DIY phenolic router table top

[Keith Outten]

Mark,

Half inch thick Corian will work fine if you glue a couple of Corian stiffeners to the bottom, something like a torsion box design.
There is another thread going on right now about Corian router tables.
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[Mike Konobeck]

For the money and time you are going to have in making your own router table top it is pretty cost prohibitive to build vs. buy. You can buy an Incra top off Amazon pretty cheap for the quality you get.

[David Kuzdrall]

Be mindlful, Phenolic laminates are rarely machined, they're cast & squished at high temperatures.
As such they are not flat, nor are they uniform in thickness. No amount of pull is going to flatten the stuff.
It has to be machined. They are subject to changing shape after machining too.
But at least you're starting with a uniformly thick and smooth surface.
For general service, very little maintenance, on the cheap, uniform thickness (better than + or - .005", Medite brand): MDF

Where would a fellow get a piece of phenolic machined?

[Keith Outten]

Pat,

I'm not a fan of MDF because it tends to swell when you have humid conditions. Since I live on the east coast of Virginia we have high humidity almost constantly. MDF is so porous you can easily pull a vacuum right through it, this also makes it susceptible to swelling from the moisture in the air. I try to keep my shop closed up tight when temperatures are above 90 degrees here as the humidity will often be at 90% plus. My CNC Router spoil board is MDF, shortly I will be replacing it with PVC sheet to end the constant machining to keep the board flat. Painting all of the exposed surfaces is an option but it requires several coats to seal MDF which in my mind reduces what makes it attractive, the price.
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[Cary Falk]

Where would a fellow get a piece of phenolic machined?

Phenolic can be machined with standard carbide tooling like wood. I have some Phenolic ZCI. I cut them on a Bandsaw and cleaned up the edges with a router. I here the dust is very bad for you. You would have to find somebody with a large drum sander or planer to flatten a piece big enough for a router table.

[Keith Outten]

A CNC Router would probably do the job.
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[pat warner]

"Where would a fellow get a piece of phenolic machined? " (Mr Kuzdrall)
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An abrasive planer at those cabinet shops that have one will do.
But I'd be hittin' the high spots myself before thickness sanding.
A sander's in-feed rollers will probably squish the cup out of slab and never waste it, if you don't.
With what? 60-80# wet SIC. You'll need a straight edge or flat surface to find these irregularities.
I would never expect to pull the warp out of this stuff with hardware.
If you try the stress will be shared x every element of your router table.
&, as such, not only will the top still be mishapen but so will your framework.