolerances so, I was a bit put-off by some of the reviews I’ve seen complaining about warped tops. I fully expected to go into this with having to do my own machine work to the top in mind. As soon as I opened the package I went over the top with a 12 inch machinist’s bar and a feeler gauge. I did it again after assembly. I found no high points and the lows did not exceed 0.004. I don’t know about everyone else but, that’s damned near perfect and less of a variant than I know I’ll experience from the materials (wood) I’m working with. Wood, depending on how dense the species is, will expand and contract over time, humidity and temperature at least as much if not more than 0.004. If you want better than that, I would recommend prying out a few grand for a cast iron shaper. Testing by bridging the over the insert found it dead-on. That’s good enough for me. I found the fence to be fine. The hardware is robust enough that they all stay put during operation and should last. I saw some complaints about the fence material. The metal extrusion is also dead on and the faces are what appears to be melamine. Good enough when you consider that they are sacrificial. Replacing them shouldn’t cost much and they shouldn’t really be replaced with anything other than what they are. I really like the dust extraction feature. Some bigger chips do fall underneath but, the flyable dust seems to be getting sucked up pretty well. I’ll put the efficiency, conservatively, around 70%…’your mileage may vary’. The included shims to set up for edge jointing is a nice touch and I’ve used it twice already. Works great. Speaking of ‘nice touch’, there is an outlet to support your shop vac or whatever you’re using as a dust extraction system, a real time saver. No Miter Fence? The track on the table is not for a Miter Fence, it’s for the feather boards. Everything I’ve studied says that you shouldn’t use a miter fence on a router table or any other tool that has a parallel, rip, oriented fence. I square up a piece of scrap and tack a guide on the end so it follows the edge of the table top. Works fine, quick and easy to do and provides a nice back-up to prevent tear out.Downers: Of all the dimensions I was able to find prior to purchase, there was no mention of the base. There is a dimensional diagram on the box but, still no mention of the base bottom. I incorrectly assumed the dimension would be the same as the top. Be warned that the base, at the mounting holes, is wider than the table top. It didn’t fit the workbench I had to make in advance of receiving the tool. I wish the carriage bolts in the feather boards were a little beefier but, that’s only a little annoying in initial set up of a project. Yes, the base of the table is plastic but, it’s made with enough ribbing support that it’s very strong. The unit doesn’t rack at all. I just wish the same theme was followed with the switch fascia. It’s sort of adequately supported on one side only and feels cheesy as it deflects when operating the switch. But, it does work and we’ll see if it lasts. I’ll just have to discipline myself to use my fingers rather than my knuckles like I do all the rest of my tools.Summary: Other than those couple of nit-picks, I’m pleasantly surprised by the convenience and functionality of this tool and would recommended it to the small-shop woodworker without much reservation. I’ve done a couple of projects with it, got no surprises and it has already paid for itself in saved time and aggravation. The days of having to whack together all sorts of elaborate jigs to compensate for not having a router table are over, thank goodness.

This product is only for the US market, the metal plate is pre-drilled for US distributed routers, even Bosch routers in the UK do not fit. Contacted Bosch and still waiting for a response 2 months later, customer service!Currently this table is used as a talking point when I have visitors, any chance I can return this?

The Amazon product description states that the mounting plate fits “a variety of routers”…this is misleading because it doesn’t. I figured if the original mounting plate didn’t fit my router I could just buy the Bosch RA1186 mounting plate as it states in the user manual. But guess what Bosch never made the RA1186! So I’m stuck with a router table without a router to mount. I would send this back but shipping would cost too much. Also, the day after this was delivered the price on Amazon dropped by $25. Great! Super! Fabulous!

I would not recommend this table. I have had this table for 15months and I am giving up on it. I have two issues that plague my usage. First, the inserts do not sit flush with the plate. This results in inevitable movement whenever a smaller piece moves across the insert. Second, the fence doesn’t secure well. It is incredibly frustrating to take the time to set it just right to do a set of identical cuts on several pieces, only to be able to tell that the cut has drifted during the process. I get burned by this time and time again. Time to find a replacement.

I bought this to replace an old benchtop router table as this one is 27″ and fits perfectly into my Ridgid R4512 table saw’s extension, just expecting to save some room in the shop, but I am very impressed with this router table! (27″ is a pretty standard size of most newer table saws)I have seen a few complaints, but my table came perfectly flat and I always thought my old table’s plate sloped a little when I passed wood over it and this table confirmed it! I absolutely perfect cuts now on the first pass.

The router table was very easy to assemble and the instructions were easy to follow; however the spacers for the feather boards do not fit tight enough and very easily fall out. Also I did not get any large washers to put together the fence and feather boards (all my washers were the same size (small)) and do not work with setting up the feather boards to the fence. Therefore I cannot use them at all. I will have to go out and purchase washers that will work. The table does work with my Ryobi plunge router, but it is a little off center. I think I will be purchasing the fixed Bosch router that will align better and also adjust the bit level from the table top.Other than not having the large washers I am pleased with the cabinet style router table. I have used it several times during the week since I have purchased it.If Bosch sees this review maybe someone can send me out the correct washers so I can use the feather boards 🙂

I was on the fence about getting a router table. There are hundreds of videos on how to build your own. But I rarely have time to add another project to my all ready too long to do list. I have a Bosch router that I checked to ensure compatibility. It worked out well. Assembly start to first test took about an hour and a bit. I make picture frames for my wife’s etsy business and what I appreciate is the ability to turn my shop into an assembly line. Before I would secure each frame and router the rabbit in, then unsecure, then secure a new frame side, etc, etc. Now I have all my cut frame lengths router one after the other really quickly. We even got to adding fancy edging on the frames. It kicks up a lot of wood dust and chips so ensure you have a dust collector hooked up.