Router table designs ?

[mmcmdl]

Not knowing how or what I'll be doing , looking for some ideas . Hope Jeff chimes in on this . I'm sure I have all materials to build something up here and plenty of un-used routers lying around . Ideas are welcome .

 

[Ischgl99]

I built this many years ago, still working fine. https://www.newyankee.com/episode/deluxe-router-station/

 

[Alexander McGilton]

A sacrificial zero clearance insert is a must in my opinion. Those plastic or metal interchangeable dounut inserts are OK. But for safety. No over head guard is a replacement for a tight fitting insert around the spinning tool.

 

[IHinIN]

Simple table I made for my Dewalt cordless router from a scrap piece of 3/4” plywood. I just screw it down to the bench when use it.

 

[woodchucker]

A sacrificial zero clearance insert is a must in my opinion. Those plastic or metal interchangeable dounut inserts are OK. But for safety. No over head guard is a replacement for a tight fitting insert around the spinning tool.

I disagree. I have a bunch of bushings to tightly fit around the bit, but I don't use them. I made an aluminum ring for my basic most used insert. Since the plastic ones broke.

I dislike the dust collection that Norm recommended in the one I saw. I made the mistake of having dust collection pull air from below the table. I kept fouling my switches and filling the motor with dust. Motors pull from the head to the bit, so dust collection like Norm recommends reverses the direction and harms the cooling and messes up the motor.

I made a shroud that sucks the air from the router bit under the table, and also above the table.

I use my table way more than handheld. I have multiple Bosch routers. No router lift. It would be nice, but it's not necessary.

How you orient your table is based on what you plan on doing mostly.. think of it like landscape or portrait. if you are planning on doing large doors, you may want your router further back to support more of the door.

I use my fence to mount long oak pieces on, then I have stops for stopped routing which I seem to do quite a bit of at times, and not at others.
Some people go for a split fence where one fence side can be more forward than the other, good for jointing. I don't recommend that. Just go level and use shims if you need to do that. a deck of cards is useful for pushing one side further out.

Years before I had a router table I took a plate of aluminum and mounted my router to it. It did the job without any bells and whistles. What I am saying is the table can be basic to start to get the job done, and can be very elaborate. Some go nuts. I find less is better. Your fence initially if you need one can be a simple piece of wood with a hole or U where the bit is. And some clamps to hold it in place.
I will say if you can use a plastic laminate (formica or other) for the top. You need to be able to slide work and it helps to have a smooth surface.

I'm sure others here have many more thoughts. What are you planning on doing?

 

[Ischgl99]

I dislike the dust collection that Norm recommended in the one I saw.

I never installed the dust collection in the router space, I only have it connected to the fence, but half the time I’m not even using a fence.

I agree completely with the laminate on the top, I did that and it works very well.

 

[mmcmdl]

. What are you planning on doing?

Good question ! Maybe some frames , maybe some doors . No projects come to mind as of now , but I have plenty of different things here to make a table . I have a bunch of routers here other than the one I used once on a door jam .

 

[MikeInOr]

How fancy do you want to go and how often do you think you will use it?

Fancy is one of the many router lifts available that let you adjust the bit height from above the table. These usually are mounted to a rectangular plate and you just need to cut a corresponding rectangular hole in the table top to install them. There are similar plates for directly mounting routers without any lift. The router height adjustment is used on these plates since there is no lift.

A lot of how versatile a router table is and how easy it is to use comes from the fence design. A well designed fence makes setup faster and easier.

About 35 years ago my parents gave me a Porter Cable 690 router kit that came with the table and it is a nice setup. I have only used the table a couple dozen times at most though. Most simple profiles I just do hand held. Any big work that requires hogging off large amounts of wood (like rail and style cabinet doors) I use a shaper. I paid $150 for an old Walker Turner 3hp 3ph shaper with a good fence on it. For the most part shapers turn too slow to effectively use router bits on them... so you have to buy shaper cutters instead. I picked up a stock feeder for my shaper and it makes a big difference in how easy it is to use and also improves the quality of the cut.

Another often used options is to put your router table on the extension table of your cabinet style table saw. The heavy weight of the table saw makes for a very sturdy solid router table. The height of most table saws makes putting the router in a wing kind of hard on the back for many people.



This is the fence my father built for his router table:

He used the toggle clamps to secure the fence to the router table. It work very well and was easy to setup and adjust. It also is easily removed from the table to make it easier to change bits.





It is a pretty simple design but very effective.

Good question ! Maybe some frames , maybe some doors . No projects come to mind as of now , but I have plenty of different things here to make a table . I have a bunch of routers here other than the one I used once on a door jam .

For rail and stile panel doors with a router table you will want a fair sized table and you want it very sturdy (not easy to tip the table over). My father made several rail and stile doors with his router table. I let my brother in law have his router table since I usually use a shaper.

 

[mmcmdl]

let my brother in law have his router table since I usually use a shaper.

So this is kind of what I was looking for Mike . I have tables and I have miles of 80-20 laying around . As for usage , it won't be used a lot , just something to keep me busy when needed . I guess the router itself is stationary and the fence is adjustable ? How about height adjustments ? Learning here .

 

[bill70j]

Not knowing how or what I'll be doing , looking for some ideas . Hope Jeff chimes in on this . I'm sure I have all materials to build something up here and plenty of un-used routers lying around . Ideas are welcome .

Here is the one I use. It has dust collection -- both from above the table top and from within the table enclosure -- a JessEm lift mechanism, and has drawer and cabinet storage.

The thing works pretty well, especially the dust collection system which gets an overwhelming amount of all that router dust.