Rehabbing this old JessEm made router lift by Rousseau

[bradleyheathhays]

Just got this older router lift off ebay for just over a hundred and now that I've seen it up close I'm feeling good about the deal I got. Although it looks rough you can hardly feel the little bit of rust on the posts and the height adjustment is butter. I originally thought I would break it down completely but I don't think that's necessary now. I'll probably just give it some oil and go with it. Out of necessity I'm having to mount it in the middle of a melamine top shop table. I know it's not the most stable setup but I'm not planning on doing anything extremely accurate with it anyway. I should be able to compensate with support from underneath well enough. So questions are...

Any general advice on rehabbing this?

Any advice on how to come up with center rings?

And I'm having trouble figuring out exactly how what they're calling 'corner snuggers' work, mentioned top left page one. They appear to be meant to make downward pressure but the text describes that they 'tighten plate position by pushing outward in all four corners.' I get the idea but I'm still not sure how they accomplish this.

 

[jttheclockman]

You can probably get the rings from the lift company. They still make lifts. The corner snuggers are just means of locking the lift to the tabletop. This way you do not get side to side movement if there is any play in table top opening. Various companies use different methods. There probably is a tabletop designed for this lift that is sold too. But if making own then you need to allow for precise fit in opening and also to keep the lift even with top. You could do away with the so called snuggers and use a leveling system with nuts and bolts and this will do both level and also lock the lift to the top. Snuggers are like springs that fly open when tightened and they push against the corners of opening to steady the plate.