Drilling Router Insert Plate

[matt]

Before I make a cock-up...

Looking at my CMT router... Looking at my Axminster router table insert plate... Some questions...

> What's the best way to mark the plate before drilling? I seem to have a plethora of holes in the base, most of which don't go all the way through therefore cannot be marked from above. There's a couple that do go all the way through but I figure I really need the 3 fixings provided by the blind holes.

> What are the best bolts? I have some with flat undersides but no way of recessing them in to the insert plate. Therefore, I am guessing that I'll need to get hold of some countersunk bolts and use them instead?

Thoughts and experience gratefully received...

 

[jasonB]

It should be possible to measure the hole offsets relative to the center of the spindle and transfer these to the plate, I have the position of the three holes on my Elu noted down so I can easily knock up any jigs I may need. Some people photo copy the base plate of the router and then stick the copy to the insert, though copiers can have a few percent error.

Countersunk screws would be best, I would go for socket csk (allen key) ones as they have a higher tensile strength and a key always fits better than a sloted driver.

Pan head screws into counterbored holes are another option but you would need a slot drill/step drill/counterbore to counterbore the metal plate, not really an option without a decent mill/drill, though they can allow for a little leyway in the hole positions.

Jason

EDIT the CMT should be the same as the Elu and I use holes that go all the way through the base.

 

[mailee]

Remove the base plate from your router and use this as the template for the holes. Once they are marked you can then drill them and countersink them to flush the screw heads. :wink:

 

[matt]

Remove the base plate from your router and use this as the template for the holes. Once they are marked you can then drill them and countersink them to flush the screw heads. :wink:

You mean the thin brown plastic bit?

 

[seesaw]

Hi, just new to this.
Have a CMT Router and just bought the Milescraft Offset Base on the recommendation of Good Woodworking Magazine review.
The thin brown bit is not much use to try to line up with the holes in the base and also when you take this off a number of other holes appear and then you seem spoilt for choice until you try to get any to fit

Only two holes line up and not happy with that even though the milescraft website says its OK. Centring pin provided is not much use as you can move it about 3-4mm when trying to get it centred.
Any advise on how to drill the base much appreciated
Seesaw
PS Sorry if I have jumped in on somebody elses question

 

[mailee]

Yes Matt I did mean the thin brown piece although it sounds like it wouldn't help as he needs it centralising on the jig. Only a suggestion but couldn't you drill the jig to suit the router instead? Mark the holes you need in the base plate (thin brown plate) and then drill the jig with the plate eyeballed in the centre.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Don't know if this will help but it might do. I fitted a Trend "square" (actually oblong) sub-base to my DeWalt 625 router.

I wanted to turn it through 90 degrees so that meant re-drilling the base. I used a slightly oversize drill to drill the screw holes and then counter-bored the holes with a straight router bit with bottom cut in my drill stand. The base plate is made from solid laminate and is fitted with pan head machine screws. The oversize holes allow some adjustment when fitting which is important because the base takes the Trend guide bushes and you need to get the hole perfectly centred with a guide bush and line-up pin.

Sorry for the slight fuzziness of the picture, but hope you can see the original holes and the ones I drilled. Although the holes are slightly oversize, the use of three screws makes a very firm fixing. I found that it was quite easy to mark off the position of the holes from the base of the router using a ruler and compass. I transferred the measurements to a piece of MDF and used this to test the fit. I then used this as a drilling guide, clamped to the base that I wanted to drill.

Hope this helps.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[mailee]

This reminds me of the Trend baseplate I got to fit my De Walt 625. I offered it up to the router base and could only find two of the holes would line up with the multitude of holes in the plate. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't get three holes to line up and ended up mounting it on just two! Seems a bit of a trade off IMHO. :x

 

[Paul Chapman]

Mailee, the Trend "square" sub-base came with only two holes, despite being the one specified for the DeWalt 625 which has three screw holes. So even if I hadn't wanted to turn it through 90 degrees, I would have probably drilled it for a third hole anyway. Using just two didn't seem right to me.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Steve Maskery]

I would do this by turning three short studs - lengths of M6 (or whatever fits the holes) to a point. This can be done on a lathe or a drill press with a file if the worst come to the worst. The points must be central.

Screw the studs into the base of your router, locate the router onto the plate and push down hard. You'll have three nice little dimples.

I've recently upgraded my router plate to the Tilgear aluminium one, which has dimple for many, many routers already machined on the underside. It was a good upgrade, I'm very happy with it and I wonder now why I put up for so long with the Trend/Ax/Rousseau one.

Cheers
Steve

 

[andy king]

Hi Seesaw,

Are you using the centring pin correctly? The idea is that you fit the supplied guidebush into round removable part of the offset base, and fit the set up pin into the collet. Plunge the base enough that when it passes through the bush, the conical part of the setup centring pin automatically centres the offset base without any play, the conical part becomes tight in the bush.
This allows you to swivel the base around until it aligns with the holes in the router base. Once you have it aligned, screw it in place, then retract the plunge and remove the centring pin.
Fixing through two holes should be fine, there's no weight hanging off it like there would be if it was in a table. I have one set up on a router using two screws and it works fine.
You could remove the scratch plate (as discussed on this thread) and align it with the holes and drill the third one with a standard HSS drill, using a countersink to let the screw head in, or a bigger drill to make sure the head is below the surface.
Hope this helps.

Andy

 

[jasonB]

Have a look at this how to

http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/tips_23.html

Is it the newer 2E CMT router or the older one thats more like the Elu, Dewalt, Trend etc, if its the older one I can gice you the sizes.

Jason

 

[seesaw]

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated. I will try again to get it centred using Andy's advice and if it still doesn't work I will have to drill some holes in the base
Thanks again
Sid

 

[matt]

Have a look at this how to

http://www.wealdentool.com/acatalog/tips_23.html

Is it the newer 2E CMT router or the older one thats more like the Elu, Dewalt, Trend etc, if its the older one I can gice you the sizes.

Jason

Useful article. I think mine is the older CMT, therefore, if you have sizes that would be very useful. Cheers.

 

[jasonB]

Here you go, even if its not the same router, a careful bit of measuring of your base should give the positions of suitable holes. Holes are M6

Jason