The world's first and only foot-activated motorized router lift.   The introductory price of the PowerLift will be $389.95 and includes: The PowerLift unit The control box Bidirectional foot pedal Articulating Control box mounting arm FREE SHIPPPING! Join the MLCS Eclub for the pre-sale and special offers   Also visit the MLCS PowerLift page.

PowerLift Features

• Only the Powerlift allows for true Hands Free plunge cutting. No Cranks or Handles.
• Only the Powerlift uses a bi directional electronic foot pedal allowing the user to make micro-adjustments to a spinning bit (to within .001”) for real Precision.
• Only the Powerlift has a digital control panel (with mounting arm included) giving the user control of the speed and direction of the lift.
• Only the Powerlift allows you to change the router bit above the table in seconds.
• Make incremental passes quick and easy without ever turning off your router or taking your hands off of the work piece.
• Make repeatable Plunge cuts for mortises and dados using the built-in Depth Stop.

The Control Panel The Advanced Control panel allows the operator to: Set the speed of the lift Zero out the height of the lift See the current height, direction, and speed Switch between inches and milimeters Activate the lift up or down Hold the lift (disables the lift to prevent accidental activation from the footswitch) The lift shows precision to the .001 inches, and allows for micro-adjustment of the bit height at slow speeds.
Bidirectional Footswitch The footswitch allows the operator to raise or lower the lift while keeping both hands on the work piece. Operations that were previously too difficult or too dangerous can now be perform on the router table - with better dust collection and improved safety. You can turn your router table into an efficient and effective mortising machine. A simple jig that controls the movement of the work piece on top of the table, combined with raising the spinning bit via the footswitch, will yield perfect mortises.
The Lift The lift is controlled by a powerful DC motor that transfers the power to the lift using cogged pulleys and belt. This effective transfer of power yields no backlash when adjusting height. The lift has a depth stop that triggers a microswitch to stop the lift when the desired height is reached. The depth stop is used to set the maximum height that the bit can protrude above the table. This feature is useful for repeatable cuts and incremental passes. The router motor requires no tools to mount in the lift!
Changing Bits The PowerLift raises the router through the table to allow fast and easy bit changes.
Which Routers can be used with the PowerLift? The PowerLift supports most 3.5 inch diameter router motors, and has been tested and verified to work with the following routers: Porter Cable PC690, 890 series Dewalt DW616 Bosch 1617evs, 1618evs CRAFTSMAN #320.17543 There are many other routers with a 3.5 inch diameter motor, the models listed above are just those that have been tested with the unit.

Coming Soon!

You will be able to buy the retail version of the Motorized Router Lift from .

Here is a sneak peek at the greatest innovation in woodworking router tables and lifts! MLCS Woodworking and Eagle Lake Woodworking have spent two plus years designing, developing, and testing the world's first foot-activated MOTORIZED ROUTER LIFT for retail sale.

Please Note: the device shown in the video and pictured on this page is a FACTORY PROTOTYPE. The actual retail unit may differ slightly in appearance and function.

Some of the features of this new lift are:

The lift itself is motorized. There are no cranks, handles, etc. used to raise and lower the router. It comes with a control panel that mounts on a router table. The electronic "brain" in the control panel, and switches on the panel, allows one to use the variable speed control feature of the lift motor, change the direction of travel with the push of a button from up from to down and has a digital display that reads to .001 thousandths of an inch. The readout can be set to zero at any point on the travel.

For hands free use, the lift comes with a foot pedal that allows the user to both raise and lower the lift.

The Control Panel The Advanced Control panel allows the operator to: Set the speed of the lift Zero out the height of the lift See the current height, direction, and speed Switch between inches and milimeters Activate the lift up or down Hold the lift (disables the lift to prevent accidental activation from the footswitch) The lift shows precision to the .001 inches, and allows for micro-adjustment of the bit height at slow speeds.
Bidirectional Footswitch The footswitch allows the operator to raise or lower the lift while keeping both hands on the work piece. Operations that were previously too difficult or too dangerous can now be perform on the router table - with better dust collection and improved safety. You can turn your router table into an efficient and effective mortising machine. A simple jig that controls the movement of the work piece on top of the table, combined with raising the spinning bit via the footswitch, will yield perfect mortises.
The Lift The lift is controlled by a powerful DC motor that transfers the power to the lift using cogged pulleys and belt. This effective transfer of power yields no backlash when adjusting height. The lift has a depth stop that triggers a microswitch to stop the lift when the desired height is reached. The depth stop is used to set the maximum height that the bit can protrude above the table. This feature is useful for repeatable cuts and incremental passes. The router motor requires no tools to mount in the lift!

The Super Sled combines two of my best shop jigs!

I love my original crosscut sled, so when you (the viewers) asked me to make a video about how to make that sled, I started to think of ways to improve upon the existing design.

I regularly use two different sleds in my shop:
1. My crosscut sled which I use mainly for crosscutting, and cutting shoulder cuts on tenons.
2. Wood Magazines Universal Tablesaw Jig which I use exclusively for mitering.

While contemplating ways to improve on the design of my crosscut sled, I started to focus on the concept of combining the two sleds. I spent a lot of time modeling the new Super Sled in Google Sketchup and I feel I have come up with one of the most versatile crosscut / mitering sleds around. When you see the video for the construction of the sled, I think you'll be surprised at how easy it is to build for yourself!

The video for how to build the SuperSled will be filmed later this month (Feb 2009)

Crosscutting The Super Sled has all the benefits of my original crosscut sled, including a t-track for adjustable stop blocks. The new sled uses a flip stop, so you can keep the stop in the same place, but flip it up out of the way to make other cuts in between. With generous capacity to the left and right of the saw blade, the Super Sled can handle just about any crosscut. The main fence is extended out farther on the left side of the blade allowing you to use the flip stop for long cuts.
Mitering I really love mitering with Wood Magazines Universal Tablesaw jig which is why I wanted to incorporate all the features of this jig into the Super Sled. The Universal Tablesaw jig needs to be switched from one side of the blade to the other when doing complementary miters. With an identical setup on both sides of the blade, you can easily miter on either side of the blade. The fence used for mitering has a t-track for mounting a stop block or hold downs and can be positioned any where from 0 to about 70 degrees.
Versatility I designed the Super Sled with versatility in mind. The four slots in the main board of the fence function the same as t-tracks, and allow for the inclusion of stop blocks, the miter fence, and other add-on jigs like a tenon or box joint jig. The main board for the super sled is 1/2 inch plywood. I went with 1/2 inch plywood so I wouldn't loose very much blade height capacity. The four slots in the main board are 3/8 inch wide from the top, and have a 3/4 inch wide shallow recess in the bottom and will accomodate a standard 5/16 inch t-bolt.

Update - 3/22/2009: There are now two Accessory videos available. The Stop Block and the Tenon Jig have been added to the video collection.

The second improvement Bob came up with is great - he designed a simple solution to stow the miter fences on the back of the main fence. He installed some threaded inserts into the back of the main fence where he can mounted the miter fences by using a thumbscrew to hold it in place.

Take a look at these low-cost, easy to use templates from MLCS Woodworking. You can use these templates with your handheld router, and even on the router table!

This video shows a detailed demonstration on how to setup and use two different Through Dovetail templates by MLCS Woodworking.  One template makes small dovetails suitable for jewelry boxes and drawers, while the other makes larger dovetails for chests and cabinets

Get great looking dovetail joints for a small investment. This easy to use dovetail system can produce dovetails on any width board. You can even make variable spaced dovetails!

The video covers:

• Making the mounting block
• Calibrating the Jig
• Using the Jig to make small and large dovetails
• Using the jig on the Router Table
• How to get the most of this jig.
  

The horizontal router table is my new favorite addition to the shop.  The benefits of having a router in the horizontal position for some operations is unmatched!  You can do some really cool routing operations in the horizontal position.

The 12 minute video shows how to make crown molding, trim molding, mortise and tenon joints, and raised panels - all using the MLCS horizontal router table. See the benefits of using a horizontal table when working with wide stock. The Horizontal Router Table makes auxiliary fences, multiple featherboards and jigs unnecessary. Visit MLCS Woodworking for more information.

This video covers:

• Making custom trim molding
• Crown Molding
• Mortise and Tenon Joints
• Rabbits
• Raised Panels