# Router table construction.



## Steelwinky (Jan 14, 2007)

I bought some material to build a router table out of. Can anyone give me a source for a good router table plan? I am most interested in how to cut the hole for the table insert without screwing it up. Any suggestions?


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## Obi (Oct 19, 2006)

Check this out for a design

What kind of material did you buy?


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## Steelwinky (Jan 14, 2007)

Actually, it was a piece of bowling lane. Apparently some sort of synthetic with a very dense core.


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## bbrooks (Jan 3, 2007)

Obi, maybe you should send him a copy of that vertical/horizontal router table. I think that would be great to build.

A hole saw should work for what you need, if it is just a hole. If you are going to put a plate in instead, then you just have to cut out a square or rectangle instead.


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## Steelwinky (Jan 14, 2007)

Yeah, maybe a hole would be ok. I was thinking a plate, but i can really see no reason that a hole wouldn't work. Also, I think a horizontal/vertical table would be great. I have ran into a sitiation where I was trying to rout the end of a board 6 feet long, and had it standing straight up in the air.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

I bought the Woodhaven Horizontal router table I use it for mortises. When I was building my cradle I needed mortises at 8 degrees. And this tool allowed me to do that. After some modifications on my part.

I suggested to the mfg make those modifications on the ones they sell and I believe that they did.


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## bbrooks (Jan 3, 2007)

It sounds like they need to make a table that will go from vertical to horizontal, and all points in between. That would allow you to do the mortises at any angle you needed. I am not an engineer, but it seems like that would be doable at least.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

There was a table like that, that was shown at woodworkers shows. I believe that they were bought by Hawk

In fact here it is.


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## Obi (Oct 19, 2006)

After looking at both of those tables, I think I want to make that mortise jig vertical. That way I can move the stick instead of moving the jig.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

Obi: I'm confused by your comment. Were you referring to both of the tables that I linked too.

If you were, in your comments about moving the stick instead of the jig. Were you referring to the Woodhaven or the Hawk tables?


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## stoffer (Jan 24, 2007)

Steelwinky,
I don't have any plans but here are a couple of pics of a table I built. Originally I just had a hole in the top and screwed the router base to the bottom as someone suggested. Eventually I got tired of the tedious process required to change bits and sometimes I could not extend them up as far as I wanted because the table was too thick. This past weekend I installed the aluminum plate and it works great. The plates can be ordered from a number of places, the best price I could find was from MLCS. One other tip - make sure the fence is dead flat. I had to sand the face of the outfeed fence to get it co-planer with the infeed face. Otherwise you get bumps in whatever you are trying to route.
Hope this helps.
Chris


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## Obi (Oct 19, 2006)

Karson the woodhaven table gave me the idea that i could fix my jig, and steelwinky *your link is dead*


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

Obi: Its a nice table. They also have a router mount that you can set your router at any angle from 0 to 45. I bought it and have installed it but that feature is unused.

I mounted a Harbor freight digital caliper on the table so that I can adjust the router bit with more accuracy







The router table slides up and down on a aluminum track. It wouldn't be hard to construct something like this.


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## Billp (Nov 25, 2006)

I just built one it was only my second project and it works great. The plan is in Bill Hylton router book.


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## Chipncut (Aug 18, 2006)

Here's a How to, to build a Router table, that's a fairly simple design


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## jpw1995 (Aug 19, 2006)

I have a 20 year old Delta contractor's saw that I inherited from my grandfather. Since I already had a table saw I decided to remove one of the steel wings from the Delta and replace it with a router table. It's a simple table made of birch plywood with a store bought mounting plate. I made a dust collection fence for it that attaches to the table saw fence. It works great for everything I do, and it saves shop space.


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## bbrooks (Jan 3, 2007)

A great space saver JP. Sounds like your has worked out just great.

Thanks for the link Dick. One more for my workplans book.


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## Chipncut (Aug 18, 2006)

I'm glad the link worked, some of the Fine woodworking links,can only be seen by subscribers. FW internet has a lot of stuff , if you're a member. It covers just about anything. *I recommend this to everyone.*


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## beevee (Dec 23, 2006)

Steelwinky,

What you have is a piece of laminate. It is made from resin impregnated paper and pressed under high pressure and heat. Generally around 1100-1200 psi and 300 degrees. When you cut or drill into it, I would recommend using carbide tooling if possible. The top layer most likely has aluminum oxide in it for wear resistance. This can wreak havoc on tools. The good thing is you won't need to worry about wearing out the surface. This material also makes excellent benchtop material as I have several pieces at home


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## rwe2156 (May 7, 2014)

Locate the insert. Apply a piece of tape to all 4 egdes as a spacer.

But 4 pieces of straight wood carpet tape to top.

Using a router with pattern bit, route the recess to the correct depth.

Then use a jigsaw to remove the material, leaving the rabbet for the insert.

Kreg Jig has a pretty good guide that explains it HERE.


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## ArtMann (Mar 1, 2016)

I'm not sure anyone is listening. It has been over 11 years since this thread was active.


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