DIY Router Table Build

[turnamere]

My next project is going to be a Router Table which has been inspired by a few of the builds featured on here and also Norm's ubiquitous item. I have a parking bay in the end of my garage with a large tray style drawer above holding various power tool storage boxes so the overall volume is dictated by this; 1150mm wide, 700mm deep and 940mm high. The space is currently occupied by an old and somewhat wobbly workbench on decent locking castors; the castors will be transferred across but the rest isn't fit for much else. I will be mounting my Trend T11.

Carcass will be 18mm ply (I have 3 sheets of birch ply at home already), the blue elements are T Track which I bought for another project but never got round to using, these will address fence adjustment and mounting on he fence for feather boards and the like. The gold rail is Woodpecker Combo Track which I'm hoping will be very versatile. The insert plate will probably be the Incra Magna Lock unless anyone has any better suggestions.

I have just about finished the top of the table which is a lamination of 2 pieces of 18mm MDF, I set out a gridwork of clearance holes for screws, placed the upper sheet face down on the remaining MDF on my known flat work bench, added the glue and then the bottom piece, the screws were set from the centre out and the whole lot was left overnight to dry. On close inspection the following day there was a slight crown to the top but I can only assume it was due to slightly asymetric drying of the glue because a day later it was perfectly flat again. The top and bottom were then faced with gloss white Formica (I bought a 1200x1200 sheet from a trader on EBay); I used EvoStik Timebond for this task since it allows a degree of adjustment provided that you don't apply pressure until you are ready. This was again smoothed from the centre out to remove any air bubbles. A triple flute triming bit was used to tidy everything up. Finally I ripped and hand planed some oak architrave left over from our extension build to width, mitred the corners and used glue, brads and most of my meagre clamp collection to fix.

The top to date resting on my Ron Paulk inspired modular workbench:

Quite pleased with the mitres straight of my DW708 SCMS

I have a few details still to resolve before I start cutting plywood and a couple of questions for the experts on here:

- I have allowed 75mm of overhang at the front and sides for clamping; is this enough and do I need a rear overhang?

- Is there any need to hinge the top? My Trend T11 has through base depth adjust and when funds allow I intend to treat myself to a second router (Festool OF1400 top of list).

- Best location for the insert plate, at the moment I have it central left to right and slightly back from centre. Pros and cons of alternate locations.

- The fence will be made from 18mm MDF with sliding cheeks topped by a fixed section carrying T Track; is there any need to face both sides of the cheeks to prevent warping.

Thanks for looking, I'm sure hat plenty of other questions will present themselves as it starts to take shape. The project probably won't move too fast since I have 2 rooms to build as well.

 

[sunnybob]

My next project is going to be a Router Table which has been inspired by a few of the builds featured on here and also Norm's ubiquitous item. I have a parking bay in the end of my garage with a large tray style drawer above holding various power tool storage boxes so the overall volume is dictated by this; 1150mm wide, 700mm deep and 940mm high. The space is currently occupied by an old and somewhat wobbly workbench on decent locking castors; the castors will be transferred across but the rest isn't fit for much else. I will be mounting my Trend T11.



Carcass will be 18mm ply (I have 3 sheets of birch ply at home already), the blue elements are T Track which I bought for another project but never got round to using, these will address fence adjustment and mounting on he fence for feather boards and the like. The gold rail is Woodpecker Combo Track which I'm hoping will be very versatile. The insert plate will probably be the Incra Magna Lock unless anyone has any better suggestions.

I have just about finished the top of the table which is a lamination of 2 pieces of 18mm MDF, I set out a gridwork of clearance holes for screws, placed the upper sheet face down on the remaining MDF on my known flat work bench, added the glue and then the bottom piece, the screws were set from the centre out and the whole lot was left overnight to dry. On close inspection the following day there was a slight crown to the top but I can only assume it was due to slightly asymetric drying of the glue because a day later it was perfectly flat again. The top and bottom were then faced with gloss white Formica (I bought a 1200x1200 sheet from a trader on EBay); I used EvoStik Timebond for this task since it allows a degree of adjustment provided that you don't apply pressure until you are ready. This was again smoothed from the centre out to remove any air bubbles. A triple flute triming bit was used to tidy everything up. Finally I ripped and hand planed some oak architrave left over from our extension build to width, mitred the corners and used glue, brads and most of my meagre clamp collection to fix.

The top to date resting on my Ron Paulk inspired modular workbench:


Quite pleased with the mitres straight of my DW708 SCMS


I have a few details still to resolve before I start cutting plywood and a couple of questions for the experts on here:

- I have allowed 75mm of overhang at the front and sides for clamping; is this enough and do I need a rear overhang?

- Is there any need to hinge the top? My Trend T11 has through base depth adjust and when funds allow I intend to treat myself to a second router (Festool OF1400 top of list).

- Best location for the insert plate, at the moment I have it central left to right and slightly back from centre. Pros and cons of alternate locations.

- The fence will be made from 18mm MDF with sliding cheeks topped by a fixed section carrying T Track; is there any need to face both sides of the cheeks to prevent warping.

Thanks for looking, I'm sure hat plenty of other questions will present themselves as it starts to take shape. The project probably won't move too fast since I have 2 rooms to build as well.

Just finishing my first router table, kept it to the very bare minimum as I know i will need a mark 2 version.

Works a lot better than it looks.
[img]http://i637.photobucket.com/albums/uu99/sunnybob_photo/IMG_0942_zpspamncfst.jpg[/img]

 

[Mike.S]

Part completed my first Router table - laminated ply (18mm+12mm) on an 18mm ply carcass, built to utilise Incra fences and Incra Magnalock insert plate, with Trend T11 router.

Not sure I can answer your direct questions but, fwiw, here's some thoughts.

Height: Mines just over 1m (40") which equates to just under where my elbows come to. I found it more comfortable working at that height - similar to my bandsaw table height - than the lower height of a typical workbench.

Insert plate: I'm impressed with Incra's Magnalock. Yes, it's expensive but worth it imo. 10mm thick (3/8") and very unlikely to bow under the weight of any router. Note that the DW625 (Dewalt 625) version of the plate is pre-drilled and will fit the T11 but the drill holes are positioned on the assumption you want the router handles at 45 degrees (i.e. diagonal to the front, thus minimising space needed in the router housing and to lift it in/out of the table). However, this means that if you intend to drill a hole in the plate to utilise the above-table height adjustment, this hole will clash with the fence (assuming front fence edge is above the router bits' centre). For that reason I ended up with the undrilled plate and drilled my own holes - with the router handles parallel to the table front, thus simplifying access to Router controls (important, as I haven't yet fitted the NVR switch, plus I need access to the speed controls).

Overhang; I have 100mm all round. Arbitrary really, just wanted to ensure I had flexibility to clamp anything all round the table. I think 75mm would be fine and, perhaps not essential at the back.

Screws: Do think through how far the T-Track and Mitre guide (Combo track in your case) should be from the router cutter (e.g. max amount of adjustment on featherboards) and don't insert screws from below to strengthen the laminations, where you'll subsequently be cutting the housing above for the track! DAMHIKT

Good luck.

 

[turnamere]

Part completed my first Router table - laminated ply (18mm+12mm) on an 18mm ply carcass, built to utilise Incra fences and Incra Magnalock insert plate, with Trend T11 router.

Not sure I can answer your direct questions but, fwiw, here's some thoughts.

Height: Mines just over 1m (40") which equates to just under where my elbows come to. I found it more comfortable working at that height - similar to my bandsaw table height - than the lower height of a typical workbench.

Insert plate: I'm impressed with Incra's Magnalock. Yes, it's expensive but worth it imo. 10mm thick (3/8") and very unlikely to bow under the weight of any router. Note that the DW625 (Dewalt 625) version of the plate is pre-drilled and will fit the T11 but the drill holes are positioned on the assumption you want the router handles at 45 degrees (i.e. diagonal to the front, thus minimising space needed in the router housing and to lift it in/out of the table). However, this means that if you intend to drill a hole in the plate to utilise the above-table height adjustment, this hole will clash with the fence (assuming front fence edge is above the router bits' centre). For that reason I ended up with the undrilled plate and drilled my own holes - with the router handles parallel to the table front, thus simplifying access to Router controls (important, as I haven't yet fitted the NVR switch, plus I need access to the speed controls).

Overhang; I have 100mm all round. Arbitrary really, just wanted to ensure I had flexibility to clamp anything all round the table. I think 75mm would be fine and, perhaps not essential at the back.

Screws: Do think through how far the T-Track and Mitre guide (Combo track in your case) should be from the router cutter (e.g. max amount of adjustment on featherboards) and don't insert screws from below to strengthen the laminations, where you'll subsequently be cutting the housing above for the track! DAMHIKT

Good luck.

Mike,

thanks for taking the time to reply, my height is set by the parking bay but is coplanar with the fixed bench (which in turn is regular worktop height so similar).

Thanks for the router plate info, I was going to go for the DW625 plate but want to use the above table height adjust so looks like plain plate is the one to have.

I removed all the screws once the top was set so apart from the brads near the edge should be able to rout anywhere on the top. I'll be making my own feather boards so will probably leave plenty of room between cutter and track for max flexibility.

 

[sunnybob]

I bought the KREG universal router plate, and fitted my Makita router to it. I had to drill another hole for the above table adjustment, but that went ok. I was surprised when I fitted the plate that it has a very slight bow to it. Its flush on three sides, but arches very slightly in the middle on the back edge. If I did this again I would buy a metal plate

 

[turnamere]

I bought the KREG universal router plate, and fitted my Makita router to it. I had to drill another hole for the above table adjustment, but that went ok. I was surprised when I fitted the plate that it has a very slight bow to it. Its flush on three sides, but arches very slightly in the middle on the back edge. If I did this again I would buy a metal plate

From all my trawling through the archives this seems quite common and whilst the Incra is an expensive solution I haven't read anything bad about it; I have bought enough dissapointing tools in my time that I appreciate that you get what you pay for.

 

[Mike.S]

This may be more detail than you want/need but further observations:

The Incra plate uses a cam action screw located at one corner to 'fix' the plate in place; turn to lock/unlock. There's not much travel so best to make the plate recess as tight as fit as possible.

The plate is levelled by use of metal grub screws going through the plate (adjust using allen key) and bearing on the recessed table. In your case this is MDF. Will this resist the weight and vibration or will the grub screw(s) slowly sink into it? To avoid this risk I glued metal shims ( 2x 12" and 2 x 6" stainless steel rulers for <£4 delivered via ebay) onto the relevant surfaces.

The T11 manual includes a template for marking out the adjustment hole. It says 20mm hole needed but that's generous - a 16-17mm hole will suffice. In the end I didn't drill that hole, instead adjusting under the table whilst I finish my main project. I have a (pipe?) dream of building an adjustment mechanism at the front or side of the table. If you do drill the hole you may want to think about counter boring it and making a drop-in disc - to prevent dust/waste ingress/egress to/from below.

 

[paulrockliffe]

I've been wondering about the grub screws on mine that I've just built. I've got an 18mm MDF top, with two sheets of 1" MDF underneath and probably 10-12mm of thread in the MDF, they're M8 screws. My guess is it'll be OK, but it's only a guess.

If I was doing it again I'd leave enough space around the screws to get a washer and a slim nut over the screw to lock the screws down. If it becomes a problem maybe thread-lock and a drop of something that'll set hard in the bottom of the threads.

 

[Mike.S]

...probably 10-12mm of thread in the MDF, they're M8 screws. My guess is it'll be OK, but it's only a guess.

If I was doing it again I'd leave enough space around the screws to get a washer and a slim nut over the screw to lock the screws down. If it becomes a problem maybe thread-lock and a drop of something that'll set hard in the bottom of the threads.

I may be misunderstanding but I was trying to raise the possible risk of the end of the grub screws wearing down the wood/MDF/whatever and thus lowering the plate. Not a problem if you have e.g. insert nuts bedded in the table for the screws to screw into (the Incra router table has this); locking nuts/paste will fix that. However, without those insert nuts the grub screws just bear directly on wood, which, with several Kgs of weight plus vibration, may not be sufficiently robust - hence my metal shims.

 

[paulrockliffe]

Sorry, I misunderstood the way the grub screws are setup on that plate and assumed they were screwed into the MDF. I'd guess they would dent the MDF, but would stabilise quite quickly. So it might need a bit of adjustment, but would then be OK. Just a guess though.

I think I would use superglue to attach washers to the MDF under the grub screws to spread the load. The grubs will have a slightly rounded tip I'd guess? If so they'll sit nicely in the right size washer without touching the MDF and giving a much bigger area of MDF providing support.