# How to measure the router base



## Anaria (9 Feb 2010)

Hi guys I asked this before but didn't get an answer. Maybe because I posted it in the incorrect forum. Anyway PLEASE can someone tell me how do I measure the router base?

I am looking to buy or make a router table but I have no idea what I am supposed to be measuring. Is it the largest diameter across the base plate? Or the distance between the two holes on the inside edge of the base plate presumably to fix to the table? or what.

I really need to get this sorted because I need a table fast.

Please, Please can anyone help.

Thanks


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## brianhr (9 Feb 2010)

I don't understand why you need to ask this question in this way. If you are using a 'standard' insert plate you don't need to measure anything. Go to Ron fox's tips at the Wealden web site.

http://www.wealdentool.eu/rons_tips.html


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## L Harding (9 Feb 2010)

As above: why do you need to measure anything on the base plate of the router to be able to buy a table insert.

You will either buy a pre-drilled insert that will have many holes for all the common routers (of which your is?) or more likely buy a insert you will need to drill the holes in the correct place yourself.


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## Anaria (9 Feb 2010)

Guys ... I appreciate you trying to help. I have made several attempts to buy router table online and everytime I do I see 'Suitable for routers with base up to 155mm dia.' 

Now unless I am measuring mine completely wrong I make mine 177mm. However B&Q guys tells me that mine is standard router, I took it in to show him, and guess what ... asks me why I want to measure the base.

I have made far too many mistakes in the past buying tools that don't fit the purpose and all I am trying to do is get it right.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Silverline-Router ... 22f5f6dac9"

This link explains



Thanks again


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## would not (9 Feb 2010)

If your is 177mm diameter and the table only takes up to 155mm diameter then it won't fit- doesn't take a rocket scientist to work that out.

The only way round it would to make a base that stepped down in diameter but you would be adding to it's thickness and then may need to use an extension..


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## Henning (9 Feb 2010)

Well, 

That particular router table is for 1/4" routers which usually mean small sizes. 

What you should do is look at a larger table, like this for instance: http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp? ... =1&jump=44

And then use the insert plate that Axminster has.


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## Jake (9 Feb 2010)

That table is for a 1/4" router (says so in the auction title). That's a small router. Yours may well be a 1/2" router.


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## lurker (9 Feb 2010)

I hope you don't think this is a snide remark but IMHO buying that table will add to your list of "far too many mistakes in the past buying tools that don't fit the purpose"

Look at the Ron Fox advice before you go much further


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## Anaria (9 Feb 2010)

Would not ... your insulting me. That is why I am asking if I am measuring it correctly.

I am being told that my router is standard ... therefore I would not expect it to be much larger than what everyone is saying is a standard table.

I am asking politely and admitting that I am completely new to this and all I ask is for some level of respect in return. Or would you rather see me sticking to washing pans and changing dirty nappies?


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## lurker (9 Feb 2010)

Anaria":1gl8vpz6 said:


> Would not ... your insulting me. That is why I am asking if I am measuring it correctly.
> 
> I am being told that my router is standard ... therefore I would not expect it to be much larger than what everyone is saying is a standard table.
> 
> I am asking politely and admitting that I am completely new to this and all I ask is for some level of respect in return. Or would you rather see me sticking to washing pans and changing dirty nappies?



Where did that come from?? :shock: 

I think you have a 1/2" route the table is for 1/4" routers -maybe two Standards????

By the way - you are better off here being insulted (not that we will) that consulting BnQ folks - we WILL help you find what you need


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## Anaria (9 Feb 2010)

Henning, Jake and lurker ... thank you.

My router takes 1/4" and 1/2" so now I understand why the different size.

I used that link as an example not because I was looking at buying that particular table.

So does 177mm sound about right for a 'heavy duty' router? If so you have answered my question.

I appreciate your time to help me guys.

Thank you


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## lurker (9 Feb 2010)

I think you actuaally have a 1/2" thats capable of taking 1/4" bits.
!/2" is "better" by the way :lol: 

I'm still trying to get my head round the "pans & nappies" comment??


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## Jake (9 Feb 2010)

Yes, that sounds about right for a 1/2" router.

You need to look for a bigger table (or better still, build one).


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## Anaria (9 Feb 2010)

Jake ... thanks a lot. Problem solved.

Lurker .. i have spent most of my life having to deal with 'male chauvinist pigs' who think my place is in the kitchen and not in the workshop or under the bonnet of a car. It started with my father and finished with my first husband.

I apologies for the outburst but I assumed that to be the case ... sorry if it wasn't Would Not.

I assumed that with a name like Anaria it was obvious I was a female.


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## lurker (9 Feb 2010)

I see :idea: 
Never gave your gender a thought.

We ain't like that here (we don't give a monkeys really) everyone welcome. 

FYI there are several females here. 

Stick around we are always glad to help anyone


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## Jake (9 Feb 2010)

What do you have to work with - for instance, do you have a workmate?

If so that could be the base for a router table which while crude would be better than the plastic type you linked to.

If not the cheapos are about a tenner. Then you need a bit of plywood/mdf/whatever for a top, some battens screwed and glued on the bottom for the workmate to grip on. Either buy a router plate or just fasten the router directly to the plywood. A stick of wood for a fence with a couple of cramps.

That's the most basic version to get you started anyway - saves money and will be better to use (the table surface area is an important factor in ease of use, the little plastic things are too small).


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## would not (9 Feb 2010)

Wasn't having a pop at your gender, just making an observation that a 2" peg won't fit into a 1" hole - unless you've got a big hammer.

What are you making that you need a router table? You'll find that someone on here who lives close by maybe able to let you use there table if it's just a one off, better to save your cash and get something of better quality than buying a cheapo table that you'll struggle with and probably throw to the back of the garage in frustration


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## L Harding (9 Feb 2010)

well that all got a bit exciting!!! :shock: 

Also didnt really give a thought to whether it was a male or female posting


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## Steve Maskery (9 Feb 2010)

I started to reply and got sidetracked before hitting the Post icon.
1. It never occurred to me that you weren't a bloke, and it it doesn't make any difference now that I know you aren't. Last time I made anything I used only my brain and hands, no other part of my anatomy.

2. There is no such thing as a "Standard" router. Different manufacturers have different sized bases. Different shapes even, and fixing holes that differ in position. That is the problem.

However, routers do take a range of "Standard" cutters. They all have a shank diameter of a)6mm (not common in the UK), b)1/4", c)8mm, or d)1/2". Not all routers will accommodate all sizes, and even if they do, you need the right collet for the job. So even if you have a 1/2" router, you will need an 8mm collet (which will be specific to that manufacturer) to hold a cutter with an 8mm shank.

3. Few ready-made router tables are any good. I mean very few. As in I've Yet To Find One. Most of us start with a piece of MDF mounted in a workmate with a router plate in it. Axminster, Rutland and several others sell the Rousseau plate. It's cheap enough but not flat (deliberately) and plastic. I had one and wouldn't recommend it.

Tilgear sell a rather better aluminium one. It has a very slightly smaller aperture, which means I can no longer use my raised panel bit, so although I use this plate 99% of the time, I hang on to my Rousseau plate for that cutter.

If I ever replace it, I'll go for the Woodpecker, sold in the UK by Woodworkers' Workshop. More than twice the price though.

Plenty of table designs on the Net, but if you are serious about WW and have the space, build Norm's. Excellent plans, a tenner, from Brimarc.

And Welcome.
S


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## Anaria (9 Feb 2010)

Jake":3c4xuywe said:


> What do you have to work with - for instance, do you have a workmate?


I do have a workmate and an oak workbench but I would rather not start cutting holes in that. Sounds like your suggestion with the workmate might work, at least for the time being.




would not":3c4xuywe said:


> Wasn't having a pop at your gender ... - unless you've got a big hammer



I apologise. I thought you were suggesting that I didn't know that 177mm was larger than 155mm - don't have to be a rocket scientist and all. Like I said I get a bit tired of ppl assuming that because I am a woman I should be washing pans instead of swinging a hammer. And yes, I have a sledge hammer also. Is that big enough? :roll: I am smiling by the way!

I am starting to make guitars and need the occasional use of a table to route a 10mm x 10mm channel in a block of mahogany that will eventually become the neck of the guitar. This does need to be quite accurate but I don't want to go to huge expense because that is just about all I will use it for, at least at the moment.

I would like to have a set up of my own rather than use someone else's. Think I might combine Jake's idea with the workmate and the link given early to an excellent site by ?L Harding? I think. Sorry if it wasn't!

Thanks all.


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## sometimewoodworker (9 Feb 2010)

Anaria":1m0ma2my said:


> I am looking to buy or make a router table but I have no idea what I am supposed to be measuring.
> Please, Please can anyone help.
> 
> Thanks



Hi Anaria

There are a few places for information that haven't been mentioned yet.

For more router information than you can shake a stick at there is http://www.routerforums.com/ they are a bit US centric but nice people and helpful 

A link that is even more specific is http://www.routerforums.com/table-mounted-routing/17212-wanted-pictures-your-table.html that thread has 171 posts and a wide selection of tables.

A favoured design is the Bob and Rick version from http://www.routerworkshop.com They are sponsers of the Routerforums but the forums are independent. You can't buy the Bob and Rick table as they sell only in North America bit it is very simple to build yourself.

A superb place to see some of the RouterWorkshop videos is http://www.woodworkingchannel.com/dolphin/vidego_video_library.php

You will see that a table with lots of bells and whistles is not essential and a fence that is a simple length of wood with 2 G clamps will work for many jobs you want to do on a router table.


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## Smudger (9 Feb 2010)

Oi! Some of us DO give a monkey's!

But mostly about soft fruit, expensive planes and inexplicable cookery posts...


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## Benchwayze (9 Feb 2010)

Welcome to the Forum Anaria.

I take it you are routing a housing/groove for the truss rod. 

I'd be tempted to do this before any shaping or tapering of the stock.
Also I wouldn't use a router table. 

Use double-sided carpet tape and stick the timber down to a piece of 25mm MDF. Have the squared edge of the neck-piece overhanging enough to use as the reference and rout using the standard guide-fence that came with your router. Obviously you need the right sized cutter and that's the way that a router was intended to be used. Overhead. 

It's safer than grooving over an inverted router, plus it doesn't allow dust to drop inside the router! 
Much simpler and cheaper. 

I know it will demand careful work afterwards to keep the groove central to the neck, but that's what building a guitar is all about. Careful work! :wink: 

You might be interested in this: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhkPU9zslQk

There are about half-dozen vids in this series. Nice guitars.

Regards
John


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## Racers (9 Feb 2010)

Hi, Anaria

Check these out on the woodwhisperer http://thewoodwhisperer.com/category/video/ 

And welcome to you, got any pictures of finished projects?

Pete


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## sometimewoodworker (9 Feb 2010)

Anaria":1039iric said:


> Jake":1039iric said:
> 
> 
> > Sounds like your suggestion with the workmate might work, at least for the time being.



for a workmate router table you should look at the Niki wild router table
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/wild-router-table-t10671.html?highlight=router table


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## Digit (9 Feb 2010)

Hi Anaria. We don't do gender on here, we're just wood workers! :lol: 
Welcome.

Roy.


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## xy mosian (9 Feb 2010)

Digit":2ul46z9r said:


> Hi Anaria. We don't do gender on here, we're just wood workers! :lol:
> Welcome.
> 
> Roy.



Just so!

Now then workmates as router table support structures. There will be a time when you will be happily routing away and the whole lot will tip.

Fasten the whole thing to the floor somehow. Shelf and heavy weights just about works, better if you can bolt it to the floor. Rawplug type fixing into the garage floor, for me, with the 6mm. bolt replaced with a length of 6mm. studding which passes through a ledge across the leg frame and has a suitable nut to tighten down.

For ease of use perhaps some clamping to your existing oak workbench.

Take care have fun.

xy


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## Anaria (9 Feb 2010)

Thanks guys ... all of this is giving me lots to think about. I appreciate the time you are taking.


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## big soft moose (9 Feb 2010)

lurker":3f2hcn0f said:


> FYI there are several females here.



and its not always easy to tell from the username - for example "Alf" is a laydeee  and i'm not really a moose , nor am i particularly soft

to my knowledge no one here has ever suggested to alf that she'd be better off changing nappies - if they did chances are good they'd shortly be extracting a plane from their posterior orrifice.

This is an equal oportunity forum, i cant guarantee that you'll never be insulted - but then we insult tom (wizer - the slap headed back whinger) most days, but its all in good fun and people will also help with the woodwork - which puts us ahead of the B&Q staff who will insult your inteligence whilst also sharing a stagering array of duff info.

Back on topic your router is a half inch model which also has a collet insert for quarter inch bits - which is why its not fitting on a 155 table.

and whoever said it (lurker ?) is right that that table is worse than useless anyway.

Building your own table is easy - all you need is a bit of old worktop and a router plate ( Dibs is organising a group buy of steel or ali plate linky )

you then draw round the plate - hog out most of the material with a jigsaw, or by hand if you need the exercise, and rout a rim secure the router to the plate - which you'll need to have drilled for your router - unless you have the capacity to drill and tap it yourself, then drop it in - et voila one router table.

oh yeah - you also need to build some sort of frame to support the worktop, but thats obvious and i dont want to seem patronising (though you really shouldnt worry your pretty little head about that    )


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## Shadowfax (9 Feb 2010)

Well, that started in an interesting fashion!
Welcome, Anaria.

A router table is a really useful thing to build yourself but if you really do not need it - keep the space for something else.
You can certainly do your guitar necks without a table and, possibly, with next to no fuss but it is your choice.
I don't think it is worth buying a router table because if you build your own you have every chance to give it whatever bells and whistles YOU want. No other method will do that for you.
Just bang a few bits of wood together as the guys have said and if the result is not entirely what you wanted just do it again but a bit differently!

If it does not work out quite the way you expected - just ask here.

Cheers,

SF


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## sometimewoodworker (9 Feb 2010)

There is YAHMRT (Yet Another Home Made Router Table)over on the FOG by jonny round boy he is a little north of you in West Yorkshire.
He said his took about 4 Hours and was free using bits from his scrap bin

I think you can make his for about 10 quid  

http://festoolownersgroup.com/festo...ome-made-router-table/msg90504/?topicseen#new


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## Anaria (10 Feb 2010)

Well, there are lots of options for me to explore. I need to come up with something to hold the router so that I can run the neck blank over the cutter.

I prefer it that way instead of securing the material and running the router over the work. My preferred way allows me to adjust the angle of cut to give a slightly deeper channel at the body end than at the head end by simply packing the head end with shims.

Running the router over the material would necessitate making different angled guides to suit different angles.

You have all been very helpful. Thank you. I am sure I can come up with something now. I wonder if anyone would notice a whole appearing in the kitchen top? Nah, don't think the boys know where the kitchen is yet! LOL


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## Steve Maskery (10 Feb 2010)

Anaria
I think you are making this more difficult than it needs to be. If this is all you are going to use your router for, I can think of a much easier way to do it that will give you the ramp effect you need, will cost very little money and not take up very much space - certainly less than a router table.
I do a sketch for you later on.

Can you tell me please the dimensions of a guitar neck blank and what variation in dimensions you will have to accommodate?

S


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## Anaria (10 Feb 2010)

Hi Steve,

I am essentially trying to route a channel 10mm wide by around 10mm deep for around 360mm along the centre of the blank.

10mm wide is pretty fixed but the length and depth will vary slightly depending on the model and size of guitar I will be making. The 'ramp' will generally be between 2 and 3mm and this may need to be adjusted slightly for each guitar. This is just to provide clearance for the truss rod assembly and neck relief.

thanks


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## Steve Maskery (10 Feb 2010)

I meant, what size is the piece of wood you start with, and how much does that vary?


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## lurker (10 Feb 2010)

Anaria":1vr3namd said:


> Nah, don't think the boys know where the kitchen is yet! LOL



I'll have you know most of us boys BUILT the bluddy kitchen :twisted: 

And if you look at general chat you will find lots of us are cooking too.

I doubt my wife has ever scrubbed a pan in her life. My nappy changing days are well behind me though.


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## would not (10 Feb 2010)

I think you'll find making a jig to hold the wood and guide the router will be cheaper, better and take up less room than a router table. You could make a jig so the wood can be angled so you can vary the slot depth from one end to the other.


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## Steve Maskery (10 Feb 2010)

How about this?






Two pieces of good stiff 25mm birch ply. One has 8mm clearance holes in it, the other a pair of embedded nuts. Each is faced with sandpaper to prevent slippage.

Two long M8 Bristol levers join the two together.

To set your workpiece, lay the neck on your bench finger-side down and shim one end up by 2-3mm. Drop the jig over it and tighten up. When you turn it over, one end will be flush with the top, the other will be 2-3mm lower.

Clamp the whole lot in your vice.

Run your router along the top using the normal guide fence. Use two, one each side, if you can.

Make sure that the Bristol levers are low enough not to foul the travel of your fence.

Truss rod groove cut Right, First Time Every Time. (Provide your own sound effects).
S


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## Anaria (10 Feb 2010)

lurker":2hnvwx6n said:


> Anaria":2hnvwx6n said:
> 
> 
> > Nah, don't think the boys know where the kitchen is yet! LOL
> ...



LOL ... not my boys Lurker. This is specific to MY BOYS


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## Anaria (10 Feb 2010)

Steve Maskery":2u4ip0vf said:


> How about this?
> 
> Truss rod groove cut Right, First Time Every Time. (Provide your own sound effects).
> S



Ta-daaa!

Looks damned good to me Steve.

You're a star ... blood orange for xmas. Sh** I'm giving away my age now. My older kids are all grown with kids of their own and they don't know what a blood orange is!



would not":2u4ip0vf said:


> I think you'll find making a jig to hold the wood and guide the router will be cheaper, better and take up less room



I think you might be right there would not. A gig it is ... make one that is not do one.


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## Steve Maskery (10 Feb 2010)

Afterthought: You might need to pack out the bottom with a scrap piece the same thickness to keep the sides parallel.
S


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## Shadowfax (10 Feb 2010)

Marvellous Maskery masters manufacturing minutiae ..........again (or something beginning with "m" meaning "again"!!

SF


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## Smudger (11 Feb 2010)

Magnificently.


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## Shadowfax (11 Feb 2010)

That'll do!!
Unless someone has another word........................or more words!!

SF


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## Anaria (11 Feb 2010)

Shadowfax":2s3y3ysd said:


> ... Unless someone has another word........................or more words!!
> 
> SF



Moreover?


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## xy mosian (11 Feb 2010)

Splendid jig. 
Wing nuts might be easier/quicker to get hold of than bristol levers.

xy


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## LocalOak (11 Feb 2010)

Mightily munificent, mercurial Maskrey's magically manipulative machinery means many momentous musical moments. Moreover, minus mendacity meaning multiple merits.

I should get out more


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## Anaria (11 Feb 2010)

LocalOak":2o1i99z8 said:


> Mightily munificent, mercurial Maskrey's magically manipulative machinery means many momentous musical moments. Moreover, minus mendacity meaning multiple merits.
> 
> I should get out more




Show off ... :lol:


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## Steve Maskery (11 Feb 2010)

Er, I'm touched. I think!
Yes you could use wing nuts, but once you've started using Bristol levers for your jigs, you'll never go back. They are just so much better.

Not sure I'm allowed to say this, but I do sell them. Not many left, they sell much slower than the M6, so when these are gone, I won't be replacing them. I do think that M6 would be a tad lightweight for this app though.

Cheers
Steve


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