Bosch RA1181 Benchtop Router Table

BOSCH RA1181 Benchtop Router Table 27 in. x 18 in. Aluminum TopI put it together. Haven't yet put it to use. I'll only speak to what I can tell from the assembly.Great instructions! Bosch has gone to great lengths to take all guess work out of the assembly process, something other manufacturers should take a lesson from.The paper booklet is much better than online manuals, although I used both at different times.For those of use who think manuals are an unnecessary imposition on our God-like intelligence; I suggest you read the manual at least a little in advance of the parts you're assembling. It might save you some assembly-disassembly-reassembly. Don't ask me how I know. You know how I know.Ever wondered which bolt is the #10-16 x 1/2" and which is the #10-24 x 1/2"? The paper booklet has a true-to-size print of each and every bolt, washer, nut, etc. that solves the mysteries of identifying an incredibly large number of parts that come with the router table. How many parts is a large number? There are 161 parts, a few of which are for other models of Bosch router tables. A key identifies each part with a number that matches the true-to-size part's representation in the booklet.BTW: I didn't notice any Chinesium fasteners whose Philips head screws round out with the slightest bit of aggressive twisting of the old driver bit. All the fasteners are of a quality you might find in something like automotive manufacturing.All the main component parts are solid and well-made. Plastic is not all made the same. Time will tell how the plastic components hold up, but I expect they'll do just fine.I was very surprised at how sturdy the aluminum fence was. The same for the aluminum router plate and table top. I did not expect them to be so heavy. When I was removing the table top from the carton I wondered, due to its weight, if it was steel rather than aluminum.Leveling the router plate: I've seen reviews that made comments about the difficulty of leveling the router plate and aligning it to the same plane as the table top. I found no problem with this at all and verified the results with a TSO MTR-X triangle. I didn't go so far as to get out a set of feeler gauges to look for thousandths of an inch differences, but I don't expect to be routing components for use on Space-X. It's woodworking, not rocket science!Price: I got a terrific Black Friday price of $172.81, or so I thought. It's still (12/20/24) listed at about the same price on Amazon.I am not a connoisseur of router tables. I did the usual due diligence one might expect a penny pincher to do when making a purchase that offers the best of everything at the lowest price available and I think it went a lot better than expected. I wasn't looking for a table that cost $400 or more. I wasn't looking for the largest table or one that attaches to a Festool MFT. I wanted a table I could use in the basement or out on the driveway and pick up and carry to a job site without too much muscle strain that was suited for making moldings, dados and so forth.I was first looking for a table with a two part fence so it could be used for jointing. I admit to being disappointed that the best table I found did not have that feature. It took a while to find a Youtube video that spoke to this problem. But Bosch solved it by including two 1/16" "Jointing Shims" that slide behind the out feed fence to allow edge jointing in increments of 1/16" to 1/8". It's not an infinity of adjustments but then no fiddling is required to set up the table for jointing. Just slide a shim behind the fence and you're ready to go. So, that may actually be an advantage over two separately moveable fences that require careful alignment to get the right cut on an edge joint.I rarely give five stars but I think they are well deserved in the case of the Bosch RA1181 and the great Amazon price.For $175, how can you go wrong?

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.