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Hi all, I just put together my new shopfox overarm pin router and was having trouble getting the pin and bits lined up. I have it really close, but it is about 1/32-1/16" too far back. There is really not a way to adjust this, I have just been loosening the bolts that hold the arm on and tweaking it to line up side to side, but the front to back really doesn't move any more. I was using a 1/2" bit that is 3" long and a Porter Cable 890 motor in it. I bought this to replace my shopsmith overarm router that I also could not get lined up right, but that was due to my shopsmith being a 1963 model and the table would flex and put the bit at an angle. So, how accurate are these supposed to be? I was really hoping for this to be close enough that you really can't tell, but I can tell this amount. thanks
John

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

Upon closer inspection and playing with it, It is lined up perfectly as long as I don't tighten the router into the collar, when I tighten this, that is when it moves backwards.

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

Hi. Overarm routers are classic furniture building machines. The pin on the table is designed to line up concentrically with the spindle and follow a template or pattern. Onsrud Machine of the U.S. was the premier original overarm with a model known as the R8. Later SCMI copied this and made their own R8, as did Grizzly. I own a Grizzly copy myself. These tools are all adjustable to achieve concentricity. I own a furniture and cabinet shop and am building my first guitar. There should be a way to align the pin to the spindle, if not, send it back, it is absolutely essential to achieve concentricity. Without concentricity you cannot use this machine effectively. Attached is a photo of me using this machine to do my first and asymmetric rosette. T

I was actually finally able to get it aligned, I had to completely remove the arm and re-attach it. It has a rubber gasket between the arm and the table, and just loosening the bolts was not enough to get the whole assembly to move forward. I figured there had to be a way to make it line up because it would kind of defeat the purpose of the tool if it wasn't perfectly lined up, at least for what I want to do with it. It is good to go now, after another 3 hours of fiddling with it. I had looked at the grizzly pin router but way too expensive for me right now, are they any good though? It seemed to be the cheapest "real" pin router.

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John Thiessen
http://www.iszacguitars.com

The 5 hp Grizzly is a good machine. With CNC routers getting more affordable there a ton of deals available on overarms. If you are in the market for any heavy duty equipment check woodweb.com, their used machinery section is searchable. Also try ex-factory.com. One note about overarms, learn the machine slowly and keep you hands away from the bit by building nice fixtures to create you parts. Enjoy, T.

Mustang is this the tabletop version? I've been lloking at that if so. Let us know how it works out performance wise....Mike

Mine works perfectly.