Thread: Decisions decisions

Originally Posted by Tonto

so router insert and make own cabinet/table
free standing or mount to table saw.

What TS do you have? Will it take optional extension wings? If it will, have you already installed the wings? If not, can you buy a suitable wing which already has machining for a router insert?

That's the route I'd be looking at. If that's ruled out, I'd look at permanently mounting something alongside the table saw. A larger table benefits both the TS & the router, if properly done.

I have seen standalone router tables/cabinets that can - in theory - be wheeled up to TS's to extend the table, but they usually have lockable or retractable castors. In practice they're easy to move around but in use I've always spent as much time in setting them up, cursing and swearing to get the tables levelled, square and flush, as I have in actually running the job.

I don't get anywhere near as much satisfaction out of "fiddling with" as I do from "getting things done."
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Mind you, there's a lot to be said for the old Triton router tables. Fold up and hang off a wall stud when not in use...

I would also say attached to the table saw is a good way to go. Space wise its taking up no room at all. The saw fence can also be the base to attach your router fence. Also as Skew said a nice big table surface. Most stand alone router tables tend to be smallish. In my case the saw already had a laminex extentsion wing so I spent $40 on an insert plate and made a fence with a suction port. Fence gets clamped to the saw fence.
Regards
John

Start simple!

One only needs, as suggested, to add a big of thick melamine to the side of your tablesaw. Use the routers adjusters to do all the raising/lowering.

Andrew Crawford, master box maker, has the most basic setup you could imagine! The router pokes up through a hole in a hunk of ply and the "fence" is simply a flat bit of wood that pivots on one end and is held in place with a clamp on the other.

Its ingenious really, for moving the end closest to you a single millimetre, means the centre of the fence moves only the very tiniest fraction at the router bit. It offers outstanding precision despite its basic appearance.

Build a box around the router underneath and stuff the DC hose in and you'll have decent chip collection.

Now, if you want to go all-out... there is another discussion, and one that can lighten your wallet considerably

edit: there is a broad discussion here somewhere, by MandJ, that shows a really nice home made solution... and another that shows it being fully electronic-ised....

+ 1 for keeping it simple. I have a fancy Woodpecker super fence with about 15 knobs and a big micro adjuster. Drove me nuts trying to keep everything adjusted. For a couple of years now the fence has been on the shelf. I now use a piece of 19mm MDF as a fence. OK I have a strip of UHMW polyethylene screwed on the front to give the face extra slip but that’s it. My frustration levels have dropped and my work has improved.

I went down this path after seeing the setup WP describes at Andrew Crawford’s workshop a couple of years back. Just a plunge router bolted under the table. I was also lucky enough to spend some time with Chris Tribe, a furniture maker in Yorkshire. Ditto for his setup although he has added a router lift - it’s an old screw jack from a car that sits under the router and just pushes it up.



Brian

Originally Posted by homey

+ 1 for keeping it simple. Just a plunge router bolted under the table. I was also lucky enough to spend some time with Chris Tribe, a furniture maker in Yorkshire. Ditto for his setup although he has added a router lift - it’s an old screw jack from a car that sits under the router and just pushes it up.
Brian

I agree, although I went a bit overboard on the lift using one of those cheap aluminum scissor lifts from Ebay, I took that little knob off and put a 2 1/2" long piece of flat steel with a knob at the end, it makes it wind up and down fast without any effort and super fine adjustment down to 0.01mm, I used to have an above table screw system with my Bosch router but got tired of winding and winding and winding.

Originally Posted by HypnoToad

I used to have an above table screw system with my Bosch router but got tired of winding and winding and winding.

That's where a good quality batt. drill can come in handy. A 3-speed g/box with variable trigger can make light work of the winding and winding and winding... and yet still yield surprising accuracy.

A piece of board with a fence clamped to it and the router screwed to the bottom surface. You can clamp the board to a bench or any flat surface that isn't being used all for under five dollars. Just mark the centre line of the chuck on the top surface for easy reference to the fence for measuring. I would take a photo of mine but I think it is simple enough. Putting a cleat on the under surface and means it can be clamped in a vice, that's easier than two clamps and takes less time.

Originally Posted by Skew ChiDAMN!!

That's where a good quality batt. drill can come in handy. A 3-speed g/box with variable trigger can make light work of the winding and winding and winding... and yet still yield surprising accuracy.

That's the only exercise I get, but seriously that little scissor lift is a marvel and doesn't require any mods to the router, I made a crank handle for the above table screw one I had on the other router, but prefer this one with it under the table as I like to get to eye level to line things up anyways.

Very very simple router table: Buy $20 cheap-@rse workmate style portable bench and open the jaws fully. Place desired router onto the jaws and trace around the shape of the base then cut out the excess material so that the router base can be clamped in the jaws. Remove the baseplate from router; screw router to piece of 1/4" (ish) thick ply using baseplate holes. Flip it upside down into the workmate and tighten up the jaws; you now have a fairly sturdy router table. For a fence just clamp a battern across the table.

I used this method at sea in a B&D Workmate clamping a DeWalt 625 for years; the ply would generally last about six months... before another shipwright would "borrow" it when we docked back in homeport