A router table… what on earth is this doing in the competition? Well, I was making one anyway, and not being the most prolific producer of furniture from the workshop I knew that I wouldn’t manage to get a ‘proper’ table made in time. I was going to show my ‘first router table’ efforts to the forum anyway, and you never know - there might be a consolation prize for last place...
I knocked up a quick model in SketchUp to get the basic proportions. I liked the idea of having white MDF panels inset into a frame fastened with knock-down fittings - the latter making it possible to dismantle the table when I (hopefully) move house early next year. The router compartment is left open for ventilation a la Hylton’s ‘Woodworking with the Router’. Naturally I changed all of the measurements once I started making the thing :roll:
The top is made up of four layers - melamine-covered hardboard, two layers of 16mm MDF (would have been 12mm if I could have got it locally) and another layer of the melamine hardboard on the bottom to stabilise the laminate. I rough-cut the four pieces, then trimmed one of the MDF pieces exactly to size using my router & clamp guide. The four pieces were then glued with PVA and left for a couple of days on top of my (hopefully flat) benchtop with a huge assortment of clamps, heavy boxes, drill press etc. on top. (If you have to see the resulting mess, go ahead) Once the PVA had cured, I trimmed the waste off the remaining layers using a bearing-guided cutter. The resulting table top was nice & flat and VERY heavy:
I had bought an insert to mount the router, and the corners of the insert had a ½" radius, so I used a ½" cutter to create the opening for the insert. I don’t have a guide bush for my big router :blush: but fortunately the Makita’s round baseplate makes it quite a simple task to set up guides for routing the opening:
Before...
After...
I used a ½” spacer with the same guides to route another groove directly inside this one, but another few mm deeper. I then cut out the waste with a jigsaw, flipped the table top over, and tidied up with a bearing guided cutter. Then I cut a rebate from the underside using a bearing-guided rebating cutter - this was necessary because the bolts for the clips which come with the insert plate to fasten it down were too short to reach right through the rather thick top. I hope you see what I mean - I feel confused myself reading that last bit...
Anyway, here is the result - I’ve also added a thick pine lipping at this stage - I would like to say for the competition’s sake that I biscuited this on, but I’m just too damn honest
. It didn’t really need them with all that glue area.
Now we all know the feeling making stuff for the workshop - you need the finished jig/bench/insert your workshop project here to make the item! This is particularly true for this router table, so I decided to mount the table top to a workmate and clamp everything on temporarily:
The little gloat in this picture also explains why I made the top so wide - ideally the Incra needs 20" from the cutter to the back edge. I have a tiny bit less than that, I was already pushing my luck (and the space in the workshop) with the size of it.
The table legs had to be grooved to allow the 16mm MDF side panels to slot in, this was a nice simple job with the Incra - cut a groove with the 12.5mm cutter, move the fence away from the bit by a smidge over 3.5mm, and voila, a (just over) 16mm groove. For the rails at the front, I milled shallow mortices using the same setup, but lowering the leg onto the cutter and moving it between two marks. I squared up the mortices using a chisel.
I decided to mill little stub tenons on all the rails, more to provide easy location than from any strength considerations. This was a simple job - I just lined up all the rails and ran a rebating cutter along. The side & back rails were also grooved to accept the MDF.
Here you can just about see the mortices on the leg nearest the camera (sorry about the overexposure) - also the grooves in the back legs, and the stub tenons on the rails.
Here are the KD fittings. I like these for this sort of application - they are really strong. It gets tedious drilling all the holes for them, though - there were quite a few of them!
Skipping ahead a bit (I forgot to take any photos) - here is the frame bolted together with the MDF panels in place. Fortunately I remembered to paint the MDF panels before installing them. I’ve also added the shelf - this is simply supported by battens, and has a small cove trim in an attempt to avoid sharp corners for dust to gather in. - I’ll probably do all my template routing from the back of the table to make the most of the table depth, so I mounted the NVR switch on the side rather than the front so I can get to it more easily.
I really needed to have the table on castors, and locked castors with rubber tyres just slide on my workshop floor, so I needed a simple system to raise them. I liked a system I had seen on NYW, but I was determined not to lose the space for my drawer so I had to modify it slightly:
Each pair of castors is attached to a hinged board, and there are little hinged flaps to hold the boards down when the wheels are in use. When you want to flip them up, you simply take the weight on that side of the table, and yank a cord to pull the flaps up. You then repeat on the other side of the table. To lower the castors, you simply lift the front and the back of the table in turn, and the flaps just drop. Norms version has flaps on each side, and so did mine at first, but I had some problems with friction in the system to lead the cords around the space for the drawer, so I dispensed with the left hand flaps. There is still too much friction to allow the flaps to fall under their own weight, so I added some bungee cord to pull them down (the blue cord). It works really well, and doesn’t seem to flex if I apply a Mike testTM and put my weight on the table.
The cords pop out of holes on the left hand side of the table:
I had an urgent bit of template routing to do, so I’ve also made a bit guard with dust extraction. The acrylic guard can be adjusted to three different heights, to match the size of the work and have the guard as close to the bit as possible, just by putting more blocks between the acrylic and the main part of the guard. Here it is in the middle height position, with one block either side of the acrylic. I had to set the extraction tub in at an angle so that it didn't restrict the minimum height for the guard too much.
That’s about it for now - remaining jobs are to French Polish the pine frame (only joking, Neil - I think oil & wax will do!) and make the drawer. I also have to make a ‘Wonderfence’ substitute to attach to the Incra for use with big cutters - I managed to get hold of a piece of box-section aluminium, 100x45mm, 2mm wall thickness, which will form the basis of this. I’ve cut an opening in this (I would like to say I routed it, but I was a bit nervous) - some careful jigsawing followed by a bit of work with a drum sander did the job
I need to add moveable MDF faces, dust extraction and fastening points for mounting to the Incra.
Sorry about the long post...
NeilCFD
<edited because I got the required distance for the Incra from the bit to the back edge wrong in the write-up (luckily not on the table though :wink - it is 20", not 24">
I knocked up a quick model in SketchUp to get the basic proportions. I liked the idea of having white MDF panels inset into a frame fastened with knock-down fittings - the latter making it possible to dismantle the table when I (hopefully) move house early next year. The router compartment is left open for ventilation a la Hylton’s ‘Woodworking with the Router’. Naturally I changed all of the measurements once I started making the thing :roll:
The top is made up of four layers - melamine-covered hardboard, two layers of 16mm MDF (would have been 12mm if I could have got it locally) and another layer of the melamine hardboard on the bottom to stabilise the laminate. I rough-cut the four pieces, then trimmed one of the MDF pieces exactly to size using my router & clamp guide. The four pieces were then glued with PVA and left for a couple of days on top of my (hopefully flat) benchtop with a huge assortment of clamps, heavy boxes, drill press etc. on top. (If you have to see the resulting mess, go ahead) Once the PVA had cured, I trimmed the waste off the remaining layers using a bearing-guided cutter. The resulting table top was nice & flat and VERY heavy:
I had bought an insert to mount the router, and the corners of the insert had a ½" radius, so I used a ½" cutter to create the opening for the insert. I don’t have a guide bush for my big router :blush: but fortunately the Makita’s round baseplate makes it quite a simple task to set up guides for routing the opening:
Before...
After...
I used a ½” spacer with the same guides to route another groove directly inside this one, but another few mm deeper. I then cut out the waste with a jigsaw, flipped the table top over, and tidied up with a bearing guided cutter. Then I cut a rebate from the underside using a bearing-guided rebating cutter - this was necessary because the bolts for the clips which come with the insert plate to fasten it down were too short to reach right through the rather thick top. I hope you see what I mean - I feel confused myself reading that last bit...
Anyway, here is the result - I’ve also added a thick pine lipping at this stage - I would like to say for the competition’s sake that I biscuited this on, but I’m just too damn honest
. It didn’t really need them with all that glue area.
Now we all know the feeling making stuff for the workshop - you need the finished jig/bench/insert your workshop project here to make the item! This is particularly true for this router table, so I decided to mount the table top to a workmate and clamp everything on temporarily:
The little gloat in this picture also explains why I made the top so wide - ideally the Incra needs 20" from the cutter to the back edge. I have a tiny bit less than that, I was already pushing my luck (and the space in the workshop) with the size of it.
The table legs had to be grooved to allow the 16mm MDF side panels to slot in, this was a nice simple job with the Incra - cut a groove with the 12.5mm cutter, move the fence away from the bit by a smidge over 3.5mm, and voila, a (just over) 16mm groove. For the rails at the front, I milled shallow mortices using the same setup, but lowering the leg onto the cutter and moving it between two marks. I squared up the mortices using a chisel.
I decided to mill little stub tenons on all the rails, more to provide easy location than from any strength considerations. This was a simple job - I just lined up all the rails and ran a rebating cutter along. The side & back rails were also grooved to accept the MDF.
Here you can just about see the mortices on the leg nearest the camera (sorry about the overexposure) - also the grooves in the back legs, and the stub tenons on the rails.
Here are the KD fittings. I like these for this sort of application - they are really strong. It gets tedious drilling all the holes for them, though - there were quite a few of them!
Skipping ahead a bit (I forgot to take any photos
) - here is the frame bolted together with the MDF panels in place. Fortunately I remembered to paint the MDF panels before installing them. I’ve also added the shelf - this is simply supported by battens, and has a small cove trim in an attempt to avoid sharp corners for dust to gather in. - I’ll probably do all my template routing from the back of the table to make the most of the table depth, so I mounted the NVR switch on the side rather than the front so I can get to it more easily.I really needed to have the table on castors, and locked castors with rubber tyres just slide on my workshop floor, so I needed a simple system to raise them. I liked a system I had seen on NYW, but I was determined not to lose the space for my drawer so I had to modify it slightly:
Each pair of castors is attached to a hinged board, and there are little hinged flaps to hold the boards down when the wheels are in use. When you want to flip them up, you simply take the weight on that side of the table, and yank a cord to pull the flaps up. You then repeat on the other side of the table. To lower the castors, you simply lift the front and the back of the table in turn, and the flaps just drop. Norms version has flaps on each side, and so did mine at first, but I had some problems with friction in the system to lead the cords around the space for the drawer, so I dispensed with the left hand flaps. There is still too much friction to allow the flaps to fall under their own weight, so I added some bungee cord to pull them down (the blue cord). It works really well, and doesn’t seem to flex if I apply a Mike testTM and put my weight on the table.
The cords pop out of holes on the left hand side of the table:
I had an urgent bit of template routing to do, so I’ve also made a bit guard with dust extraction. The acrylic guard can be adjusted to three different heights, to match the size of the work and have the guard as close to the bit as possible, just by putting more blocks between the acrylic and the main part of the guard. Here it is in the middle height position, with one block either side of the acrylic. I had to set the extraction tub in at an angle so that it didn't restrict the minimum height for the guard too much.
That’s about it for now - remaining jobs are to French Polish the pine frame (only joking, Neil - I think oil & wax will do!) and make the drawer. I also have to make a ‘Wonderfence’ substitute to attach to the Incra for use with big cutters - I managed to get hold of a piece of box-section aluminium, 100x45mm, 2mm wall thickness, which will form the basis of this. I’ve cut an opening in this (I would like to say I routed it, but I was a bit nervous
) - some careful jigsawing followed by a bit of work with a drum sander did the job
I need to add moveable MDF faces, dust extraction and fastening points for mounting to the Incra.
Sorry about the long post...
NeilCFD
<edited because I got the required distance for the Incra from the bit to the back edge wrong in the write-up
(luckily not on the table though :wink - it is 20", not 24">
