(Semi) Portable Router Table

I have determined that South Dakota winters are not conducive to woodworking in an unheated garage. Figured that one out all on my own, I did. Now that it’s finally warming up, hopefully I can start getting some projects done! First up: a router table.

I had serious doubts about my ability to ensure a flat surface and nice, straight fence, so I went ahead and bought a premade kit from Rockler. My original intention was to build one of those really cool looking Norm Abram specials to mount everything to. Then my limited floor space situation slapped me upside the head and told me to simply build a basic frame and attach the top. The thought was that I could keep it hung on a wall most of the time, then pull it out and clamp it to an existing table when i need to use it. That is still my plan, but due to sheer size and weight it turned out to be nowhere near as portable as I had hoped. It will likely be replaced somewhere down the road, but it will work for a while as long as I can physically manage it.

The entire frame is simply held together with screws. Some of the screws supporting the most weight may need to be replaced with bolts before it can be safely hung from a single stretcher. The table is attached to the base by so-called tabletop fasteners. The ones I used came from Rockler, but it looks like you can get them significantly cheaper (and in higher quantities) from other places like McFeely's. Cutting the grooves for the fasteners to slip into was something of adventure (see the burn marks?) the way I did it, but it should be a whole lot easier next time now that I have a router table to use. I have heard a biscuit cutter works well too, so I might try that when mine gets here.

For power, I used a Rockler safety power tool switch with a large “stop” paddle that so many others seem to use. Looks like it’s actually on sale at the moment. :-) I still need to decide how to attach the cords to keep them generally out of the way, but this switch seems to work great. It feels a whole lot more heavy-duty than expected. I did have to scrounge up a couple of screws to mount it with because the ones it came with aren’t intended for wood.

Speaking of screws, the tabletop or one of its accessories came with a bag of nine screws (see attached picture). Nothing seems to be missing from my assembly, so I can’t figure out what these are for. Any ideas? Are they for a stand I didn’t purchase? Nine is an unusual number.

-- "How can I be lost if I've got nowhere to go?"