Thread: Router cabinet/table WIP

As promised i got back to the project last night and made some small advancements. I cut down the table so that the length is right now and i fitted the hinges to it so that i can open it easily without having to bend over at and awkward angle to get at the router, actually it's kinda half fitted since i still need to recess the hinges a bit deeper so that the table fits flush, but it's a start.

Most of my time however was spent crafting some hold down plates to hold the router in place. I cut up a piece of angle iron i had laying around with a grinder and then drilled the holes for the recycled bolt knobs i had. The result is shown below. I also painted the pieces black and then glued some rubber from a bicycle tube to the underside so that they don't scratch the router when fitted.

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As you can see i also numbered each set of holddown/knob since they all fit slightly differently, some of the bolt threads are longer. Should make things simpler when it comes to use.

Originally Posted by delbs

Congrats LPlates, this has come together real nice!. i think im going to be moving from my Triton router table and mount my TRA001 with a woodpecker plate into a cabinet i have similar size to yours. This thread has inspired me to do so.

How did you setup the jig to cut out your moritse for the joins? Draws look great also. I have purchased a few from that ebay link so thanks again!

Going to look great with a t-track and fence installed

Thanks Delbs,

I cut the mortises using my new router and a jig i screwed together from offcuts i had laying about gathering dust. There are pictures of it in the first post on this thread (pic 4 and 5). Basically it was just a fence that I temporarily mounted to the piece using clamps. It was a little awkward but it worked well enough. Probably need to get a bit more creative if you are using hardwood or something of better quality. Given my cheap materials i wasn't afraid to make a mistake.

Good luck with your build and please post a WIP with photos if you can. We all love to see builds come together.

Cheers
Mat

So after a couple of days of fiddling with the remaining little things i've almost got the cabinet finished. Just need to finish the top now which will require some shopping since the alloy U channel that i have laying around isn't long enough and bunnies does not sell decent stuff, may need to go to an aluminium specialist (or carbatec via mail...too $$$). Also need to find where i can get some laminex sheet.

Anyway, last night i fitted the covers for the tops of the drawers so that i don't get dust into them from above and I fitted a stop to the table top so that i can lift it and leave it standing without hands on. Couldn't resist fitting the router either just to see how it looks. Not sure if i will have enough protrusion of the bit though, it's sticking out about 20mm which should be find for most things, i can always remove the plastic plate on the router base to get an extra 5mm or if it proves to be an issue more often than not i can always put in a proper router baseplate. Time will tell. I still have to make a bigger hole for the bits to protrude too but I only had a 3/4 forstner bit so that will have to come later too.

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Cheers
Mat

Looking good.

I know after you start working with it you may find that you modify it slightly.

It's coming together very nicely Mat.
Does your collet fit through the 3/4" hole for tightening or loosening it?
When I made my table I managed to get an offcut of 10mm polycarbonate sheet to recess into the table. I removed the plastic plate off the router base and then screwed the base directly to the sheet. I only have one size hole through the sheet and no adaptor rings, but that hasn't been a problem for me yet as most of my bits are not overly large. This setup gives me plenty of height of the bits.

Well Done L Plates, looking really good.

Not sure of your plans, but a 100mm dust port in the back at the bottom of your cupboard, & a door on the front would work well.
Or if you want to get creative, build a false back into it with a sloping sheet from the front of the bottom of the router. That would give you extra cupboard space as well, if you need it. You may not believe it, but that description is really clear in my head.

Once you have your router table finished, another alternitive to drawer joinery is a Lock Mitre Joint. The lock mitre bit can be a bit of a mongrel to set up, but it makes a lovely joint. can also be used for 180 degree joints as well as 90 degree


Steve

Originally Posted by Lplates

So after a couple of days of fiddling with the remaining little things i've almost got the cabinet finished. Just need to finish the top now which will require some shopping since the alloy U channel that i have laying around isn't long enough and bunnies does not sell decent stuff, may need to go to an aluminium specialist (or carbatec via mail...too $$$).
Mat

Good work so far, if you're looking for T track and/or Mitre track have a look at McJing as well or put in a search here for other options as it's been discussed before.

So it's been a while since i opened this post. I lost heart with the project after a series of mistakes and another project for my brother took me away from it for a while but I had enough of looking at the failed table top and decided it was time to start again.

So to keep it short the stuff up was with the gluing of the formica/laminex to the MDF top. I had a brain fade and decided to use standard PVA glue to put it all together, which probably would have been fine if I clamped it all nicely. I thought i had done a reasonable job of clamping it all down but there were gaps and of course all the glue that was pushed out from the clamped parts accumulated there, resulting in waves in the final surface. Here are some shots of the stuffed up attempt. (note that i used the older and smaller router table to clamp the new one....hence the problems with pockets of squeezeout).

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So i basically had to scrap the whole failed top and start again, hence the delays. The second time around i did some research and realised that the glue to use was contact adhesive....messy stuff but much better in this sort of application where clamping is difficult. I also got myself some miter track from McJing and fitted that. The failed top was recycled and used to make the fence as seen in the pictures below. I also took the opportunity to address some shortcoming i saw in the original attempt. I used plywood for the topmost part so that the router could be closer to the surface but still be secure. I changed the location of the hinges so that i could flip the whole table over to make mounting the router easier.

I also managed to make another stuff up. I really need to be more careful when i do stuff after work. I make some really dumb mistakes when i'm forging ahead all excited and half dead. This time i drilled a hole for the "above table height adjustment" that the Triton routers use, which was fine in theory. I located at the front of the table so i could adjust the height without moving the fence if needed. Problem was that i didn't take into account the position of the clamps that hold the router in place whcih were now 90degrees from their optimal position. I spent an hour or so rethinking how to redo the hold down clamps to suit but decided in the end that it was best to drop the problematic hole and use the clamps in their original position since they work best. Now i have an extra hole on the top without purpose...doh!

Overall i'm pretty happy with the outcome but i think i'll wait to redo the hole for the height adjust and see how much i would actually use it first. Anyone have an idea how to nicely fill a hole in the laminex?

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The pics are pretty self explanatory. IN the first one i am using a piece of 3/4 pine as a leg that wedges into the mitre track and holds the table in place while i fiddle with the clamps. The final picture is of my bit holder which i made from a piece of blackwood cutoff from another project, makes things a lot neater.

Cheers
Mat

Hey Mat

Been following this one for a while,good job on the new top with the t-track and fence.

I also was considering using the above table height adjustment for the triton but when I looked into it I realised that my TRA001 that lives mounted in my table doesn't even have the height adjustment to use the above table winder, The amount of time it takes me to just wind the TRA under the table is fine with me. The winder is suited to my MOF001 but that's my hand held and I don't want it mounted lol. So I just use the rest of the accessories in TGA150 kit

As for plugging the hole in the top if you don't mind looking at it I have filled it with a glued up dowel (depends on size of your hole) and used a flush cutting japanese saw to make it flat. Yep you can see it but I don't care as its just the top of my router table its covered in dust most of the time anyway.

I've used your table and draws for some inspiration. Like the fold out table at the back too