Router Table extension wing bummer

[HMH]

Good morning folks - hope everyone had a great Christmas!

A bit of a bummer/ lesson learned yesterday afternoon - I bought myself a Rockler/ BenchDog Cast Iron router table/ extension wing to mount to my old Unisaw earlier in the month, intended to be a space saver/ quality upgrade from my ~10year old homemade MDF table I've used to date, and finally got around to installing it yesterday. I took the time to clean off the packaging grease, wax the table, lay out the hardware, and get it mounted to my saw BEFORE I checked it for flatness, (the lesson learned part - do that first).

That said, unfortunately, there was a significant crown in the table, approx ~ 0.025" via my straight-edge and feeler gauges - enough to cause problems of course, and ironically/ annoyingly WELL less flat than both my well used homemade MDF table, and the ~30yr old Unisaw table that I mounted it to. That said, once discovered, it was another exercise to UNMOUNT it, and remount my original extension wing, (all of which requiring assistance and moderate eye-rolling from my wife to help hold it in place/ balance them while I got the bolts started, ha). All in all - it was a couple wasted hours of shop time, and I now have to repackage and return the ~85# wing back to Rockler, ha.

All of that said, the cast iron appeared to be good quality, w/ nice heavy castings, and I DO like the layout for my use, (will be a left-hand table saw extension wing mount). Rockler's customer service was great this morning - it's not in their direct control obviously, (manufacturing issue), just posting here to vent a bit to fellow woodworkers, and remind everyone to check specs BEFORE going to the trouble of cleaning/ waxing/ mounting/ etc.

Pics for evidence - will get this back in UPS' hands this week, and roll the dice on a replacement - wish me luck!

 

[Strom]

Heath, good luck on the replacement. I learned a lot about cast iron messing with a Unisaw top and some old planes. Apparently cast iron is some funny stuff. If it is not allowed to age and destress properly it will warp when machined. Even aged iron will warp if you remove enough. Hopefully the new one will be aged and ground properly.

 

[HMH]

Thanks Strom - definitely a bummer. Debating just building a new stand-alone table and calling it a day, but since it's OTW, I'll give the CI wing one more try, in case it was just a QC fluke.

 

[Oka]

If you still have issues on the replacement. Might consider finding someone with a Blanchard Grinder/surfacer. I worked at a place that had one, the table was 12 ft diameter.
Anyway, something like this would be a min charge (50-75 bucks) but you would have a truly flat surfaced table.

 

[HMH]

Re: Blanchard grinding - I've actually had that done on some old tool restorations in the past, (I'm an OWWM guy at heart), but certainly wouldn't go through the trouble on a brand-new purchase - that I'm paying full-price for..... If the replacement is in similar shape, I'll just abandon the Benchdog route and search out an alternative. We'll see!

 

[Oka]

I agree with you, but consider this ..... When you buy new brake drums or rotors, they have to be turned to make exact, ... always hated that, but that is the way it has to be done, since you cannot cast then turn and have sit on a shelf until sold, it will be out of spec (round). I guess getting tables are the same these days. Besides, all the time it takes to succeed in getting a replacement probably cost as much as grinding/surfacing in time.

 

[junquecol]

I agree with you, but consider this ..... When you buy new brake drums or rotors, they have to be turned to make exact, ... always hated that, but that is the way it has to be done, since you cannot cast then turn and have sit on a shelf until sold, it will be out of spec (round).

That's why the boxes are labeled "LAY FLAT ONLY!

 

[Oka]

Laying has less to do with it. When they cast if they cool the iron in an uncontrolled fashion it introduces tension in the cast. This is the usually culprit to warping. That or poorly prepped casts.