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Bench Dog 40-016 ProLift Max Router Top-Adjustment System
If you?re tired of crawling under your router table to make adjustments, then you?re going to love the Bench Dog 40-016 ProLift Max Router System. This cleverly designed device allows you to make all height adjustments and bit changes from above, while standing comfortably at the router table. The system is particularly useful when working with large, heavy fixed-base routers. The 40-016 has a precision-crafted cast-iron housing and durable bronze bushings that glide up and down on dual hardened-steel columns. The insert plate has three bit-hole sizes (2 inch, 2.6 inch, and 3.7 inch) for accommodating most router bits. A crank-style wrench is included for quickly raising and lowering the router from above. All these exclusive features and heavy-duty construction don?t come cheap, but the Bench Dog 40-016 ProLift Max Router System is ruggedly built and designed to last a lifetime, even in a professional woodworking shop. Note that an adapter is required?and sold separately?for mounting routers measuring less than 4.2 inches in diameter. -- Joseph Truini
Bench Dog 40-016 ProLift Max Router Top-Adjustment System Accessories
 Porter-Cable 7518 Speedmatic 15 Amp 3-1/4 HP Fixed Base 5-Speed Router
Bench Dog 40-031 ProMax Cast Iron Router Table Extension for a Table Saw Includes Fence and Insert Plate
Bench Dog 40-002 ProLift Ni 3.5-Inch Adapter
Bench Dog 40-011 Feather-Loc Double Featherboard for Table Saws & Router Tables
Porter-Cable 42999 1/4-Inch Self Releasing Collet
Bench Dog 40-022 Proguard Freehand Accessory
Bench Dog 10-012 Miter Slot Adapter
Bench Dog 40-015 Guide Bushing Adaptor,
Bench Dog 40-025 Panel Hold Down and Safety Accessory
Dremel 290-01 1.15 Amp 7,200 Stroke Per Minute Engraver includes Letter and Number Template
Bench Dog 40-016 ProLift Max Router Top-Adjustment System Reviews
I am a profesional woodworker and purchased this lift based on the previous reveiws. The only minor inconveneince are the two allen screws the hold the rings in, you have to tighten them evenly and just snug or they'll lift the ring up on one side, not worth marking it down for though and if bench dog would supply a long T handled 3/32 wrench for this it would be even better. There is a Jessem lift in the shop and I definitely prefer this one for all the reasons mentioned by your other reveiwers, notably weight to dampen the motor and smooth backlash free adjustment right through the top.
All fits seamlessly on my Delta 10" LT contractor. I did it all, cast iron table, pro-lift, PC 7518. See my review on the pro-max table for more details. We are also talking effortless control, and accuracy well beyond the ability of the human eye to detect flaws. And, yes, it makes for a very expensive router table.
Might be overbuilt for someone that just runs small bits, but for our very large cutting head it is perfect. We needed a heavy duty bench mounted router system to prepare machined samples for an instrument that we sell. The Bench Dog lift sure fills the bill. The quality is superb and appears consistent from one to the next. So far we have purchased and installed 5 of these router lifts.
All of that being said, there's one area for improvement that I'd like to see. My personal setup is the ProMax table, with this lift, and the Porter Cable 7518 router. I know I'm nitpicking here, but every time I go to change mine out, I'm tempted to leave the screws out, and just let gravity do the work, (a less than safe practice). If there's something like this already in the works, as in a new lift, how about a retrofit for all of us Pro-Lift believers. It's rock-solid; I've run a few 3"+ panel raisers without any problem whatsoever.
Bench Dog, if you're listening, is there an easy fix to this. I'm positive that I'll wear out long before it does. Long story short, it's a big hunk of cast iron that will likely outlast you. I absolutely love this lift. I don't plan on buying another router table in this lifetime. Changing the Bench Dog's is an unnecessary hassle, requires several screws, Woodpeckers pop in and out with a quick turn of a wrench, and Incra's are magnetic.
Despite my pickiness, I'd buy this lift again. While I firmly believe this is a better lift than both the Woodpeckers PRL, and the new one from Incra the Magna-Lock, they both have one-up on Bench Dog with their throat plates.
Nonetheless, I, like many, have a lot of router bits, but no shaper or shaper bits (yet), so the end price is still well below what it would cost me to set up for shaping work. Included were three heavy duty insert rings that are easily swapped, using standard Allen wrenches. The entire collet and lock nut is easily accessible from the table top. Breaking a plastic insert, which runs from twenty to thirty dollars, is easy to do. ADDITIONAL NOTES:. I tied my Pro Lift to Porter Cable's biggest variable speed router. This will allow you to avoid moving the fence for height adjustments.
After setting up the Bench Dog, I gave away my old stand, table top, and insert. Too, I haven't bogged it down, even using my larger bits (this thing is, no doubt, powered by a scaled down turbocharged, fuel injected, 327 V-8, modified to accommodate at least sixteen valves, possibly accounting for the pleasing smooth, consistent whine you hear when you power up). The Bench Dog Pro Lift came with all the directions and tools necessary to its set up and operation (minus, of course, the table and router). Breaking a base plate isn't going to happen any time soon with the thick, well machined iron plate the Bench Dog lift relies on. Tightening the lock-down screws, that appear set too far in from the edges, easily results in pressure which snaps the plastic (at least stay with aluminum, if you can't or wont buy a Bench Dog).
The end ticket price of the combinations of toys, uh, I mean tools, is not insignificant. When used with a collection hood covering the sides, "bottom" and back of the router (on the underside of the table), it's very good. Too, dust collection via its head has been good. The PC fits the Bench Dog like a glove. It's proven very stable and not prone to wandering during use. If you are contemplating a router table, if you are planning on doing a lot of table top routing over the years, and if you can afford the cost, I would give the Bench Dog 40-016 four thumbs up (I just went over an borrowed my neighbor's thumbs to make sure my opinion was well covered). Anything smaller would have been sac religious. A small crane for lowering the lift and router into position during shim adjustments and such (e.g., when mating the insert plate to the table surface) might be helpful (pun intended).
Like many router tables being sold, the Freud's weak spot is the plastic insert plate for the table top. Bench Dog 40-016 ProLift Max Router Top-Adjustment System. Finally, I'm happy with how well the PC 7518 router plays with the Bench Dog lift. The lift raises and lowers quickly, but also allows me to tune it to minute fractions of an inch. My apprehension about what it would take to adjust the height of the unit for bit changes and adjustments, was unwarranted. These are well made units and the two fences can be independently adjusted with the simple turning of locking screws and adjustment knobs.
That is the worth I placed on them. In building my table, I kept my Freud SH-5 Professional Micro-Adjustable Router Table Fence. Changing bits is easier and quicker than on any of my [several] other routers. The height adjustment tool can be swapped for a standard ratchet, using the supplied socket, if desired. The system runs vibration free.
Freud SH-5 Professional Micro-Adjustable Router Table Fence
I am, absolutely, positively, not disappointed and anticipate years of quality use.
Porter-Cable 7518 Speedmatic 15 Amp 3-1/4 Horsepower Fixed Base 5-Speed Router.
I abandoned my factory built table and built my own.
I chose this router lift because everything I read about it indicated it to be a heavy duty, well made unit, and that I could, easily, swap bits from the top of the table.
They play very well together and there were no complications during installation.
Out of all the units I've played with, I like its ease of adjustment the best.
The weight of the combination of the Bench Dog and the 3-1/4 horsepower Porter Cable probably go a long way to contributing to that fact.
It's a large rolling cart with two locking wheels on the out-feed end.
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