# Having some difficulty mounting my router



## everyman (Apr 26, 2009)

Hello,

Sorry if this sounds a bit convoluted, but I'm a bit of a newb so I might have some of the terminology messed up. I recently purchased a couple of things used on craigslist. I got a Bosch 16171 with standard base, and plunge base, and from a different party a Ryobi RT601W table.

According to the Ryobi manual, the mounting plate has predrilled holes for Ryobi routers of course, also:
Craftsman 27500, 27510, 27511, 17504, 17505, 17506
Porter Cable 690, 6931
Skill 1823, 1835, 1845-02

It also claims to have a universal mount system that uses 4 arms which clamp the router to the bottom using thumb screws. I tried lining up the Bosch RA1160 magnesium base with the Ryobi table mount plate, and no holes line up at all. I wasn't thrilled but started to mount it using the clamps. I then noticed a separate addendum to the Ryobi manual which states that anytime you use the Universal mount system, you MUST use an intermediary plastic plate that was provided with the table. This adapter plate has three steel locating pins which line up with holes in the table plate. It in turn must be screwed to the router base. It has the same holes as the plate in the table. 

So at this point the only benefit to the "universal mount system" is that you don't need to use tools to mount the router since the clamps only hold the router up, and it's held in place by the adapter plate and it's screws and pins, that is if they even fit, which in this case, they don't. I assume that they discovered in the field that without a positive connection to the table the clamps would have insufficient force to hold the tool in a fixed position so they threw the addendum and adapter plate in the box.

This is all quite irksome as I've spend a bunch of dough on these tools and there doesn't appear to be any way to put them together. This is made worse of course by the fact that I don't have a store to return them to.

I've been reading in the Bosch manual about the optional RA1165 underside table mount base. Does anyone know if the holes in the base are the same or different, or if there are more holes than the standard 1160 base? Would you happen to know if it has a set of holes which is the same as the models that this table "supposedly" mounts directly? I'm loath to spend even more money on this especially since I only have a few jobs that need to be done, but, well, they need to be done and I can't think of a cheaper alternative.

Thanks for the help!!
Eric


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 6, 2006)

Welcome, Eric.
Have you thought about taking the plastic base plate off the router and using it as a template to re-drill the table base plate to fit your router?


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## dutchman 46 (May 23, 2007)

Welcome to Router Forums. I must agree, the best option is to remove the bottom plate, use the holes that hold the mounting plate in place, and mark them on the plate. drill, and counter sink holes to attach the plate and have a smooth plate


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## everyman (Apr 26, 2009)

curiousgeorge said:


> Welcome, Eric.
> Have you thought about taking the plastic base plate off the router and using it as a template to re-drill the table base plate to fit your router?



Hi George,

I considered it, yes. Two things have held me back thus far. I'm afraid it will be a bit difficult to precisely create the holes so that the router will be perfectly centered. Also the largest holes on the base appear to be M4. That seems awfully wimpy to hold up a 2amp router. I'm afraid I'd need to drill and tap larger holes in the base. Actually that would be the easier thing to do anyway since I'm able to mount and center the router using the clamps and then I could just drill through a set of the existing table holes into the base and tap them. I'm really curious what other people have been doing to mount Bosch routers using this base.

As an experiment I just mounted the router the way I had originally started out to do, just clamped without the special intermediary plate. I centered it using the centering bit and plate that came with the table. I fired it up and down half a dozen times with just the plastic centering bit in it, and it didn't move at all. Of course that's not a real test, but it does give me a least a bit of confidence that if I take it slow and don't force anything, it might be good enough that way. Weighing my options at the moment...


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## CharleyL (Feb 28, 2009)

If you can place your router table on your workbench and then remove the disk base of your router and center it on the router table you are almost there. A set of transfer punches are relatively cheap and can be purchased from any industrial supplier like Grainger, WTTool, etc. for about $12. These are hardened steel rods of different diameters like a drill index but smooth sided with points on one end. You pick the one that slides snugly into the mounting holes in your router base, and with the router plate centered and held securely in place, you use the correct sized rod to transfer the center of each mounting hole from the router base to the router table using the rod like a center punch. Now you can remove the router base plate and drill carefully drill the correct sized mounting holes in the router table. Start with a small size drill as they stay on center better, then increase the drill size to drill the holes out to the final size. You can then turn the router table over and drill the countersinks for flat head screws. If you follow this procedure your router will mount perfectly and will be centered very well.

Happy routing,
CharleyL


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## westend (Mar 31, 2009)

Bosch RA 1160 and RA1165 share the same bolt pattern. In fact the RA1165 is the RA1160 with a different micro-adjust rod. There is a thread on this forum that has the instructions for converting the base: http://www.routerforums.com/table-mounted-routing/1630-bosch-ra1165-undertable-mount.html Post #5. Unfortunately you'll destroy the original adjuster in the process and will not have a standard fixed base. A better solution (I guess it's my opinion and what I did) is to pony up $60 and buy the RA1165. This allows one to have a permanent base available in the table and switching between fixed, table, and plunge is a matter of loosening the clamp and switching the motor. Best $60 I ever spent.

The new 1617EVS PK kits ship with the RA1165 as the standard fixed base.

If your budget doesn't allow any more purchases at this time, remove the plastic plate, center the router on the Ryobi table, mark and drill the required holes. The 4 mm machine bolts hold the Bosch very securely. I made an acrylic circle cutting jig using the above process and it turned out very well. 

BTW, I thought the Bosch 1617 and the Porter Cable 690 have the same bolt pattern in the base? I have no way of confirming that as I don't have a Porter Cable. You might want to remove the plastic plate on the router and see if the holes match up. Good luck.


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## kolias (Dec 26, 2008)

The following is from bobj3 and I used it successfully to make 2 acrylic router bases. It does not refer to a router insert but the idea is the same. Hope it will help.

To drill my insert I first experiment with pieces of 1/8” plywood which I cut them the same size as my insert. Even after a few trials, one of the mounting holes was still out by about 1/32”. It’s not an easy job.




This is the way I make them *(Make a Router Sub Base by bobj3)*

I do like to make them 8" x 8" square.
Some of the plastic comes with paper on it if not put some masking tape on it.
Next draw a FINE line from corner to corner ,then draw a line around the corners about 1" from the out side edges.
When the line goes across the X line, draw a small cir.around it, then chuck up a 1/16" drill bit in the drill press ,drill the center hole mark and then the out side holes on all 4 corners,,,

Once you have that done chuck up a 5/16" drill bit (8mm) and drill out the holes on the corners, then chuck up a counter sink bit and just touch the holes you just drilled on both side of the new plate..to remove the small bur..

Then remove the base plate off the router, this will become the template to drill the mounting holes,,,,
This is the hard part because it needs to done just right and on dead center.

Make a disk that just fits the center hole in the plate,,,use a hole saw, for this job, because it will put in a 1/4" hole in the center of the disk, use some 1/4" MDF ,hardboard,plastic,etc...cut the disk out just a little bit bigger than the center hole in the base plate..now with care sand the disk so it can be press into the hole, sand a litle bit at a time, I made a jig to do this job but you can do it by hand but with care.

Once you have the disk made, take the new base plate to the drill press and pop in the 1/16" drill bit, then clamp the new base plate down to the drill press using the 1/16" hole to line up the clamp job,once you have the plate in place and then chuck up a 1/4" drill bit and drill out the center hole, drill out the center hole to 1/4",, then put the disk you made and the old base plate on top of the new plate.
Push the drill bit down into the two holes, this will line all the parts up then with some masking tape,tape the plate down all the way around the old plate...now unclamp the plate and with a 4mm drill drill out the mouinting holes, then put the 1/4" bit back in the chuck and reline the plate and clamp it down again,,,once you have it clamped down remove the old base plate and the disk you made...then chuck up a 1 3/8" bit or 1 3/4" bit..
This come down to what size of guides you want to use.
Once you have the bit in place drill down about 1/8" deep in to the plastic, then chuck up the 1 3/16" bit or the 1 1 /2" bit again this comes dow to what size you want to use,,, now dril out the center hole to the scrap block you have under the new base plate on the drill press.

Once you have the hole drilled out unclamp the base plae and remove the masking tape and the old base plate and chuck up a counter sink bit and counter sink the mounting holes so you mount the new base plate in place.

This is the long way but the safe way, once you do it a time or two you will find the short cuts, but for the 1st.time you need to do it this way to get the hang of it... .

For The bearing you can remove some off the router bits many router bits use the 5/16" (8mm) ID type.. ( 1/2",5/8",3/4" OD the norm) hope this helps a bit


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## levon (Sep 14, 2008)

sorry Nicolas,

but what are the 4 outside holes for? you didnt say in your post did you? if so i missed it.


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## levon (Sep 14, 2008)

bump


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## kolias (Dec 26, 2008)

Levon the 4 outside holes are used to align the router to the center of a board, same principal as the Rockler jig


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## levon (Sep 14, 2008)

hi Nicolas,

i see youre using the base for a mortising jig. thanks for the help.


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## okanagan (Dec 18, 2009)

*Did a search and found this thread.*

I would like to thank every body that help make this thread. I now can mount my router to a universal base plate and put it into my table.:lol:


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## Al in N Carolina (Feb 1, 2016)

Quoting CharleyL:

_"A set of transfer punches are relatively cheap and can be purchased from any industrial supplier like Grainger, WTTool, etc. for about $12. These are hardened steel rods of different diameters like a drill index but smooth sided with points on one end....."_

Quoting me:

"EEEEYYYOWWW!"
I had long dreamed that such a thing would have existed but had never seen or heard of them until bumping in to your post here. Thank you, sir, thank you !!!


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