What a bonehead move…
I am currently building the NYW router table. On Friday I glued and screwed the two pieces of MDF together. On Saturday, I edge banded with maple and then laminated on a Formica top. No problem and things are looking very good. I can see all the screws and the pencil template drawn on the underside and so I knew exactly where to rout in my hole for the router plate. Then the bonehead move…
I laminated the underside of the table to minimize the chance of table warpage… and forgot to transfer my layout lines. As such, I have no idea where the screw pattern is underneath the formica. Actually, I know what the pattern looks like, I just don’t know which side of the top it starts from (clear space for miter track and PRL insert). As such, I risk wasting a nice top and router bits if I guess wrong and hit a screw when routing in the plate and miter track
Beyond getting it X-ray’d, any other way to figure it out? Need help here please.
I feel like Chris Farley in that SNL “I’m an idiot” skit.
Replies
Use a metal detector to find the screws.
Aaron
A rare-earth magnet will jump when it passes over the screws.
Tom.
Edited 4/12/2004 2:26 pm ET by Bobo
Edited 4/12/2004 2:27 pm ET by Bobo
You could even try a stud finder. Not as acurate as you might want, but more available than a metal detector (basically is a tiny metaldetector).
Jim
Coventry Woodworking
We've all done something like that. I suggest one of those cheap magnet in a swing type stud finders you stopped using years ago when you bought the fancy electronic one. If you hold the board vertically, like a wall, it should stand up when the magnet passes the screw.
Thank you all for the suggestion. Bought a cheap Stanley magentic stud finder yesterday. My five year old and I found every screw in the top and by last night, I was able to re-layout the template for the PRL and the miter track. Worked great.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled