Yep, I know it's a fairly old thread, but the Aldi table is still appearing on sale regularly and there are others around which, at up to twice the price, look absolutely identical.
Hi Mattylad,
The actual moulded shape on the underside of the table that the router base should fit snugly into, is definately smaller than the router base itself.
This is why it is such a puzzle. As I said in a previous post I can use a B & Q router with the table but not the one manufactured for it.
The Power Devil router (1/4") fits, but not snugly. Therefore, centering it up is a RPITA.
The Trend 1/2" does NOT fit. The cast rim that seems to be giving Powercraft router owners so much trouble acts as a stand off for bases that don't fit inside it. Therefore neither will the DeWalt, Elu, Metabo, Fein or any of the others using the same D base.
The router table isn't too bad though, with the following extra provisos:
The fence is not straight. If you put a straight edge along the face if it, the two sides of the fence cannot both be parallel to the straight edge, but fall away from it at the end(s)
This won't make any real difference for putting beadings on edges etc, but it means you can't use it as a jointer to cut perfectly straight edges for laying up wide boards from narrower ones. It can be fixed, but needs a lot of work and access to a jointer/planer or a lot of patience with shims and rebuilding.
Easier to make another fence.
The table is fairly light, and adjusting the cutter height will have you crying in no time as pushing the router up will just push the table up, and you'll need to put your chin on the table top, push the router up with one hand, lock it off with the other.
To get round this you will need a fine height adjuster which lets you screw the router up (tediously slowly) along its columns. Trend do one for the T5 which fits the Power Devil and all the other Chiwanese round-and-two-flats based routers. About fifteen quid, but absolutely essential, I'm afraid if you want to avoid inaccurate cuts and analyst's bills.
There are other options - take the router springs out or knock up a raiser from a plank and a car jack - but life's too short and after all, it's a cheap 'n' cheerful table.