Homemade Router Table
sawdustandshavings
| Posted in Jigs, Fixtures, Tips & Tricks on
Hello woodworkers,
I have finally got my workshop organised and am ready for the machinery to go in, so far I have a table saw, bench grinder, a bandsaw, a lathe and a stationary belt sander. The one thing that I need the most however is a router table.I did have one until the router burned out and I gave up on it. To cut out my life story basically what I need is a design of a router table with a large working surface thats easy to build, floor standing, and storage for all of about 120 router cutters.
Help appreciated,
Sawdust.
Replies
Sounds like a perfect match for Norm's table. Built one myself and it works great. More than enough storage. You could always scale to make a bigger working surface if you feel you need it. I think Rockler sells the plans and the hardware to go with it. I think it cost me about $600 including the Hitachi 3+HP lunge router at $150.
Good luck,
Tim
Hitachi 3+HP lunge router
I like that, lunge router. :)
That's what I get for not reading my own posts!! :)
I've got a 2 inch gash in my workbench top caused by one of them lunge routers!
David C
>>> I think it cost me about $600 including the Hitachi 3+HP lunge router at $150.
Please forgive my ignorance but $450 for a homemade router table? What is it made of, ebony and gold plated hardware? (or maybe you used one of these mechanical lifts thingamajigs? that cost a coulpe bills :-)
Two sheets of quality 3/4 plywood - $100
Sheet of 3/4 MDF - $30
Sheet of 1/2 MDF - $25
Hardware kit for Rockler - $70
Router Insert Plate - $60
Laminate Sheet - $15
Couple of Board FT of Oak - $$10
Sheet of 1/2" Ply - $15
Fine Adjust Knob for Router - $25
2" DC Hose - $20
Misc DC Fittings - $15
Misc Hardware - $40So I over estimated by like $15...Actually I did this exactly to the Norm plans. I'm pretty sure you could cut some money out of it, not to mention that there is material left over that could be used for other projects. I would rather aim high when giving someone an estimate because I myself only estimated about $250 to build the table and that turned out to be my first trip to HD. I still had to buy all the other hardware...
My wife assumes every project will cost two or three times what I say it will.
She's usually right.
Motivated by the lack of space in my original shop space I built my router table as an extension wing on my jet contractor table saw. The new "wing" is two pieces of heavy 3/4" MDF glued together. The old wing was 1 1/2" thick so it worked out perfectly. I use a drop in router lift to hold the router, an add-on fence attaches to my table saw fence, and a down draft "cabinet" underneath is made from a Rubbermaid trash can with a 4" drain fitting cut into the bottom. Due to the added weight I did add braces that attach at an angle to the bottom of the table saw legs
The Router is a PC 7518 with a router lift. I've been very happy with this set-up. I purchased rough birch and made 75 ft of baseboard and 115 ft of casement on this router table. Never had the motor spinning past 10,000 rpm. No ripples. No burn marks. This was the first real hard test, and was all smiles when I finished.
The add-on fence has a 2 1/2" sacrificial wood fence bolted to it. Other than the lack of CFM from my single bag collector this "home made" router table works great.
The 7518 and the lift cost a pretty penny but the rest was dirt cheap.
The only draw back is trying to go back and forth between the table saw and the router table. It forces me to plan out my cuts well or end up cursing myself.
Muleboy.
Sounds like you've got a pretty good start. I used to have a standalone router table and as my shop's accompaniment of tools grew the space seemed to shrink. My shop is a 2 car garage. No cars, lawn care, ect... just tools and wood. What I have now is built in the extension table on my table saw. I have a router lift and it has it's own fence or what I do often times is use the table saw fence. The tablesaw fence is very accurate so if I need evenly spaced grooves you can measure off of the tablesaw rule. This works fantastic and uses no additional space.
Consider making a top without the usual router insert plate. Pat Warner suggests this way. I made mine of 2 pieces of 1/2" baltic laminated with a cutout so to speak on the bottom piece so that I only lose 1/2" of maximum hight for the router bit. After laminating clean up the edges with, of course a router. The stand can be of many designs -- mine is open, but a cabinet has many advantages. For the fence I have a piece of maple of I guess about a 3x3 inch crosssection with baltic faces. If you are interested I could take a pix over the weekend. It cost all in less than $100 and has served me well for several years. Also look at patwarner.com as he has much useful info. I believe he also had an article in FWW on the subject.
Joel
sawdustandshavings
my first router table I made from a cheap premade bathroom lavatory (damaged at Home Depot, so only $20), a laminated range cutout from a kitchen counter installer ($3) some hardware and casters($5). I would recommend a commercial mounting plate however. Worked fine, and used the bottom of the cabinet for storage of router bits and jigs.
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