# Pinnacle MDF router table warped



## kz202r (Apr 20, 2009)

Hi all I just opend the box on my new router table top from woodcraft. Its a Pinnacle MDF top. I put a staight edge on the top to check for flatness after I assembled it to its base and I have a good 1/8th inch sag in the middle of the table before I put the router in it. Has any one else had this issue and if so is there a remidy? I sent a message to customer service but no reply so far. What to do??:help:


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

Have them send a new one. For that money, it should be dead flat.
Also, check your base to make sure it's flat. Shims might help it.


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## Noob (Apr 18, 2009)

You might be able to shim it up, but since it is fresh out of the box it shouldn't have any sag. Give them a hard time if customer service doesn't want to do you right.


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## dovetail_65 (Jan 22, 2008)

kz202r said:


> Hi all I just opend the box on my new router table top from woodcraft. Its a Pinnacle MDF top. I put a staight edge on the top to check for flatness after I assembled it to its base and I have a good 1/8th inch sag in the middle of the table before I put the router in it. Has any one else had this issue and if so is there a remidy? I sent a message to customer service but no reply so far. What to do??:help:


The Pinnacle router table needs metal angle iron to keep the table flat. If it did not come with the table see if they are an add one.

Even with the sag the angle iron will pull it flat and stay flat.

I agree that brand new it should be flat, but making flat inlays 3/4" thick all the time. I know that from the time I ship out, to the client receiving the piece they can sag and warp.

It is not an issue. Place weight on the table on a floor, I use boxes of 18" floor tile, in a day or two it will be dead flat and than add the angle iron underneath.

You probably do not need to add weight and wait if it is only an 1/8" the angle Iron will probably pull it flat.

No matter what anyone says a bigger table like that even with double MDF and laminate on both sides can and will warp depending on several factors if no support underneath issued., The ones that do get tables that do not sag with no support are simply lucky.

Woodcraft sells metal just for this application, cheaper angle iron works as well if you can drill it.

Try the angle iron and my technique of flattening, it works every time.



Nick


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi kz202

I agree with Mike ,,pack it up and send it back,you should not to repair it in anyway..

You didn't buy a bow and arrow top , you don't want at add any angle iron, then you own it for good ,once you do that..if you have one error you may have others..

Just say thanks and no thanks I just want one that's true..from the get go..

=======


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## dovetail_65 (Jan 22, 2008)

Go get a new one but add the angle iron or support, no matter what.

Bob nearly every table that size COMES WITH angle iron.

I know half a dozen guys have a Pinnacle table and they all warp. If he wants no warp that is how to fix it. If he does not I guarantee it warps within 6 months or less.

I am very familiar with these tables, have used them and know many that have them'

If you do not want to add angle iron to keep the table flat go with another brand, period. Or build a base which actually is the support,why so many guys never notice any warpage. Even the OP table is designed in a way to prevent the top from sagging. You can not have a free floating top that big and expect it to go through the seasons not warping.

The Woodpecker tables are the same exact thing and they come with the under table metal angle iron supports. I had three table no support on one, supports on two, guess which one warped?

All router tables need some kind of support. I believe the Pinnacle has none. None of the large Pinnacle tables I have seen have stayed flat.


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## kz202r (Apr 20, 2009)

*New braces being shipped!!*

Thanks all for your input, the table came with 2 stiffeners that run front to back that are in place. Customer service emailed back yesterday and said they would send out longer (24inch) braces that will run side to side along the long axis of the table. I hope this works. :moil:Thanks for all the input ill post again after the fix.


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## kz202r (Apr 20, 2009)

*Update*



kz202r said:


> Hi all I just opend the box on my new router table top from woodcraft. Its a Pinnacle MDF top. I put a staight edge on the top to check for flatness after I assembled it to its base and I have a good 1/8th inch sag in the middle of the table before I put the router in it. Has any one else had this issue and if so is there a remidy? I sent a message to customer service but no reply so far. What to do??:help:


Ok, heres where this issue stands so far. After a few emails and phone calls to the Techs at Woodcrafter and a Conversation with the folks at Woodpeckers(the MDF table top supplier), It looks like they will be sending me out a new table top. I was initialy sent new angle braces that were designed to fix the issue but they were a match for the braces that were already installed. Craig from Woodcrafter Tech support(great guy)is going to check the new table for flatness before it gets shipped, he assures me they will satisfy their customer. :thank_you2:The folks at Woodpeckers tell me the table should be flat to an accuracy of 20 thousanths after assembly to the base. The saga continues! I hope the new table is a good one. Thanks once again for the input. TF


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## kz202r (Apr 20, 2009)

Sorry, my bad, that was Woodcraft not Woodcrafters in the prior post. I need to get the ability to edit my messages.


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## AxlMyk (Jun 13, 2006)

kz202r said:


> Sorry, my bad, that was Woodcraft not Woodcrafters in the prior post. I need to get the ability to edit my messages.


Just click on EDIT on the bottom of your post.


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## kz202r (Apr 20, 2009)

Well, I would but I see no edit icon showing up at the bottom of my post. I have sent a message to the administrator. Looking through the options, apparently they can set it up different ways some with ability to edit some not. I am a Forum member for automotive related hobby and the sites seem almost identical. I'll get this figured out. Thanks TF


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## dovetail_65 (Jan 22, 2008)

I just hope it is apparent that them including braces in itself is proof they know the tables have a tendency to warp. Get those braces on quick.

The Pinnacle and Woodpecker stuff is all the same and I am VERY familiar with it all.

Like I said before it is entirely possible they check that table and it is perfect and then in shipping it actual cups or warps a little, so do not get too mad at them if it does happen.

20 thousandths is suspect at best and even 4 times that shouldn't make an error in your routing. 20 thousandths every inch or in 4 feet, it as not said so again the number means nothing. And they said upon attaching to the base, NOT when you get it our of the box, because that helps force the table flat along with the braces.

I wish I had your 1/8" out table here in my shop so I could demonstrate that it could be fixed quickly, I have done so a few times and I could have fixed it before you even got a second one. 

Good luck!


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## kz202r (Apr 20, 2009)

I guess my point here is that I paid for an accurate system Table,Router and Lift. I should not need to "fix" the table top prior to use. If that is their intention, they should advertise that way.


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## dovetail_65 (Jan 22, 2008)

I am just saying that the nature of what you purchased does have a tendency to warp. Just get the top on the base and the supports on as soon as possible.

I am also saying that warpage of a table is a fundamental issue with every home made and store purchased table and it has to be dealt with.

I have two of the Pinnacle table tops right now and had the huge Woodpecker 32" x 53" too. They are great and I like them a lot. The potential warping issue is not a drawback if you deal with it. And no one emphasizes the negs in a product. Anyhow any router table top has the potential to warp. 

As far as not dealing with it new out of the box I totally agree. 

For the people that get them secondhand or have them a long while knowing how to get them flat is a must for some. Others do not want to wait for the time to send it back and then get a new one, so I am just offering up advice.


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## Mike Wingate (Apr 26, 2009)

I have noticed that routers mounted direct to a table top can "warp" the top when torquing up the mounting bolts. I have just moved to a Jessem Rouer-lift, all dishing problems solved.


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## Indianabob (Nov 21, 2008)

I recently had a birthday and marched down to my local Woodcraft store to buy a new router setup with some "birthday cash". I bought the Pinnacle table, and the V2 lift. After I set everything up I laid a straightedge across the table. 

It was warped (or dished) in both the width and length of the table by a lot! So I took everything apart and drove back to the store. The store owner was extremely supportive and brought out another top. SAME THING. He was extremely disappointed with the whole situation and didn't like selling something so expensive that wasn't flat. He said he will be "writing up the router table" and submitting this to the main Woodcraft headquarters to review the situation. He thought they might recall all of their stock!

I wound up buying a Jessem table. It was a lot more expensive but was totally flat. It's made out of phenolic material. For the price I was spending I didn't want to "fix" my top and want it to perform for many years to come.


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## dovetail_65 (Jan 22, 2008)

The phenolic tables warp too. If the Jessem sat their long enough with nothing under the table supporting it eventually it would more than likely warp, albeit at a much slower rate than the Pinnacle tables.

The solid phenloic tables from jointech are infamous for warping, at least until they are supported correctly.


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## kz202r (Apr 20, 2009)

This seems to be a very common issue. I think I may just build an angle iron sub base for under the table prior to attaching to the factory base. I have seen the metal tops from sommerfeld tools, I wonder if they have this same issue? The guy who made the pinnacle top for Woodcraft tells me he has been in the woodworking buiz for 20yrs and had not seen this problem with his tables before. Hmmmm?


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## dovetail_65 (Jan 22, 2008)

That's funny as router table tops not being flat is always talked about and an issue so this person obviously does not talk or know much about router tables. 

There is thread after thread here talking about warp and cupped tops and how to make your own tops that do not warp etc, so how in 20 years has he never seen it.

It's very common and always as issue keeping a router table flat. Actually that is the point of everyone(companies and individuals) trying to come up with different and new style tops in the first place! People getting warped table and complaining is why they started making double MDF and double sided laminate and companies going to phenolic etc. SO he must have seen it before I know I have,though it really does not bother me as much as some others.

I had a guy at Woodcraft tell me he was a thirty year woodworker yet he never heard of Santos Mahogany or Padauk. I find that pretty impossible, him being a 30 year woodworker that is.


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## Noob (Apr 18, 2009)

If he bought the "Pinnacle® Premium Router Table Top, 24-inch x 32-inch #148688", the cost is $139.99 plus tax at Woodcraft. Some may not have a problem spending that kind of money for a defective product, but I would. I could understand if it was a cheaper melamine-paper-coated MDF, but it is laminated in a high-pressure laminate which should be stronger.

That said, if it was laminated on one face and raw on the other, that could explain why it wasn't flat.


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## dovetail_65 (Jan 22, 2008)

Noob said:


> If he bought the "Pinnacle® Premium Router Table Top, 24-inch x 32-inch #148688", the cost is $139.99 plus tax at Woodcraft. Some may not have a problem spending that kind of money for a defective product, but I would. I could understand if it was a cheaper melamine-paper-coated MDF, but it is laminated in a high-pressure laminate which should be stronger.
> 
> That said, if it was laminated on one face and raw on the other, that could explain why it wasn't flat.


Hey I get it, should be flat when you get it. 

I have always agreed with that.


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## Mike Wingate (Apr 26, 2009)

I was always taught to balance tops and bottom of laminated products, whether they be router tables or bow limbs. The they should remain stable.


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## dovetail_65 (Jan 22, 2008)

That's correct.

They should, but they sometimes they don't. Hence the reason it is such a popular topic.


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## kz202r (Apr 20, 2009)

*Satisfaction at last!*

Ok, I recieved the new top from Woodcraft, much flatter, not near as bad as the last one right out of the box. I mounted the angle braces (2 sets! 1 set fore aft and the other along the long axis of the table.) The table is now within 1/32, doable for an amature like me I guess. Thanks for all the input/support guys! Its always great to talk with others that have dealt with the same issues. FYI, the folks at Woodcraft bent over backwards to make sure I was satified, Nice that customer service is still king in some retail establishments.:yes4:


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