Large router table WIP

[Farmer Giles]

Excellent build, design, and WIP Farmer Giles. Thanks for posting

"One of these fine wet days" he sighs to himself!

AES

Thanks AES

I have completed all the static bits of the base now, just drawers and doors to make and fit, although I have installed the runners, partly because its easier before assembling the narrow bits of the cabinet, and partly to get the runners off the shop floor. I cut a few spacers to make sure everything was nice and straight.

Et voila, finished carcass. The top is very flat, I used a guide rail as a straight edge then screwed down the top using little packers if necessary. Also I bought a different NVR switch, I should be able to hit this one with my knee.

Next job is to screw down the main laminated top onto this then route the plate and T slots.

Cheers
Andy

 

[TFrench]

Looks great! I fitted a plug socket in the router compartment to plug it into, then feed it from an nvr switch outside the cabinet. Works fine, and you can always easily remove the router.

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[Farmer Giles]

Thanks for the kind words, great minds think alike I was just contemplating that last night and found a socket with a nice deep box. The plan is to cut a hole to the left of the router cab for the switch which will go directly into the back of the deep socket box. I then wire it to the rear of the cabinet where I will have a double socket for any other tools I want to use and then some storage hooks for a 4 or 5m plug lead so I can move the cabinet to the centre of the shop if I wish.

I tend to use silicon sheathed cable as it remains flexible in the cold so lies on the floor nicely rather than trip you up.

I got it sanded down last night and two coats of Bona Mega on it, denibbed in between. I may put another coat on today if the wife decides its a gardening day, I can get away with the 10 minutes that takes without being declared AWOL

 

[Farmer Giles]

I didn't have time to start routing out the top but I did get the electrics finished and screwed down the top.

I put the NVR to the left of the fence as it is next to the router cabinet, the NVR doesn't come with a back box, so I cut a square hole in the ply and screwed the NVR to the panel with the gubbins poking out into the router cabinet. On the inside I fitted a single socket back box with most of the back cut away to accept the back of the NVR. I then crimped some lucar spade connectors onto some 2.5mm sq braided wire and and wired 2 connectors to the socket and two more back towards the power inlet, in this case is a double socket on the back of the router cabinet. This is the NVR switch and socket back to back, the cable to the top is the inlet cable.

I p-clipped the cable inside the cabinet to stop it flapping about then pushed the cable through the cabinet and through the back of a double socket. I fitted a cable gland on the bottom of the socket and 4m of flex I had knocking about, I will replace this with something softer but it will do for now. I then fitted a couple of sash window opening handles I had in my odds and sods box to keep the cable tidy. The plug is in the socket merely for neatness while not in use So the single socket on the inside is switched via the VNR, the double socket on the back isn't but is more likely to be used for a light and temporarily by my Axi radial arm drill.

Once that was complete I centred the top and fixed it by screwing from underneath.

Next job is definitely routing out the T-slots and plate.

Cheers
Andy

 

[sunnybob]

Andy... confused.
That looks like the NVR is on the back of the cabinet?

 

[Farmer Giles]

It is at the back if you consider the front to be where the drawers are. But the plate and fence is on the left hand end of the table, so as your using it then the NVR is on your left. I wanted to stick it on the right but that would interfere with the drawer space. Once I start using it, if I find its ergonomically wrong then I will move it, even if it means making a false drawer.

This plan view will show what I mean

I also discovered a small cock-up when screwing the top down. The slot in the internal divider that I cut to let me get to all the plate's extremities from inside is exactly 50mm closer to the centre of the table than I planned. This is due to me measuring from the edge of the cabinet, not the table top which has 50mm overhang. Instead of butchering the cabinet I am going to move the plate 50mm, ergonomically it doesn't seem to make any difference, the new plan shows the plate 450 not 400mm from the left hand edge.

Cheers
Andy

 

[sunnybob]

Ah, I think I've got it now.

I had assumed the plate would be rotated 90 degrees from what your drawing shows. I presume the huge area behind the plate is to accommodate the incra fence?

 

[Farmer Giles]

Some of the space is needed by the fence, but the rest is because its a big table and if I moved the plate too far to the middle I would be leaning over a long way. I can take the fence off and use it as worktable and temporarily I will have a Axi radial arm drill mounted on it.

However, I thought of another way to make best use of the space, I'm not fully decided yet. The T track I have is quite long. So I could extend the T track almost all the way to the mitre track which means I could possibly turn the fence around and use it for big panels etc. from the other side.

 

[Farmer Giles]

So today I was going to jump in and route all the tracks and plate holes starting with the mitre track. I was following the table that "stuffimade" created here and on youtube where he used the mitre/T track to hold down the MDF router template. Not essential but a good idea.

However I have cause for thought so may leave the mitre track to last as I am not convinced of the ideal placement. So far I have placed it half way between the centre of the router plate and the edge of the table, so not very scientific. It is currently 225mm from the edge and 225mm from the router bit.

I bought two different commercial feather-boards, for attaching to fence for downward pressure or in the mitre/T track for horizontal pressure. I can make my own but thought I would consider the placement of the mitre/T track with these first. This shows the orange Bench Dog feather-board that sits in the mitre track next to the red Wood Pecker hat fits in the T track. As you can see, with my current placement they are way back from the router bit so for thin stock you would need a packer, or a DIY feather board.

Then I checked out the mitre I have. It's an Incra that I bought after one or two more beers than I should have It was a bit more than I wanted to pay but thought I could use it on several machines so buy well buy once. Looking at it as it moves from right to left, assuming you are pushing the work, there is plenty of adjustment as you can see here.

However when moving it from left to right there is a bolt that locks the fence extension that gets in the way so the mitre has a minimum distance from the router bit. At least if you don't replace the mitre fence with a bit of ply and t-track or similar. I have marked the bolt.

This bolt locks the extending fence like this

So I have a mitre fence that ideally wants the mitre track a little further from the router bit and feather-boards that ideally want it a bit closer. I can pack thin stock and leave the mitre slot where it is intended or move it closer so I can use the feather-boards directly on the stock then replace the fence on the mitre if used in the left to right direction. Decisions decisions!. I could always add another mitre slot too.

Here's the two side by side for comparison with the mitre fence moved just a bit closer to the router.

Thoughts welcome, however I will route the T slots for the router fence and the plate hole first while I contemplate..........

I am going out with the family today so may choose another workshop job instead and do this on Wednesday when I have a whole workshop day - yippee!

Cheers
Andy

 

[sunnybob]

DO NOT ROUT LEFT TO RIGHT!

Anything fed from the left will go shooting out the end like a bullet from a gun.

Its even worse than feeding between the bit and the fence.

 

[Farmer Giles]

I understand that Bob, probably a stupid statement of mine suggesting that we should however I was thinking out loud and just thinking about mitre fence placement. The bit I didn't mention was that I didn't think it was important to have the mitre fence that way round, I guess you could clamp something to it and drag it but I can't think of a situation off hand. I think the feather boards are going to get more action than the mitre fence and I can see scenarios when you want to route fine bits of trim so I think I shall move the mitre rail closer to the router.

 

[sunnybob]

Feeding from the left is REALLY bad news, dont ever try it even for fun (wish someone had told ME that).

I still havent got or used a feather board.
I keep looking, but I never make more than one or two pieces the same at any one time so set up time is longer than cutting time.

If youre going to make long mouldings then i think they are necessary. I even made a couple for the router table I made for my local woodyard as they make their own 3 metre mouldings by the dozens. They were amazed, featherboards are not well known in Cyprus!

i've just built a pergola (gazebo?) which involved routing roundover edges on several 100 foot of timber, but for that I found it easier to use an edge trimmer with a 1/2" roundover bit, clamping the beams to the router table because my table does not move out from its niche. (how ironic is that?).


When I'm getting close to the bit, I treated my self to a micro jig gripper. Lovely tool.

 

[Farmer Giles]

When I'm getting close to the bit, I treated my self to a micro jig gripper. Lovely tool.

You would go and show me more tools wouldn't you - I must resist!

However that looks good for the table saw too :roll:

 

[sunnybob]

I dont have a table saw, just not enough room, but yes, the gripper would be even better on a table saw than it is on a router table.
Push sticks just arent the same once youve used one.

 

[Farmer Giles]

The family outing to Hebden Bridge finished early so I cracked on with routing the top.

I decided to move the mitre fence a bit closer to the router plate, so got out the trusty bosch rails and router guide rail adapter that I modified for my DW 625 router. I spent an hour setting it up, checking the dimensions, having a cup of tea, then checking again before setting to it. I clamped some timber at each, partially for stopping tear out, but mainly so that before I push the router across the table I can plunge into the timber at each end and check depth and width.

The Bosch adaptor has about 25mm of lateral movement that you can use via a dial, however the slot was over 60mm wide and the bit was 20mm so I had to move the guide rail, again the sacrificial timber came in handy as I after I had measured it, as a second check I could plunge at both end to check that the rail was parallel with the first cut. It came out spot on

Next up the router plate, however my 1/4" bolts that I bought to hold down the mitre/t-track are now too short since adding the 18mm ply under the original 22mm so may wait until I have those before tackling the plate, I shall see how it goes.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

One step forward, two steps back!

I got up early this morning intending to set up the plate for cutting. I should have left it there and cut later. Here's the set up, the template is bolted to the t -track which helped to position it. I measured it, went away and had a brew and measured it again.

I then decided I had enough time to route the plate out, bad idea!. I had already mentally noted that I should screw a piece of MDF into the centre of the template to stop router tip. I forgot, and this is the result. The router tipped and cut into the template and the top.

At first I cursed ever so slightly for being so stupid but soon got back into "OK you have made a screw up, how are you going to fix it" mode. The solution is I move the centre line a few mm to the right, the T track for the fence also move too. In terms of repairing the template, a bit of car body filler is on the go now.

Lesson learned, don't dive in, think it through, then have a brew and make sure you have it all covered. Working today so it will be tomorrow before I have a chance to hack it to bits again :roll:

Regards
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

Well, I got 30 minutes at lunch time so set to. I sanded the body filler and set it down on the table and lined it up. Then I put a bit of MDF in the centre to stop router tip. If your careful you don't need it but this stops the possibility. The template has moved 2mm up and 6mm to the right to cover up all traces of the screw up. I moved the centre line 6mm too so the T-Tracks that the fence uses will be centred.

Routing it out to the full depth of plunge. The first cut was the deepest (baby I know!) due to the MDF template being thin so I had to plunge sufficiently to get the bearing guide on it. After that I cut about 3 or 4mm at a time. I made a safe haven in one corner where I could park the router when the bit is slowing down and when you do the initial plunge as it can kick a bit being a 20mm wide bit.

Once I reached full plunge depth I removed the template and used the edge of the hole as the guide

Eventually the 22mm laminated top was removed but the 18mm ply underneath remained so I cut a bit off the edges of the waste bit on the bandsaw to create space for chips to get away then screwed it to the centre to stop the router from tipping.

And a few minutes later the hole was through. If I'm lucky I may get he Kreg plate levellers fitted this evening

Cheers
Andy

 

[Farmer Giles]

Just got the insert plate fitted, the digital depth/wheel marking gauge on offer at Rutland's is your friend here, dead easy to set the depth of each of the 8 adjustable screws to the same depth. I also used it when routing out the mitre fence to depth. I bought in a set of 3 digital tools, I haven't tried the others yet but this one is worth the cost on its own.

Now beginning to mark out the router fence T-tracks. No, they won't be that long. These picture make the table look longer than it is, when viewing from the side it looks more sensible I show a shot of that later.

Cheers
Andy

 

[ColeyS1]

That's gonna be one professional router table when it's finished !
Coley

 

[sunnybob]

Andy, you did that the hard way. the kreg instructions tell you to cut out the corners with a forstner bit and then hog out the inner with a jigsaw, so the router bit only has half the diameter to cut.

You have a BLACK plate? never seen a black kreg plate before. I shall have to research that.

Good recovery on the slip. Lots of satisfaction when a plan comes together.