Stimpi
Established Member
Easter Holidays, nagging wife stating how untidy the workshop is, (and this is an understatement) I decided to go into the shed, put on the radio, listen to the final listing of the voted top classical pieces for 2014, and tidy up. A few cups of tea, maybe a couple of cans from the fridge, bliss.
In a small workshop everything must have its place and very few items were in their place. There were off cuts on the floor as well as ripping’s, all covered with saw dust. So the first job was a clear out and with the tip closed for Easter, a burn out as well.
Not every item has its place for example my router table bought from Aldi, my bench saw and my router lift I made last year. The annoying thing about these particular items is, they are always in the way when not in use and have to be shifted around when tidying up. The bench saw went into the garage but after a drink of Tetley’s (not sure if it was tea or ale) I could kill three birds with one stone.
Combine the router lift with the Aldi router table and fit it into one of my cupboard worktops. A good marriage?
The cupboard selected.
The Aldi router table.
The homemade router lift.
Fixed the router lift to the underneath the cupboard top
Made sure it was as close to the front of the cupboard and give access to the adjustment screw.
Put a ¼” drill into the router.
Pushed up the router lift to provide the centre of the Aldi top with the router running.
Placed and cantered the top plate of the Aldi top and marked its position, including center lines.
Screwed guide battens to the top for routering out the plate. You may recall earlier in the year I bought an Aldi router for £15.00, was about £40.00 but not selling and I gave it a test. Well since that test this router has held my ½” bit in its chuck to which I attempted to use. Well I can tell you it was definitely not up to the task. The cupboard top is 1” thick dense MDF. I took it down in ¼” bites but the vibrations in the machine were too much to carry on so I quickly changed over to my Bosch which went smoothly.
Cross trees were fitted so I could try the top plate in position which was a good fit.
The resultant hole
Plate tried for fit
The top plate has an edge flange of 1 ¼” depth, my top is 1” thick so a ¼” notch had to be made to make the top sit flush.
The MDF cut out still had the router lift attached so this was positioned into the hole wedged central, marking the cross trees for position.
The router lift removed and repositioned on the cross trees checking for square and position.
Well that was the plan. Could I get it to center? No I couldn’t. Three attempts made before I got it to an acceptable center taking all afternoon to do a 15 minute job. Not sure what I was doing wrong but after the second attempt had a rest, a mug of tea and then third time
I took the emergency button apart as the cable was ridiculously too short, so I photographed the wiring for reference and fitted a new cable re-fixing in an accessible position on the cupboard.
All set to try out to what I think is a successful union.
Just look at the rubbish on that other bench! Well its back to a tidy up.
In a small workshop everything must have its place and very few items were in their place. There were off cuts on the floor as well as ripping’s, all covered with saw dust. So the first job was a clear out and with the tip closed for Easter, a burn out as well.
Not every item has its place for example my router table bought from Aldi, my bench saw and my router lift I made last year. The annoying thing about these particular items is, they are always in the way when not in use and have to be shifted around when tidying up. The bench saw went into the garage but after a drink of Tetley’s (not sure if it was tea or ale) I could kill three birds with one stone.
Combine the router lift with the Aldi router table and fit it into one of my cupboard worktops. A good marriage?
The cupboard selected.
The Aldi router table.
The homemade router lift.
Fixed the router lift to the underneath the cupboard top
Made sure it was as close to the front of the cupboard and give access to the adjustment screw.
Put a ¼” drill into the router.
Pushed up the router lift to provide the centre of the Aldi top with the router running.
Placed and cantered the top plate of the Aldi top and marked its position, including center lines.
Screwed guide battens to the top for routering out the plate. You may recall earlier in the year I bought an Aldi router for £15.00, was about £40.00 but not selling and I gave it a test. Well since that test this router has held my ½” bit in its chuck to which I attempted to use. Well I can tell you it was definitely not up to the task. The cupboard top is 1” thick dense MDF. I took it down in ¼” bites but the vibrations in the machine were too much to carry on so I quickly changed over to my Bosch which went smoothly.
Cross trees were fitted so I could try the top plate in position which was a good fit.
The resultant hole
Plate tried for fit
The top plate has an edge flange of 1 ¼” depth, my top is 1” thick so a ¼” notch had to be made to make the top sit flush.
The MDF cut out still had the router lift attached so this was positioned into the hole wedged central, marking the cross trees for position.
The router lift removed and repositioned on the cross trees checking for square and position.
Well that was the plan. Could I get it to center? No I couldn’t. Three attempts made before I got it to an acceptable center taking all afternoon to do a 15 minute job. Not sure what I was doing wrong but after the second attempt had a rest, a mug of tea and then third time
I took the emergency button apart as the cable was ridiculously too short, so I photographed the wiring for reference and fitted a new cable re-fixing in an accessible position on the cupboard.
All set to try out to what I think is a successful union.
Just look at the rubbish on that other bench! Well its back to a tidy up.
