Router table insert

[Anonymous]

Hi all

Been asked half a dozen times lately about my home-made router table insert

Well, here it is. 6mm aluminium sheet with a big hole in; with a shoulder cut into it. One could easily attach two 4mm sheets together with large hole in top one and smaller hole in bottom to give the same shoulder.
I have drilled 6 levelling holes around the edge and have mounted six 4mm bolts under it with lock nuts. I place an allen key through the holes to level it off and lock the nuts from underneath. 4 fixing screws in corners.

Inserts were a single piece turned on a lathe to fit and then chopped into 3mm thick pieces. I cut various sized holes (my range of holesaw sizes :wink: ) in them to accomodate the various router bits I am likely to use.

I recently drilled a few rows of 4mm holes in the top and countersunk them slightly - this helps loads with dust collection on the table as the inseret plate is mounted above a sealed plenum chamber (Norm design) which draws air down through all of them + the tool hole. Especially good when cutting slots in wood as all the waste gets pulled down from the groove


There are several holes around the centre of the plate (need to get some of that metal filler stuff) as I have had 3 differnet routers mounted in it and all of them had different fixing centres :roll:

Well, there it is. Works pretty well and is flat and stable and cheap :wink:

 

[dedee]

Tony,
your insert plate appears to be proud of the surrounding table or is this an illusion?

Andy

 

[Neil]

Absolutely fantastic, Tony - I would love one of these for my table! I think I could cope with making the insert from two pieces of 4mm sheet as you suggest, but I wouldn't have a hope of making the inserts - Do you think I could make them using the same 4mm sheet and a circle-cutting jig on the router? :? I haven't done any routing of aluminium and the thought of it makes me a little nervous...

Extraction holes are a great idea too 8)

Neil

 

[Alf]

So when d'you start taking orders then? Free shades included with every one of course... 8) :wink:

Cheers, Alf

 

[Gill]

Alf's right - you could market that sort of quality insert.

Gill

 

[Charley]

So when d'you start taking orders then?

Put me down for one

 

[Chris Knight]

Aluminium can be routed very easily and cut nicely on a tablesaw. I have done both - occasionally by accident and sometimes by design. I would have thought that borrowing Tony's design, everything could be made from suitable plate using these tools? It might be worthwhile to get the plate anodised if possible.

 

[Anonymous]

Chris

Interested in you comment about routing aluminium. Does it work well with conventional TC router cutters? I would have thought there may be a problem with build-up on the insert.

Re inserts, you can make similar inserts in polycarbonate or phenolic. That's how I made mine, following the method in Bill Hylton's book Router Magic. The big advantage in my opinion is that you can see through them!

 

[Anonymous]

Tony,
your insert plate appears to be proud of the surrounding table or is this an illusion?

Andy

An illusion. It is absolutely lined up flush using the adjustment screws.

Neil

I think the inserts could be made using the router and a circle jig. I have machined a lot of aluminium using a router on minimum speed. I tend to use the freebie bits I got with my cheaper router and they do a fine job :wink:
I think a very thin bit would be best, maybe 5 mm or so straight cut
Be interested to find out how it works for you

 

[Anonymous]

Alf's right - you could market that sort of quality insert.

Gill

Making one's OK but I never enjoy making a second of anything whetehr elcetroncem netal or wood

I do have engineering drawings for mine and if anyone wants a copy just pm with an email address - I might be able to make them into a PDF

 

[Anonymous]

Chris

Interested in you comment about routing aluminium. Does it work well with conventional TC router cutters? I would have thought there may be a problem with build-up on the insert.

Re inserts, you can make similar inserts in polycarbonate or phenolic. That's how I made mine, following the method in Bill Hylton's book Router Magic. The big advantage in my opinion is that you can see through them!

Hi Tycho

I have routed loads of aluminium and never had build up problems using a light cut and slow speed

 

[Chris Knight]

Tycho,

I have used ordinary bits as per Tony's comment but you can get bits for the aluminium window industry - I think Trend do these - and I guess these may be better if one were to do very much.

 

[Bean]

I thought it was such a good idea that mine is on the way, I should take delivery of the ali tomorrow, then with a bit of fettling and a bit of twiddling we will be away 8)

Bean

 

[crazylilting]

Dredged from the last page!!!

Wow this is nice, I haven't been here long so I thought i'd check out some of the old threads, this one is worth bumping for others who haven't seen it.

 

[Gill]

Well done for dragging it up again, CL.

Now, Tony... so much time has passed that making another wouldn't really be like making a second. I'm ever hopeful .

 

[Dibs-h]

Well done for dragging it up again, CL.

Now, Tony... so much time has passed that making another wouldn't really be like making a second. I'm ever hopeful .

There's a firm at the bottom of my road, who have an EDM machine (and all the normal machining equipment manual & CNC) and could easily produce the circular inserts (and\or the whole table inserts) and don't charge the earth. Would anyone be interested - sort of a zero profit Group Buy thing? Worth exploring? Assuming Tony approved.

 

[crazylilting]

Yes yes yes!!

Let me know how much I may want more then one

 

[Gill]

Add me to the list too, please .

Oh heck, I've just realised - that means I'll have to build a new router table. Proper woodwork as opposed to the sort of fripperies I normally indulge in 8-[ .

 

[rileytoolworks]

Depending on the price, me too...

 

[skywriter]

Put me down for one too please, again depending on price.