Chris's Blog at LumberJocks.com http://lumberjocks.com/Knuckles/blog Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:26:17 GMT Another router table #1: Starting at the top http://lumberjocks.com/Knuckles/blog/8421 I got tired of making due with my current router table (a single sheet of MDF for a top sitting on an old HTC folding bench, rudimentary fence held on with clamps and adjusted with a hammer) and decided to build a new one. Of course, I’ve started about 3 different designs in Sketchup, and I keep finding something on this site to make me revisit it. I did settle on an overall size, so I figured I’d let the cabinet design age a bit and work on the top. I decided to make the top a torsion box for a few reasons (not the least of which is that I’m cheap and I had the materials to do it in the shop already). So the top is 32” by 24”, the top ‘skin’ in this case is a piece of melamine laminate and the bottom is a 1/4” piece of ply. With 1” for the torsion box members the whole top is about 2” thick

The dry fit of the torsion box is surprisingly ridgid if you’ve never worked with one; it should make a good top. The 3/4” laminate should hold the router and plate well enough, but I framed the space to directly support the edges anyway. I picked up a router lift for this project, and I’ll probably do a review on that after I get to use it a bit.

Sketchup Plan

Actual

]]> Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:26:17 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/Knuckles/blog/8421 Chris Chris This Jig's for you, Jim* http://lumberjocks.com/Knuckles/blog/8340 I was having a conversation with a firend at work that lurks on this site (I’ll call him Jim to protect his/her anonymity) about a right angle push block for my router table. For some reason (most likely my lack of eloquence) Jim could not figure out just what the heck I was talking about. So … I’m posting a couple of pictures of said jig. It was made from some scrap MDF in about 10 minutes , and it’s dimensions came largely from the size of the scraps. I did round over the edges where the web between the thumb and the rest of my hand rests, and I inserted some dowel sections into the MDF to better hold the screws I put it together with. I put this in as a blog as I just couldn’t call it a ‘project’, finished or otherwise. It’s nowhere near as pretty as a lot of things I see on this site, but I needed it when I built it and functional and quick beat out elegant and slow. And since it works just fine, I’ve never gone back to replace it other than the lead face when it gets torn up.

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]]> Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:47:09 GMT http://lumberjocks.com/Knuckles/blog/8340 Chris Chris