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So this is the outcome of me being told I need to chill on the woodworking related purchases for a little while. My wonderful better half inadvertently challenged me to put something together for much less then if I had to buy it. Albeit it's not anywhere near as nice as the router tables I had my eye on I have to say I'm actually glad I didn't just run out and buy it but instead took the time to understand the reasons why the features are so nice on the pre-fab'd ones. I will end up purchasing one down the road but for the time being I'll keep adding, tweaking and modifying this one. I think I'll keep my fixed DeWalt base forever in this one as I have a plunge base also I can easily swap the motor back and forth to and from. This little bugger has a built in dust port that fits my craftsman shop vac and dust right vortex, it has a sliding/adjustable fence and has an inward facing base to clamp it down when I use it. It's a little rough in some areas but it's very close to true without challenging the accuracy of a machined part but when I put the 3' square up to it there's no play on either end which is more than I can say then some of the newer power tools I've been purchasing; I digress. So I want to add a bit guard, a mitre channel on the bed and fence, some finger boards, and possibly two in and out feed flip up table extensions but for the now it does a nice job and is much easier than it used to be to route true edges.

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Nice JR, I have plans for several router tables/cabinets, I suggest you make a router cabinet, they give you so much storage and it's a good project, but very rewarding. This one is nice and I bet you'll get a lot of use out of it, maybe even forget about buying one. I have projects I made 15 years ago that I am still modifying to this day.
 

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Thank you for the feedback Martin this was fun to build and I will do my best to make the cabinet and probably even try to make a rolling base after I'm done tweaking it. Any suggestions on the cabinet? I wanted to ask a vet if it's easy to modify the power switch on these standard routers to accommodate an external power and cut off switch?

Thanks again!
 

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Your better half must have called my better half, because the cookie jar is currently on lock-down….lol

That is a sweet router table you've put together, and I bet you get a ton of use out of it.

Nice job !
 

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Hi JR, I have several in some of my woods mags, I will look for a few of them on line and send you the links. As for the power, there are several places that you can get a small switch in a box, that has a plug in on the back, years ago I would make my own but I like the red and green start stop buttons now, getting picky as the years pass. Here is a link to one
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=17401&site=ROCKLER
I have seen different ones cheaper than this, just need to do Internet search, if I come across any more I will forward the links to you.
 

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Eric,

That's okay that they're both subliminally communicating about our fund allocations, I figure if woman can mysteriously change the frequency of their monthly cycle just by handing out with other woman they can certainly communicate about money from 1600 miles away; lol. Who knows brutha we're looking to move back to FL soon and might even be within an hour or so from you then we're really gonna have to watch out. Thank you for the comments; very much appreciate it!
 

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Thanks Martin! Awesome feedback, I really appreciate it.
 

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You may find this table will be of benefit for longer than you thought. Looks well built and thought out
 

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Howdy JR_Dog,
If time allows, build your own router table. IMHO, you will get much more satisfaction knowing YOUR project came off of YOUR table!!! Not only that, you can build one cheaper & put the savings towards a present for your "Wonderful Better Half" or tools/machines for you. Your choice!!!!

BTW: YOUR router table looks like it is ready to create some great projects.
 

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whatever works is good

i needed a quick setup recently
my router table was set
and my shaper was too
so i quick mounted this
to my RAS table
and clamped a straight board to it
it is still there months later
i plan to use it again soon
 

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Thanks everyone! Great feedback - honestly makes me want to go out and start tinkering with some molding I need to make for finishing off a box-beam at the bottom of my stairs.

Oh and by the way Martin… I just ordered two dual channel mitre track guides (one for the table and one for the fence, the on off kill switch you posted and some feather boards. I'm trying to find a good bit guard but so far most of them only come with the fences or tables. I'll keep searching. And yes I'm not sure if I'll get away with it… I'm going to use the fact St. Patrick's day is my 40th B-day to hopefully not get in too much trouble for ordering these from Rockler… wait… crap I guess I'm 40 already "Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone!"
 

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Hey JR happy birthday, and welcome to the 40's. It's just like the 30's except slower ha, ha. Also happy St. Patricks Day.
 

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Happy B-Day to you, Happy B-Day to you, Happy B-Day to you, Lou look like a geazer & smell like one too!!!! Lol.

If enjoying "Adult Beverages" in celebration of your B-day or St. Paddy's day, stay away from anything sharp!

Enjoy your day & stay safe!!
 

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Hey JR,

If you want to build a low cost table - this may fit the bill…I have made five so far for everything from a miter saw stand, router table, and even one for my planer…check it out here:

Easy Shop Table





These can be built "on the cheap"

Ken C / Lockwatcher
 

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Thank you all for the nice comments and birthday thoughts/wishes/songs! And thanks for the posts of other router tables it gives me great ideas to add to mine! Hope you all had or have had a great St. Patty's Day.
 

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Thanks for sharing. I have been looking for a very simple router table myself. All the ones I found were okay, but quite a bit of work. This one seems to be a lot quicker to build. Maybe not quite as functional as the others, but I don't use my router all that much. So yours seems to fit the bill perfectly. Thanks.
 
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