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  1. #61
    Join Date
    Jan 2001
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    196

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    Hi Derek,

    No dramas. I understood where you were going.
    I know I spend more time designing and thinking about how to build something than the time it actually takes to build it. But when I do, I certainly consider all options. Some people get stuck on a one track train of thought.

    You have to think outside the square.

    Take Care,

    Glen

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  3. #62
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Canada
    Age
    93
    Posts
    139

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    I built one using a plan using a plan from " American Woodworker " issue 24, Feb.1992. with some modifications. It is similar to Norms. The top is 2 layers of kitchen counter glued together. Check with kitchen builders they sell there mistakes at a reasonable price.there is a pic on this page Router table
    the dust collection is standard 4".I finished it in cherry, one visitor said it was a little decadent for a work shop.
    I used Lee Valley's base plate to mount the router, it mounts from the bottom
    Base Plate
    paul

  4. #63
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Perth WA
    Posts
    3,784

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    First look for a couple of days and there has been quite a bit of input. The scope of this thread was a bit open ended but I think this is good because it has produced some very good ideas, links and discussion on router tables. If you go back to the first post I said "tell us what doesn't work" and this is emerging through some of the discussions. I agree that the ideal router table is one that is designed for your applications and it could well be that the end result of this thread is a list of features that can be included in your router table. I said earlier that our needs will probably change over time as we develop new skills and change direction - you will get terribly bored making wooden pegs for ever - my apology to the master pegmaker here. I have already started to consider features that I would not have thought about so the input has been valuable for me. Being late on a Sunday night and having just returned from a family get together I am not clear headed enough to pull the previous posts together so I will attempt to do that tomorrow night. In the meantime keep your ideas and opinions flowing.

    cheers,
    Rod
    Cheers,
    Rod

  5. #64
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    Queenslander
    Posts
    206

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    I agree with Derek on his KIS principle. The simpler the better. Whilst I admire Norms router table I must admit that it would do any parlour proud, and I take my hat off to those who build workshop equipment to that quality. But I didn’t propose to debate the merits of simple –v- complex.

    Years ago I bought ‘Router Jigs & Techniques’ by Patrick Spielman but opted for a simple table, an early Triton that still gets some use if I need a second table. Ernie Connover also wrote some fine ideas on tables and their use but I think I have been most inspired by Pat Warner who has written several books on tables, jigs and their use. Warner is somewhat of a pedantic type in his quality of work but advocates simplicity and versatility in his tables and jigs. He has also devised a clever router horse that enables the work-piece to be clamped to it and the router used ‘hand-held’. I think ‘hand-held’ router use is overlooked by the modern day user who quickly converts his/her router to a shaper by almost permanently mounting it upside down in a table. Its removal becomes such a task that hand-held use is bypassed.

    Warner promotes the fixed-base router for table use and I’m inclined to agree with him but the only such machine I have found in this country in the past two years is a Makita. The big Porter Cables cannot be procured out here. The advantage of the fixed-base machine would appear to be its greater accuracy of depth adjustment (large knurled ring on the housing) and its better depth range compared to the plunge-type. Warner also promotes the use of thinner tabletops with strengtheners underneath. This permits the machine to be bolted directly to the tabletop without an insert plate. The thin tabletop maximises the depth capability of router adjustment.

    Inserts are difficult to fit accurately and become an impediment to the smooth passage of the work-piece across the tabletop. The insert also weakens the tabletop degrading accuracy unless your top is about 35mm thick!

    My current table is four legs with support struts and an easily removed tabletop. Or should I say tabletopS. Still experimenting with top designs but am hampered by the limitations of plunge routers.
    Mal

  6. #65
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Elimbah, QLD
    Posts
    3,336

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    Redneck, I just happen to have a large fixed-base Porter-Cable Speedmatic router that I got from Carbatec three years ago. If you are interested in buying it, contact me.

  7. #66
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Location
    Perth WA
    Posts
    3,784

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    We seem to have settled on the top being made from 32mm MDF that has been checked for flatness. Glue laminex to both faces and edges. The logical continuation of this is to seal all exposed MDF after machining for the table insert and mitre slots.
    The thread seems to have lost focus on creating the ideal router table and this is my fault because I didn’t really know where it was going to end up. I know that there are a number of very good publications out there on this subject but this is an opportunity to put together a specification from a broad user group that has tried and tested what works and what doesn’t. We have the advantage of hindsight.
    I agree with the kis principal but we are designing a machine that will be sturdy enough to accurately and repetitively perform a large variety of joints and mouldings. There are some basic principals that need to be drawn out and I believe we have already identified a number of these but there is still a long way to go. Like any machine there are accessories and it will be up to the individual to decide on what features they would like and where to step off.
    I am still interested to hear more about fence designs and now that we have settled on a 32mm top we are obviously committed to a router table insert so more feedback on this would be appreciated.
    Cheers,
    Rod

  8. #67
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    10,803

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    Rod writes:

    I am still interested to hear more about fence designs
    Here is another fence design, one that I thought about but have not actually built. It would pernit stable, fine incremental movements. It cannot be used with a mitre slot but would be used with a sleigh.

    Essentially, it is a fence with one fixed and pivotting end. THe other end of the fence runs in a slot.

    My rough drawing is below.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  9. #68
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Elimbah, QLD
    Posts
    3,336

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    I think it is hard to go past Pat Warner's router table fence, which is at

    http://www.patwarner.com/routerfence.html

    He described building the fence in Fine Woodworking #144. I cannot post the plan from that article because of copyright concerns; but I will e-mail it to anyone who wants it.

    Warner's article suggests a making a template and using a top-bearing pattern-routing bit to rout the matching pairs of dadoes for the fence guide bars. My method of routing pairs of matching dadoes, as described in my article on my mortising jig, is much easier: I use a clamped-on centrally positioned metal bar as a fence for routing the matching pairs of dadoes.

  10. #69
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Blacktown, Western Sydney
    Age
    58
    Posts
    194

    Default Basic Fence

    I have followed this discussion with interest, especially the fence discussions.
    I have been using the principle that Derek has just drawn back up the page a little and it works fine. Mine is a length of angle iron with two MDF sub fences (?) bolted to it, the out feed one I pack out depending on the depth of cut I want. So simple and so effective.

    The main drawback I find is that I can not accurately move the fence by a measured amount because a movement of x at the clamped end is much less at the router cutter. I find that I measure at the cutter with an engineers rule and then make a test cut. This is only a problem when remachining a piece to add a rebate or slot at a set distance from an edge.

    I have been thinking of building a "proper" fence which travels paralel to the edge of the table and adding some of those stick on tape measures from Carbotec to allow incrementel adjustment but my current one is so easy to set up for the initial cuts that a proper fence may be a step backward for the non fine cabinet making that I tend to do.

    My table is a slab of MDF sitting on a Mk3 Triton stand with the router in a triton router sled. The MDF being hollowed out to drop over the sled.
    I can even turn the router over and use it in overhead mode as a surfacer/thicknesser.

    Jon

  11. #70
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Elimbah, QLD
    Posts
    3,336

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    It is in fact possible to make measured micro-adjustments to a pivoting router fence. If you install a dial gauge at the back of the fence near the end opposite the pivot, positioned so that its distance from the axis of the cutter is exactly the same as the distance from the pivot to the axis of the cutter, the dial gauge will give a reading that is exactly double the incremental adjustment at the cutter position. You can make the micro-adjustment by means of a threaded rod impinging on the back of the fence. The micro adjuster for the Veritas router fence sold by Lee Valley Tools works on that principle. If you don't want to bother with a dial gauge you can still make accurate adjustments by calculating how much one turn of the threaded rod will advance the fence.

  12. #71
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Tucson AZ USA
    Age
    84
    Posts
    30

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    Have enjoyed the development of the "genisis router table". Is there a place that summerises it so far?

    And I had not seen Warners router site before, truely amazing.

    Rocker,
    Could you pass me the link to your "method of routing pairs of matching dadoes, as described in my article on my mortising jig, is much easier: I use a clamped-on centrally positioned metal bar as a fence for routing the matching pairs of dadoes.

    Also would like the article from Fine Woodworking #144 about bilding his fence.

    Keep up the good work.

    Hager Hay

  13. #72
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Elimbah, QLD
    Posts
    3,336

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    Mr Chips,
    Here is a photo of my clamped-on bar method of routing pairs of matching grooves or dadoes. If you e-mail me at [email protected], I will send you the Warner fence plan.

    When routing matching pairs of grooves by my metal-bar method, you need to take care to ensure that the same point on the router's baseplate runs against the fence. In this way you can eliminate any error that might otherwise arise if your baseplate is not exactly concentric with the axis of the router cutter.

  14. #73
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Tucson AZ USA
    Age
    84
    Posts
    30

    Default

    Thanks Rocker.

    Sent you my email address.
    Is that your workbench or a special clamping bench? Never saw one that had an opening down the center. How about a full shot of it, it looks like a good idea.

    Thanks

    Hager Hay

  15. #74
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Elimbah, QLD
    Posts
    3,336

    Default

    Hager,
    I haven't got a better shot of my workbench available; but that one shows almost all of it. I find the gap in the middle very handy for clamping wood to the bench top.

  16. #75
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Location
    Gympie QLD
    Age
    61
    Posts
    1,095

    Default

    All,

    Rod has asked my to add my 2.2c after noticing a pic of my Router Table fence in another post. (I have posted up pics and details of my Table before but not all in one thread).

    After progressing from very Simple Router Tables (with pivoting fences) up through several more complex designs, I have finally arrived at my current Router Table which I have found does everything I want.

    The base is your basic cabinet and is made from (lots of) Melamine faced Chipboard. Two reasons for this - low cost and (more importantly) lots of weight for stability of the table.

    For the Top, I use 2 pieces of melamine faced MDF one on top of the other. So that I did not have to worry about future warping of the top, I braced the underside with steel bars.

    As for the Router Plate/Insert, I opted to buy a new Model Triton router plate as a spare part. This came with the clamps (particularly suited to the Triton Router I have) and reduction rings. I fitted this into the table, again re-enforcing with steel bar.

    For the fence, I fitted an Incra Jig Ultra Lite which I raised up and replaced the stock Alum. fence with a high fence faced with sliding cheeks.

    Below is a picture of the completed table and cabinet. It has integrated dust collection through the fence and router plate into the cabinet. A 4" dust port is connect to the cabinet at the side (back?!?!). With this setup, I get virtually no dust/chips.

    Also, due to my limited workshop space (it used to be big but seems to be slowly shrinking, particularly after Wood shows), I have fitted my metal vice and Bench Grinder on the back (side ?!?!).

    I got a lot of the ideas for the table from the web particularly Dizzy's site which you should all check out at http://home.pacbell.net/jdismuk/routertable.html.
    While your there, have a look at his Cyclone he made.

    My Router Table
    Wayne
    ______________________________________________
    "I'd be delighted to offer any advice I have on understanding women.
    When I have some, I'll let you know."
    Picard

    * New Website - Updates Coming Soon *
    http://wayneswoodwork.davyfamily.com/

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