Routing a recess

that’s a cool board…is it a lazy susan design ? Does it have to be transparent ? would two sided tape work for you ?

-- You know you're getting old when you know the difference between you're (you are) and your (belonging to you) AND how to use them in a sentence .

Thanks, Dusty. Yes, it is a lazy suzan design. I used the ring-like lazy suzan bearing on the bottom. For the grid, I took an old style Scrabble board (they work the best to hold the tiles in place) and ground off the edges to leave just what you see in the photo. So, unless I came up with a different way to create the grid, I have to use the transparent grids I have access to. My concern with two sided tape is that the board gets a fair amount of use and travel, and I worry about durability.

-- Dallas Johnson, Ohio

Since this is woodworking I would suggest putting thin strips of wood as your grid,
What ever you use I think that making the frame and clamping it to the board would be easy enough to do. Cut yourself some strips the size of your spacing between squares, after you rout the borders add 1 strip to rout the next groove, 2 strips for the next etc,etc. After routing all of one direction place the strips on the other side and do the other direction. ( or you could start with a long board and cut off your spacing for each run ) Use caution dropping your router bit into the board each time. If you want to use wood strips for the grid, rout the grooves in one direction, insert the wood strips, rout the grooves the opposite direction cutting through the wood strips, then put in your strips and then rout your border and trim it out. After inserting your first set of grid pcs you will have to lower your bit the distance your grid pcs stick up.
Anyway, just some ideas, Hope this all made sense.

Another idea would be to cut your table square, use your table saw to make your grid grooves and then add the rouned pcs to each side, gives you the option of using 2 types of wood.