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13K views 32 replies 13 participants last post by  gizmodyne 
#1 ·
New Yankee Style Router Table

NOTE All of my photos have been migrated to a new provider, and the links in my posts are likely out of date. You can find the photos here.

So, I've needed a router table, and I wanted an nice big surface area. I've used some of the lighter weight ones before and didnt' care for them. The only product I used that I liked was the Bench Dog with the CI top, and the whole system, including a nice beefy 3HP router would have set me back around $1500.

I couldn't seem to find the NYW router table episode on tivo, even after a month or two, so I went ahead and bought the plans and the DVD off their website. Worked out well for me!



I hit the local lumber supply, and grabbed up some nice 3/4 and 1/2 BB Ply, fired up the Festool TS-55EQ, and set to breaking down some sheet goods. Made quick work of it, and the pieces were then small enough to get into the basement shop (I have some 5 foot high stairs to go down!)

Then I fired up the G1023SL and brown down nearly all the pieces in one day.



That about did it for a saturday for me. I don't work too fast. Too worried about mistakes. (Plenty of which I made, trust me on that!)
 
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#4 ·
Dado Time!

I grabbed a Dewalt Dado set off Amazon for a song a while back, thanks to the wonderful deal hound at Woodnet.

So I loaded that up, got a good fit, and began to run down some Dados



Then I began to glue & brad the chassis together.





I set that aside so that the glue could dry, and moved on to the drawers. I broke down the ply, and laid them all out.



Before I assembled, I did a big tape-up, tossed on some cheap sacrificial borg ply on the bottom, and drilled the holes. In retrospect, I think I'd look for a 17/32" bit for the 1/2" holes and a 9/32" bit for the 1/4" holes, so that you don't have to wedge the router bits into the holes, and so that you've got some expansion/contraction room.

Decent amount of ply left over, too!

 
#10 ·
Skipping Ahead.. Making the Top and Face Frame

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera to the shop and document the big drawers, installing the drawer slides and runners, and the first pieces of face frame work, and the toekick. Oops!

Well, I cut some red oak to strips for the face framing, and I rough cut the top to size as well



I picked up some nice cheap formica from the Borg. Piece had a corner missing, so I got a deal on it.



I was going to caul and clamp like crazy, but I noticed that Woodcraft had a really nice vacuum press system on special, and I combined that with a gift card burning a hole in my pocket…



Nice continuous action pump, and overnight, I had myself a top.



Meanwhile, I finished gluing up face frame elements.

 
#12 ·
The Top and the Toys!

I pulled the top out of the vacuum press, and had a nice wonderfully tight fit.



In the meantime, my toys had arrived. Paddle power switch, Woodpecker PRL, and a PC7518.



I created a small jig to match the exact outside of the top of the lift, minus a half inch around.



Then I rough cut the hole with my crappy ancient craftsman jigsaw, and made a note to get a nice new Bosch, and then I used double sided tape to stick the jig to the top of the table, and then used my router and a flush trim bit to mate the size of the hole in the top, with the size of the jig I just made.



Then, before taking it further, I lined up and prepared the Dado for the Mitre Runner. I think I may replace this with a T-Track mitre runner though.

 
#14 ·
The next day, the next DOH!

I prepped my hand-held PC892 for the rabbet that will support the lift.



Put the right bearing on for a half inch rabbet, and cut away. There is where the DOH! comes in. When I made the jig to size the hole in the top, I put a half inch extra for the whole thing, meaning I'd have to do a quarter inch rabbet to make the PRL fit. Meaning… of course, that I ended up with a hole that was a half inch too bit in my top. DOH DOH DOH!

I made some oak stripping around the PRL, and it doesn't look TOO bad. I may end up remaking the top if I find it bothers me, but so far, it works just fine.



Of course, I forgot to put in the dust port when it would have been easy, way back when this was sheet goods… Some creative jigsaw work later (damn I need a new one) and I had my hole.



I thought norm's idea on how to arrange the dust flow was a little odd, so I just went ahead and came up with my own. The ply there is removable, to make cleanout easier.



Of course, now for the gratuitous router bit photo. Fear my dozen router bit collection!



Next up, fence building!
 
#23 ·
Fence Time!

Now that I have a working router table, I started in on fence making. Not much time available last night, so this is a short entry.

Clamped on my temporary fence.



Loaded up the straight bit, then the slot cutter, and ran the backsides of the adjustable fence blocks through



Voila. Adjustable fence blocks ready to rock.



Laid out the base and fence back…



Loaded the circle cutter up, and began working on the round cutout for the bit area and DC port.



Got some nice round holes. Now I'll just straight-cut those little sides off, likely on the TS with a mitre guage, but thats for tomorrow.
 
#26 ·
Photo-Minimal Update, Fence Completed!

Although I completed the fence last night, my girlfriend unknowningly borrowed the camera, so I only have some after-completion photos today.

Here is the completed front face of the fence.



Some mini quick grips still holding the upper fixed fence portion in place.

And here's the back of the fence. I deviated quite a bit from Norm's design on the dust chute. I really hate routing dust, so I decided to just use a 2.5" coupler, and I'm going to use the shop vac on the top, and the DC on the bottom, at least for now.



One thing I didn't do to the top before, because I wanted to build the fence first and figure out if I wanted to chance locations, was to adjust where the T-track for the fence hold down was going to be located. Now that the fence is built I've laid out the location, and clamped a board on to the table top to act as a guide, and loaded up a cheap 3/4" router bit into my hand-held to route the groove. Unlike some of the ones I've seen, I don't think I'm going to run this groove all the way up to the mitre track. I just can't see any reason to have it that far forward. I'm not going to be swinging any router bits greater than 3" and still be using this fence anyway!



Tonight, I hate to cut the grooves, cut and mount the T-track, and then I'll be done! I may device to put some protective finish on it in the future, but likely not.
 
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