Thread: My router table

Originally Posted by Wayne Johnson

Hi All, I guess many members have built router tables, here is mine.

Photo #1 is the legs of the table, Made from 30x30 mm Angle iron, the MDF on the top has been machined flat to correct a slight twist in tho top from my back-yard welding.

Photo #2 Here the top is fitted to the legs, the top is fabricated from 2 pieces of Melamine on MDF laminated together with Araldite the hardwood surround is an attempt to protect the relatively soft top from impact damage.

Photo #3, here the top has been rebated to accept the router mounting plate .

Photo #4 the router mounting plate is fitted, made from 5mm marine grade aluminium secured with countersunk bolts.

Photo #6 Using a small router with homebrew circle cutter to machine out the center hole for a plastic insert (From Timbercon in Perth)

Disregard photo #5 (blurred)

More to follow

Looks good Wayne ,you going to box the sides in and hook up a dust collector?

Hope I havn't messed up here !!

Photo # 8 The fence assy, this part was later modified to include a dust extraction port see the next photo.

Photo # 11 Here is the final shot of the fence assy, it is sprayed on all sides to help keep it reasonably stable with changing humidity conditions, the gussets ensure a good mechanically sound structure , the handles I obtained from Timbercon in Perth, the larger ones set the fence in position and have long coach bolts which extend down through the tabletop and throuhg the angle iron frame. The RHS (Infeed ) fence can be moved independantly of the rest of the assembly to enable me to use it as a simple edge planer.

Photo # 12, here the miter slide extrusion has been set into a trench machined into the tabletop and positioned over the front part of the steel frame and secured with countersunk bolts.

Photo # 10 The fence with the faces fitted, I used 6 mm acrylic sheet (Perspex) they are attached with c/sunk bolts and thub nuts behind to allow the faces to be slid apart to accomodate larger cutters.

Photo # 13 Completed table (Hope it works OK) the miter slide is from my saw bench (An old Walker Turner "Driver Line")

So you see that MDFdoes have some uses !!

Many of the ideas I have included in this project were spied from this forum so if you see any of your ideas thanks for the tip

I like it, did you make the aluminium plate or is it off the shelf?

Great job wayne ,looks really professional .
I have a Triton table at the moment ,as a starter table ,I will be sheeting the top with either 3.2mm aluminium or 6mm Lexan .
I plan to build a better table later , maybe with a side mounted vertical table as well as a horizontal.
I've been reading Speilmans book "The New Router Handbook " and it contains some really good ideas.

Originally Posted by routermaniac

I like it, did you make the aluminium plate or is it off the shelf?

Hi Routermaniac,
Yes I did make it ,I have a mate who had a chunk of 5mm Ali clutering up his garage, he reckoned he was going to chuck it !!!, I used the circle cutter atachment on my old Hitachi FM8 router to cut out the hole and then machine the small rebate into it to accept the plastic insert, The Makita 3600BR router is bolted the underside of the plate using M5 countersunk cap screws, I used a 1/4 " mandrel in the router chuck to act as the center for the circle cutter to ensure the router was centrally located in the hole.
Thanks for the reply

Wayne

Originally Posted by Woodlee

Great job wayne ,looks really professional .
I have a Triton table at the moment ,as a starter table ,I will be sheeting the top with either 3.2mm aluminium or 6mm Lexan .
I plan to build a better table later , maybe with a side mounted vertical table as well as a horizontal.
I've been reading Speilmans book "The New Router Handbook " and it contains some really good ideas.

Thanks Woodlee, I heard about that book but have not laid eyes on it, I must check it out.

Actually I have some concerns about how the Perspex fence will last (Among other things) hopefully OK from a weekend warrior type workload - Only time will tell

PS Love the Groucho Marks Quote!


Cheers
Wayne

Looks really good .
Regards,
Bob

G'day Wayne,
Looks like a really good workable unit. Well Done!!
About to start construction myself of a new table with all the inclusions I've picked from this forum, and Speilman's book.