Router Base Plates

Uhhh—ok! Your router has got to be attached to a baseplate—it can’t just hang in mid air. Without a plate, your router would fall through the hole. It is NOT fastrened to the table, so you can bring b.p., router, and all out to change bits, unless you have a router raiser. The b.p. has a purpose—to support your router so you don’t have to!!

-- Remember--- one good turn-- gets most of the blanket!!!!

In addition to what Rick said, the base plate is there so that you can get the router closer to the top surface of the table to get maximum cutter depth. There are some tables that don’t use a separate base plate. A few years ago there was one made of cast iron that only had a hole in the center. the router mounted underneath. I don’t know if that top is still available or not. I’ve also seen some shop made tables that forgo the base plate.

When I used a transparent base plate in my router table, I found it handy sometimes for hand held work, too. It was nice to have a long straight edge to reference off and it would span larger areas without falling in.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

Fortunately now you can get the base plate and a template to cut the table top to accomodate the BP of your choice nice and snuggly so when people look at your router table they will ask in disbelief, “Did you do this yourself?”
It is very important to have the leveling feature on the BP since that will ensure perfect cuts especially when routing long edges.

Actually, you could mount the router directly to your top, but I’m with Dave, the plate is thinner, therefore you gain more height adjustment. and you are right, the weight of the router keeps it in place normally. You also have the abilty to use several plates with routers already set up to do different cuts. (Obviously you have to own more than one router) Just pop the plates in and out and you’re ready to go with a different set-up.

-- Kent Shepherd * The goal is-----More Tools!

FWIW, I also have a PC-121 oscillating spindle sander with a plat that drops into my router table. that works out well for me since I do most non-hand held router work with the Router Boss instead of the table.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

I can see the reduction in thickness could be very important. My top is about 1 1/2” thick.
The plate would only be about 3/8”. I have been considering 3/8” phenolic for the plate.
But the transparency would be nice to have.

Dave, what material was your router plate made of? Did it flex very much?

Thanks for your comments.

Tom

I think the transparent ones were acrylic and no, they didn’t flex much. I have since converted to a Plunge Lift so the plate is aluminum. I managed to get an aluminum one for the sander, too.

-- Until you spread your wings, you'll have no idea how far you can walk.

At our shop they actually make the base plates out of the cutout from the table.

Of our 5 router tables 3 of them pretty much stay set up all the time and the other two are only ones anyone ever changes a bit on.

They also made big notches on the ends of the base plate large enough to fit you fingers through and it does make it a lot easier to lift out.

When I finish my Unisaw project I will either buy a Rockler Lift Base or Bench Dog extension like MedicKen has.

-- Professional kitchen designer, amature woodworker.

I made my own table, and I agree with the others. Use a base plate! Mine is a pain to adjust, or change bits. It is allso limited on the depth of cut because of the thickness of the table top.

I have remakeing mine on my to-do list. Just haven’t gotten it done yet.

-- Scrap Wood's the best...the projects are smaller, and so is the mess!

Scrappy: Using the corian is a great idea. I bet it provides a great surface.
Can you attach corian with glue?

Thanks everyone for the information. You have given me a lot of ideas.
Many of them require buying more routers. ;-)

I would like to try and make a base plate from acrylic. That would allow
me to use my router in the table or take it out and use it freehand without having to attach and reattach it.

Many commercial router plates have removable circular inserts. As I understand,
this allows the gap around the bit to be adjusted. When you use large
diameter bits you take the insert out. When you use a smaller one
you put it back in to close up the space around the bit. I have a cheesy
router table that I don’t think has this capability (or I have never used it).
These inserts also seem related to bushing inserts. I am not sure how
useful these features are and when they might be helpful. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Tom

I made my router plate out of 3/8” lexan I picked up at Woodcraft. You can see my bench top router table here.

If you PM me I’ll email you the instructions I used for installing the top. You can also buy the corner levelers from Woodpeckers, I think, that allow you to just cut out a hole. You mount the levelers from underneath the table and use screws to even the insert out with your table top.

-- Premium firewood created daily.

Look at the inexpensive base plate from Lee Valley. Got installed the first time dead on for me. Full and clear instructions are included.
Bill