Dilemma: Two Mounting Options for Cast Iron Router Extension Table?

[Danny Thompson]

This took many hours. Aligning 3 independent tables proved to be a bear, particularly because of the immediate sag that resulted by temporarily disconnecting the legs. Lessons learned along the way, but the steps below were what worked.

Eight mounting holes were needed in the fence to mount the laminate extension table and router table. One pair of existing holes worked; six new ones had to be drilled. The existing holes and those in the Bench Dog were all centered at 1 1/8" below the tabletop height, which meant all of the mounting-holes in the rail could be aligned. So, I ran a pencil line down the rail based on the center of the first hole. Predrilled predrilled 5/16" holes, 1 1/8" down from the top and the same distance from each end of the laminate top as the holes in the previous extension. I transferred the span between the holes to the fence rail, and got to drilling. Normal drill bits did nothing, so a quick trip to Lowes and $20 later, Titanium bits did the trick. To help prevent the drill-bit boogie, I started small and progressed to 5/16". This required a lot of patience. Drilling went slowly.

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The laminate extension table went right in, no trouble, with 1/4" - 20 bolts, lock washers, and nuts (Bolts allowed a greater range of alignment than countersunk screws.) LESSON LEARNED: Take the time to align the laminate table to the TS top, now, before you mount the router table. Why? Sag.

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Then, I transferred the spacing for the router table mounting holes to the rail, using the laminate extension as the starting point, and drilled again. Given the tighter tolerance on the router table mounting holes (1/4"), the matching holes in the fence rail had to be bigger (3/8) to allow the necessary level of adjustability. The sag created by mounting the router table made alignment across the entire table difficult. What worked was to to make sure the joint between the laminate table and the router table was level and smooth and not worry about alignment with the TS top, yet.

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Attaching the legs brought everthing into rough alignment. Only slight misalignment remained. An extra set of hands made all the difference in the world during the final adjustment. A 4' carpenter's level got us 99.5% there. A small wooden block rubbed back and forthe across the seams took us the rest of the way. My assistant slid the block around while I shifted tables and tightened the bolts. It took 3 passes across all 8 bolts to eliminate the gaps and snags.

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[Jamie Lynch]

I liked th idea of adding it to the left wing. I wonder if any other creekers have done it already.
What you ended up with looks great.

[Peter Hawser]

You have to go on the left, you just have to. Otherwise you will create a feed direction imbalance in the universe which will increase the level of entropy contributing to space time instability. Do you really want that on your head?

[Danny Thompson]

There is no hole provided in the plate for the above-table height adustment lever. This must be drilled out by you, the end user. Don't drill this hole until you check the plate for flatness. The plate that came with the order is NOT FLAT. It crowns in the middle, so it cannot be mounted flush with the table top. I've opened an issue with Rockler. We'll see.

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[thomas d evans]

sounds like a good job, Danny. Enjoy it.

peace, T

[Danny Thompson]

You have to go on the left, you just have to. Otherwise you will create a feed direction imbalance in the universe which will increase the level of entropy contributing to space time instability. Do you really want that on your head?

Not so with the Bench Dog . . . Notice it has a second set of T-slots for the fence, which enable you to put the fence outboard of the bit, thereby making the infeed side for the router align cosmically with the infeed for the TS. It's like the BD guys called up Stephen Hawking and incorporated a Grand Unification Theory into their design!

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[Peter Hawser]

Not so with the Bench Dog . . . Notice it has a second set of T-slots for the fence, which enable you to put the fence outboard of the bit, thereby making the infeed side for the router align cosmically with the infeed for the TS. It's like the BD guys called up Stephen Hawking and incorporated a Grand Unification Theory into their design!

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Ah Danny my humor is a bit weird. I have this table and on the right and I love it. This topic, like so many others, seems to inspire absurd debates on the minuscule advantages or disadvantages of this or that leading to endless vascilatng by the poor op who is suddenly faced with the most critical decision of his life. For me the main advantage of the right side is unless I am cutting something wider than 20" I can use both my table saw and router table without disrupting either fence or set up. I wish I could come up with something witty to your hawking comment - funny!

[Mike Ruggeri]

Danny,

I made a very similar setup with my cast iron router table. First in the right extension, exactly like your new setup. I then built a cabinet for it while still in the tablesaw extension. Finally I separated the cabinet from the tablesaw setup so as to have a stand alone table like Johnny's. My favorite was the second verson with the cabinet attached to the tablesaw (picture your setup with a Norm type router table cabinet under the cast iron piece). I had to move to a stand-alone cabinet when I sold my Unisaw. Just to give you some ideas here are some pictures (not the best quality as these were ones I just happen to have on my computer).

Mike

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[mreza Salav]

Looks great Danny!

[Scott T Smith]

Danny, I did something similar to mine, and like you I chose "option 2". In my case, instead of extending the existing table further to the right, I simply incorporated the router into it.

The nice thing about this is that unless I'm breaking down wide sheet goods, I can have the router table and the tablesaw both functional at the same time.

[Danny Thompson]

[The router plate] crowns in the middle, so it cannot be mounted flush with the table top. I've opened an issue with Rockler. We'll see.

Progress report: Rockler just called (<24 hours later) and is going to send a replacement plate. Fingers crossed.

[Curt Harms]

It's only my preference, but I like the shorter fence. Had a 50" fence only one time, and just prefer the space I get from a shorter one (currently a 26" fence). As noted, a 26" fence and a separate router table still fits inside the foot print of a 50" extension table.

I would give myself more room in your situation. Rebuild the extension to include the router at the same length, or shorten your fence rails and add the router table, making the combined less than your current footprint.

That's me, too. Particularly with the advent of track saws for cutting large panels. I have a router plate on the right side of a Grizzly 1023 saw, the fence is 27" to the right, 15" to the left. I started out using the T.S. fence with an attachment as the router table fence but found I preferred separate fences. I was fortunate that the motor cover is low enough to permit the router to sit over the motor cover. I also built my own router fence that fastens to the T.S. fence rail on one end and and a clamp on the other end. I can have the T.S. fence and router fence both in position. I can rip about 12" with the router fence in working position.

[John Coloccia]

It's strange seeing my Triton sitting in a different shop. It's like running into an old girlfriend while she's making out with some other guy. LOL

[Carl Beckett]

It's strange seeing my Triton sitting in a different shop. It's like running into an old girlfriend while she's making out with some other guy. LOL

Ummm..... no, its not really anything like that.

[Danny Thompson]

Ummm..... no, its not really anything like that.

At least he didn't say "mounted".