In progress router table

[Neomorph]

Colin that thing is't a router station... it's a piece of bedroom furniture.

I'm very impressed with it to say the least. Is it from the New Yankee Workshop plans? My one is going to be somewhat different as I have very limited space and so will be on gate legs to enable it to fold down when I'm not using it. My biggest concern is going to be stopping the top warping as it won't have the support your nice cabinet has. Only having a 10'x6' shed to work in you see.

What wood did you use for your drawer fronts and doors?

 

[Chris Knight]

Colin,
It looks very good indeed. That was a great price on the laminate - very timely!

 

[colinc]

Thanks for the encouraging comments, it has been an enjoyable project and has dragged me back to the workshop after the winter layoff.

The design came from Woodworking with the Router by Bill Hylton & Fred Matlack. ISBN 1861081286, currently on offer at £11.18 on Amazon - well worth buying.

The drawer fronts, carcase & table edging and plinth are made of some french oak floorboards I've had hanging around for ages. I used the best part of an 8x4 of birch ply for the carcase and about 4x3 of 10mm birch ply for the drawer boxes. The top is two layers of 18mm mdf.

I think if I was short of space I'd still build a decent cabinet like this, a 3x2ft top is plent big enough, then make an mdf top to drop over it for protection when not in use. That way you get a good router table and additional general work surface with built in storage - think about it.

I think I'm lucky as far as space goes, I have a double garage with a 16ft x 8ft workshop behind.

regards

Colin

 

[Neomorph]

One of the reasons I'm making it the way I am is that I can move it out of the shed and onto the drive. That way I've got some decent amount of space to work with. Having the top drop down will mean it's easier to get through the doorway. If I had more space I wouldn't hesitate to make one like yours.

As they say... "necessity is the mother of invention."

 

[colinc]

I made more progress over the weekend - and I finally raised the courage to make the hole in the top for the plate.

I don't know if it's the approved way but I made a template from 18mm mdf for the actual cut. To make that I accurately cut the four corner radii (at 3/4" rad) then placed the plate over that and nailed four battens around it. I then nailed some more inside to give the router something to run on and cut the opening with a 3/4 template following bit (my first buy from Wealden - excellent next day service). I did nick the template in a couple of places but filled and sanded them smooth.

To cut the top I clamped the template in place and ran a groove all around just over 3/8" deep. I was a bit stumped by the actual hole as I only had a 30mm guide bush and a 1/2" worktop cutter to hand which would have left imo too little lip for the plate to sit on. However a wander around the garage produced a length of plastic drain pipe which was a tight fit over the bush and gave me about an extra 3mm on the lip. Several passes around the template at increasing depth soon had the hole done.

The corner radii turned out to be too tight a fit on the plate, I had made them too big fortunately, but otherwise the template was fine. I scribed the corner lines from the plate and then relieved the corners with a small drum sander in a drill - worked great and I got a perfect fit, much to my relief

Here's a picture of it in situ:

A check for flatness showed that my previously perfect top had taken a slight bow but I worked out that the left and right supports were not perfectly aligned and by screwing the top on tight I had distorted it - amazing when you consider that it's 2x18mm thicknesses of mdf. An appropriate shim cured that problem and it is now as flat as I am able to measure.

Am very pleased with the job as a whole and it was a good way of getting warmed up after the winter layoff. I still have to think through dust collection but I'll use it for a bit first to assess the problem. I guess that I should give the thing a coat of something too just to keep it clean.

It wasn't a cheap exercise, the Unilift was expensive but is real quality. I keep thinking that I should motorize it as at 1/32" a turn it takes a bit of winding (cheap electric screwdriver perhaps for the peak of laziness). It's incredibly rigid and am looking forward to using it in anger.

Bit changing is very easy as I fitted an Eliminator Chuck. The top of the chuck rises to just a couple of mm below the working surface and changes are so much easier than with a conventional collet and all done from above.

I've started making a fence tonight based on a micro-adjustable one published in GWW although I can see that this is an area for development. I haven't bothered with tee track for now as I want to see what needs develop.



regards

Colin

 

[Adam]

Looks great.

Adam

 

[Chris Knight]

Colin,

It looks very smart. Re Tee track- you will find that 90% of what you need a Tee track for can be done by using the front of the table as a registration aid with suitable sleds for example.

 

[Neomorph]

If you want T-Track get it from Wood Workers Workshop. It comes to less than half of the price of the cost from Axminster would you believe (£10.95 for 48" from WWW)

 

[devonwoody]

Triton have a very good fence which fits their router table, I would give the Triton agents a telephone call in Wales (Hills Industries) and they might supply the fence or let you order opne from an agent.
The beauty of the triton fence is that it has a chip top extractor, finger guard (keeps you away from the rotating bit) and a very hand moveable fence with calibrations marked up. It should fit your table without modifications.

 

[ajbell]

Colin

Very impressed with your table. I am working on the same project
but you are making much more progress!

I see you have cut a dado in the divider sides for the router compartment
back. I think I will copy your "improvement" on the original plans.

I really liked your use of oak for the doors and drawers - I have already
bought the ply so will use it now.
Still need to order the illusive laminate for the top!

Andy

 

[colinc]

Thanks - have still to sort extraction but was brought up to do the experiments first, and then find the solution, so am leaving it until I've used it for a while. See pm re laminate.

Colin