Charnwood W650 Router Table...

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

woodbloke

Established Member
Joined
13 Apr 2006
Messages
11,770
Reaction score
1
Location
Salisbury, UK
I recently got hold of a Charnwood W650 table saw, a nice piece of kit but in need (as with much stuff from t'Orient) of some minor and inexpensive fettling to improve performance...close scrutiny of the pic will reveal that there are one or two non-standard bits and bobs on the slider as well as a zero tol insert plate:

W650andRouterTableSMALL.jpg


Those with super keen eyeballs will note that the rhs extension table has been disposed off:

RoutertableSMALL.jpg


...and in it's place is router table. The top is three layers of decent quality 8mm mdf that I salvaged from B&Poo (strange, but it's much better than the normal stuff they stock) last Saturday, for the princely sum of £1, with a piece of oil-tempered hardboard for a surface, all squished in the AirPress, then lipped with some 6mm mahogany. There's a substantial softwood frame underneath glued to the top which ensures that it sits flat. It fits onto the table on three sides with a series of 8mm bolts, with a new piece of 20mm steel tubing seen in the pic (closest) The side frame is Domino'd together \:D/ the first time I've used it to make anything and has a couple of self-adjusting leveling feet, with the NVR bolted to it underneath the table. The router plate is the Axminster:

RoutertablestuffSMALL.jpg


...aluminium one which was really easy to insert and level of, sitting on four 15mm dowels in each corner. There's an Extreme Extension in the plate which is just about the best thing (in my view) that you can ever fit to a router table. The router is a T11 with the raising handle shown. There's also no track. It's a commonly held fallacy that you need a track in a router table surface...you don't:

FenceandfeatherboardSMALL.jpg


...because if you use the angled push block (note that the handle is skewed inwards) shown previously against the fence, the work is automatically held against it. The material for the fence is 12mm melamine faced birch ply and was provided by Bob9fingers at one of the Bash's that we had at Wilton last year, so many thanks indeed for that Bob. All the bits n'pieces for the fence came from the Axminster jig making kit which is a great resource for this sort of thing, except that all the threads are Whitworth :evil: and so not compatible with other Metric fixings. The 'T' track is Axminsters own blue extruded aluminium stuff. The featherboard had to have some fettling done as well as the original slots were too narrow and had to be milled out a tad on the table. The constuction at the rear of the fence:

FenceRearSMALL.jpg


...shows the various knobs, with the dust port and a couple of bracing pieces at each end. Construction is using small biscuits throughout (knife line marks can clearly be seen) with the top of the dust port screwed in place - Rob :ho2 :deer :deer
 
Good use of space Rob, and I agree on the Extreme Extension, transform the use of the router in a table.

Ditto on lack of a track, never needed one either !

Cheers, Paul
 
woodbloke":1hqfz3i4 said:
All the bits n'pieces for the fence came from the Axminster jig making kit which is a great resource for this sort of thing, except that all the threads are Whitworth :evil:

Why on earth do they supply them only in Whitworth :? Don't Axminster know that just about everything else went metric years ago :? That would put me off buying the kit.

Nice router table 8)

Cheers :wink:

Paul
 
Paul Chapman":315dikud said:
woodbloke":315dikud said:
All the bits n'pieces for the fence came from the Axminster jig making kit which is a great resource for this sort of thing, except that all the threads are Whitworth :evil:

Why on earth do they supply them only in Whitworth :? Don't Axminster know that just about everything else went metric years ago :? That would put me off buying the kit.

Nice router table 8)

Cheers :wink:

Paul
I suspect Paul, that the kit came from 'murrica (dunno, could be wrong) where being slightly backward in these matters, they still insist on stuff like Imperial measurements and Whitworth threads...but as I say, could be mistooken (wouldn't be the first time :-" ) I've put a note to that effect on the Ax web site as well - Rob
 
Nice table and nice use of space.

But I do like a track - not essential I agree, but very useful for feather boards when working on very long lengths and for the occasional use with a mitre gauge.
Also what about dust etc with these open designs?
I have a Norm design, with extraction at the fence and a lower chamber - the bottom chamber picks up a tremendous amount of stuff.

Rod
 
Harbo":2de27v0g said:
Also what about dust etc with these open designs?
I have a Norm design, with extraction at the fence and a lower chamber - the bottom chamber picks up a tremendous amount of stuff.

Rod
Not sure about the 'lower chamber' Rod, I've always extracted from the top through the fence aperture as shown...it's always seemed to work well for me - Rob :ho2
 
The lower chamber is really a cupboard enclosing the router (with a front door).
It collects all the stuff that falls through the plate especially when a fence is not used.

Rod
 
I like a router table to have a base track, I am sure it is safer, the Triton system has a mitre gauge that runs with the track and there are occasions when an angle is required, however it is your system and your choice.
 
devonwoody":1ej3ipjj said:
... track, I am sure it is safer.
I used to think that a track was just something that you got with a router...that is, til I went to Wizer's YOKB 1 a couple of years ago where one of the demonstrators (who's name I forget :oops: ) had several tables set up without tracks. As far as I can see, it isn't any safer to have a track and provided you make the angled push blocks, you don't need one - Rob
 
woodbloke":kwf2wqpg said:
Paul Chapman":kwf2wqpg said:
woodbloke":kwf2wqpg said:
All the bits n'pieces for the fence came from the Axminster jig making kit which is a great resource for this sort of thing, except that all the threads are Whitworth :evil:

Why on earth do they supply them only in Whitworth :? Don't Axminster know that just about everything else went metric years ago :? That would put me off buying the kit.

Nice router table 8)

Cheers :wink:

Paul
I suspect Paul, that the kit came from 'murrica (dunno, could be wrong) where being slightly backward in these matters, they still insist on stuff like Imperial measurements and Whitworth threads...but as I say, could be mistooken (wouldn't be the first time :-" ) I've put a note to that effect on the Ax web site as well - Rob

Almost certainly of merkin origin and the threads will be 1/4 UNC not Whitworth - the only difference being the thread angle 60 degrees for merkin and metric and 55 degrees for virtually all British threads.
Unless they are very well made, 1/4" UNC and 1/4" Whitworth will fit each other.

Bob
 
Sometimes a push block is not the best way to control things especial working with long thin lengths. (unless you have extra pairs of hands?).
A fixed feather board is much better in that instance - agreed you don't need a track for it - a long timber one clamped on will do.

Rod
 
Very nice looking table. Personally I like to use a track, especially when making box joints with a jig, much easier than referencing off a fence.
 
Anyway if you decide in the future you want a mitre gauge your tabledege looks good enough to slide an adjustable holder on the table. Also the Triton system allows three feather edge pressure strips horizontally and saves those little fingers going where you dont want them to go, before and after the cutter.
 
The problems start when you try and use both a track and fence. Unless they are absolutely parallel, you can get errors creeping in.

I'm with Rob on this one. We saw the saw demonstration from a professional and were convinced.

Bob
 
9fingers":1jctxkmb said:
The problems start when you try and use both a track and fence. Unless they are absolutely parallel, you can get errors creeping in.

I'm with Rob on this one. We saw the saw demonstration from a professional and were convinced.

Bob


Thanks for that 9fingamejig, (thats why the Triton system has a protractor on the mitre gauge. )
 
SurreyHills":2y3scja7 said:
Very nice looking table. Personally I like to use a track, especially when making box joints with a jig, much easier than referencing off a fence.
...again, incorrect, 'specially if you use this one from Axminster, wot I'm hoping to find under the Christmas tree this year. I rang up Axminster and spoke to a techno-weanie who confirmed that track isn't needed...but you do need their router plate. Fortunately, it's the one I fitted - Rob
 
The thing you need the mitre slot for is cutting the scribed tenons on the ends of frame sections when doing cope and stick frame joinery. I you don't do that, then fair enough, but I can't imagine how else you'd do it without the slot.

Ed
 
Mr Ed":26sa3sm1 said:
The thing you need the mitre slot for is cutting the scribed tenons on the ends of frame sections when doing cope and stick frame joinery. I you don't do that, then fair enough, but I can't imagine how else you'd do it without the slot.

Ed
Fair enoughski Ed, but I don't do any of that sort of stuff...so I don't need the slot :D - Rob :ho2
 
Mr Ed":dteoa9m4 said:
The thing you need the mitre slot for is cutting the scribed tenons on the ends of frame sections when doing cope and stick frame joinery. I you don't do that, then fair enough, but I can't imagine how else you'd do it without the slot.

Ed

Just use a push pad like Rob's running against the fence with the workpiece in front, if the push pad has 90 degree corners then it will work the same as a mitre gauge, or if you have a few to do you can make another simple sled (same principle) with a holddown on it for added safety and accuracy.

Running off the fence renders a track and mitre gauge redundant for anything I've ever wanted to do and saves having to set the fence parallel to the track as well as in the right position relative to the router bit which could be a bit of a fiddle.

Cheers, Paul
 
Hmm!

I wonder if router tables with and with out T track will become the new Dado head subject??

Bob :twisted: :twisted:
 
Back
Top