# Router table insert



## marcros (23 Mar 2011)

Hi,

This subject may have been done to death, and for that I apologise.

I have found a good thread about making a router table insert from 6mm aluminium, and setting smaller inserts from 4mm aluminium into it. I have a couple of questions...

Does anybody have any engineering drawings for such a plate?

Are the 4mm inserts drilled, tapped and held in place by countersunk screws? I am concerned about them vibrating free, a question which was raised as the last comment in the thread, but not answered.

When the insert is set into the table, it is necessary to have it perfectly flush with the table surface, in my plan this is kitchen worktop. How is this achieved, or is it reliant on perfectly cutting the depth? I am thinking that there must be a mechanism for adjusting it and levelling it. Does anybody have a picture/photo that they could post?

I appreciate that the table surface needs to be flat across the surface, including insert. Is there any need for the entire table to be level, ie do the legs need to be adjustable?

Thanks
Mark


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## Titus A Duxass (23 Mar 2011)

Mark,
Here is my first ever RTI which I constructed out of some 3mm sheet that I "found" in the stores.






It came with three inserts





These inserts are secured with countersunk screws.

The table works best when it's level, I have adjustable feet on mine.


Fitting the RTI to the table top.
I routed the lip to the exact depth, you could go a bit deeper and shim it out with business cards/tape.
There are levelling systems available.


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## marcros (23 Mar 2011)

thanks a million- that looks just what i was looking for.


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## Titus A Duxass (23 Mar 2011)

Just for clarity, the RTI is two sheets of 3mm.
The lower one has a smaller diameter hole in it which provides the lip for the circular inserts to sit on.

The down side of ally is that it can mark some woods.

I now have a Trend RTI and the ally one sits in the cupboard.


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## Eric The Viking (23 Mar 2011)

I've got a commercially made aluminium one with plastic inserts. I think it's 8mm. You may find there's too much give in thinner stuff.

Levelling is easy to DIY: just tap a hole in each corner and put grub screws in. It's how most of the commercial ones are set up. If you want to get really posh, the 'pro' ones use some of those 8mm or 10mm circular rare earth magnets (they look a bit like button cells ("batteries")). They're set just below the surface of the rebate that the plate sits in, so that the grub screws stick to them. The arrangement holds the plate surprisingly well.


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## Dibs-h (8 Apr 2011)

marcros":3tc0uky5 said:


> Hi,
> 
> This subject may have been done to death, and for that I apologise.
> 
> ...



You mean the group buy? The tolerances were such that in almost all cases the discs\rings were an interference fit. Some folk chose to use countersunk screws, having tapped the plate appropriately.

The shoulder in the plate was milled, with the smaller hole having been lasercut.

I have thought a few times of running another GB - but have too much on at the moment.

HIH

Dibs


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