Building a router table, looking for suggestions.

[Tim Morton]

I have a tabletop and fence coming Friday, and I want to build the carcass this weekend. The top is a rockler 24x32 which I traded for and the fence is a Rockler as well, bought on woodnet. I think they will both be good starting points for my first table, and if I change them out I would still like to be able to keep the carcass I build. I found this site and it seems like a nice table, so if you have built it let me know what you think, if you have a better plan let me know too. I like the idea of having a cut list and instructions and am not opposed to paying for a download, but I want to do it this weeknd so that leaves out the Yankee worksop table. O really only need plans for the crcass and DC. Check out this site and let me know what you think. The router is a Hitachi MV12 and I will be ordering a plunglift when I get the email that says woodpeck is having them on sale. In the mean time I have a phenolic base and the undercabinet lift that came with the Hitachi.

http://www.ronan.net/~woodwork/router.htm

[Jim DeLaney]

I just (today) finished building my own router table cabinet. No pix yet, but I'll have some soon (when I get my camera back).

I patterned mine after the one in Woodhaven's catalog, but used 3/4" birch ply for the carcase. Four drawers for router bits - used LV's new bit holders (great product!) - and one drawer for wrenches, etc.

Made my own (24" X 32")top. 1/2" white Corian epoxied to 3/4" plywood. Router (MV12, with Router Raizer) is mounted directly to the Corian. The top is hinged using a full length heavy duty piano hinge. Also mounted a 'muffin' fan on the back of the cabinet to provide cooling air to the router motor.

Switch is a pushbutton Jet switch. The whole thing weighs about 200#, so it's plenty solid. I put it on a Shop Fox mobile base.

BTW, the Woodhaven cabinet is very similar to the one in your link.

[Jim Stastny]

Tim,

Your plans look great. Depending on your needs I might suggest some sort of mobile base maybe using built-in, locking casters.

[Corey Hallagan]

Tim, I like the design to. Very similar to "Norms" design. I will be using a Rockler Top and accessories for my router table when I build it as well. I was going to use Norms, but have decided to something similar but a little different design. Mine will need to be portable so I will have locking castors on it. Good luck, can't wait to see how it comes out!
Corey

[Tim Morton]

BTW, the Woodhaven cabinet is very similar to the one in your link.

Sounds like you made a great table, can't wait to see pictures. I may choose to morph the 2 together once I sit down to cut out the wood. I like the idea of making as few drawers as possible.
The one on the left is the picture of the linked table, and the one on the right is the woodhaven i believe.

Mine will need to be portable so I will have locking castors on it. Good luck, can't wait to see how it comes out!

I saw a nice set of plans for a 2-piece portable whihc was my second choice for a table.
http://store.yahoo.com/plansnow/ultrouttabl.html

[Bryan Nuss]

Tim, if you have the time, I would suggest hinging the table top with a piano hinge at the back and using a hinged prop-stick to hold it open. It makes the changing of bits and setting bit heights so much easier. I would also make the cabinet dust collection port at least 4" diameter. 2-1/2" for the fence should be sufficient.

Norm's split fence (which I find a pleasure to use), while it may take time to make, makes it possible to edge-joint boards for glue-ups by the use of a shim on the outfeed fence, but you could do the same by somehow attaching a shim to your fence on the outfeed side.

Check out this thread:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=13841

[Tim Morton]

Thanks Bryan!! great link, i will be refering to your table alot when buildsing mine this weekend. I like the hinge.

[JayStPeter]

Just a quick comment about insert plates. The Plungelift may or may not fit if there's already a cutout. It seems like the various plate mfrs. do their best to ensure that if you remove their plate, any other will not replace it. For example, I could not find a plate that had the long dimension large enough to replace a Rousseau insert (Rocklers x-large insert will now, but wasn't around then). You may have already done it, but make sure both dimensions of the PlungeLift are larger than the current cutout. I don't remember all the details, but I seem to remember Rocklers plates were larger in one dimension and Woodpecks in another.

Jay

[Fred Voorhees]

Tim, just a point that you may want to consider. As I posted about a month ago, I had a problem with the registration card for my Hitachi M12V router. I promptly filled it out after my purchase through Amazon.com and mailed it out. A number of weeks went by and it suddenly turned up in my mailbox. Apparently, it couldn't get through to the address for Hitachi that was printed on the registration mail in card.

Apparently, these cards are of an older "vintage" and the mailing address on them is wrong. A call to Hitachi informed me that I could mail the returned registration card to the address that was printed as the "return address" on the mail in card. The person at Hitachi told me that it is occurring that some post offices are forwarding the card to the return address and the problem has been solved. However, others, such as mine apparently, are taking my home address off of the back information part of the card and returning it to the person who filled it out in the first place.

Anyhow, here is the straight poop. If you haven't filled out the card yet, or have and haven't mailed it the mailing address on the registration card is addressed to a location in Denver, Colorada. This is the wrong place. The place where I was told to mail it back to (and the address that was in the "return address" portion of the registration card) is located in Norcross, Georgia. You might want to check this out and more than likely save yourself some time, trouble and an extra postage stamp by mailing it directly to the Norcross location.

[James Carmichael]

Looks good either way, Tim. A permanent router table is still on my "todo" list:-) I think router tables are just like the quote that goes around about workbenches, everybody that's ever built one wanted to build another.

We expect to see pretty pics of your completed router table come Monday:-)

[Tom Kelley]

In the near future I am going to build a router table from plans in a book "Woodworking With The Router" by Bill Hylton & Fred Matlock. I like the idea about the light in your cabinet. Never thought of that. One problem I would be concerned about would be the added heat unless there was sufficient exchange of air through dust collection. Good luck!

[Larry D. Wagner]

Tim

I agree with Bryan. I built my first table a little like one from WOOD magazine some time back. It has a hinged top and I love it. My second table was also built with a hinged top.(With INCRA Jig) I am just starting to build a NORM type table and I will be hinging that top also. Bit changing is so much easier on my back whether I remove the motor or change while attached. By the way I make my prop rods with arms on both sides. I like to think it puts less stress on the piano hinge by making the pressure more uniform across it!

Larry

[Brad Knabel]

Here's a quick photo of mine. It was one of the first things I built. The cabinet is birch ply, the top is MDF with laminate on the top and bottom. I trimmed the edges with oak. The finish on the base is milk paint with a couple of thin coats of wiping varnish. There are 4" locking casters under the beast. It's a little on the wide side to accomodate the Incra Jig (which I probably wouldn't purchase again...)

There's a Freud FT2000 behind the cabinet door. There is a switched outlet inside the cabinet and another one on the back of the cabinet. The switch is easily accessible on the back. All of the electrical work is rated for 20 amps.

There is also a 2 1/2" dust port on the back that I need to upgrade to 4" soon. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the back at the moment. The small drawers contain router bits, templets and various wrenches for the router. The large drawer actually stores my Delta tenon jig at the moment.

It's survived 2 moves over the course of the last year and a half (Denver to Louisville to Pittsburgh...). I figure if it can survive being tossed around by the movers it should be fine in the shop.

Good luck with your table!

[Greg Mann]

I also like a hinged top for accessibility, but with the Hitachi router and a bent wrench, you you can do your bit changing from the top, making the hinge less of an issue. I have a Bench Dog router plate, but if I were to do it again (and, like almost everyone else, I have long term plans to do it again ), I would forego the plate altogether. There are just too many holes and ridges to collect debris. Again like most others, once one puts the time and effort into milling the cavity for the plate, or the expense in purchasing a top with a cavity, one is reluctant to discard it and start over. I have come to believe Pat Warner is correct about uncluttered table-tops, but I have not yetaccepted his position regarding the unsuitability of plungers. I like the M12v in my table. I just wish I had mounted it directly.


Greg

[Butch Collins]

Here is a photo, and a link to some pictures of my router table being built. I am using the M12V with the Woodpeckers plunge lift.

http://community.webshots.com/album/221054694oupTjC