Thread: Router Table advice (before I screw it up)...

From your pictures, I can't see any fixing of the insert to the table. I appreciate that it's a work in progress, so such fixings may already be planned. The reason I mention them at all is in commenting on your jig-saw insert part of the question.

I believe that it is a bad idea. Triton's version of a jig-saw kit for their table included an adjustable top arm with cool blocks for the top (actually the bottom) of the blade to run in. Even with this added "sophistication," the kit was - at best - only a very light-duty cutter, at worst - positively dangerous. To try to use a jig-saw inverted with out any support of the end of the blade cannot result in satisfactory cuts of anything but the thinnest material, even then the blade width dictates the radius of cut possible.

Couple all this with no insert fixings and - if the blade gets caught in a tight cut, or kicks back - then the whole insert, complete with jig-saw, could rise up out of the table and do some serious damage, especially to the operator!

In short, don't bother with the additional insert, or the use of a jig-saw inverted. It's not how they were meant to be used, it's extremely inaccurate, frustrating, dangerous and a waste of time and effort.

Needless to say, this is only my opinion, others may differ, but I write having been a Triton demonstrator and struggled for many months trying to achieve a decent result with their made-for-the-purpose jig-saw kit. Based on my lack of success and that of my colleagues, I would estimate your chances of clean and worthwhile cuts in total safety as being very close to nil - sorry!

Ray

Hi CeeJay,
Lovely concept and good progress. The attached thread might be of use to you as it shows my router table which is similar to yours except mine lives in the shed and not under the bed.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f88/no...r-table-65242/

please ask if there is anything of interest,

fletty

ello mate!

I don't see too many issues with your design. in regards to the top I purchased at great expense some plastic laminate (its expensive stuff suprisingly) and glued it to the top, the result is that work slides really nicley. I secured mine with L clamps from underneeth, checking all the while that I don't bow the top.

To be blunt plywood tops are a throw away item in my opinion and you will get a few good years out of this set up until you make a new one. I did a double 3/4 MDF top with hardwood edging, cheap, quick and highly effective!

If you watch the Gary Regowski router DVD he uses a piece of laminated chip board and a jointed piece of wood held with C clamps! Basic, and he still does very good work.

As long as your top is dead flat then go for it!

Milo

Thanks for the replies so far.
Ray, I appreciate the advice re the jig-saw. I bought a Makita today which I'm happy with after cutting out holes for the drawer and other storage access... my space limitations and the fact I have no saw to rip any stock made me wonder if the inverted jigsaw in the table combined with the router fence might do light duty for ripping short ~20mm thick stock.

Thanks also Fletty - nice table. I'm guessing from the look of it your table frame is as deep or deeper than mine (140mm). Do you get any hassle trying to get at the router from underneath? Or do you just yank it out through the top to make changes?

Milo, I was wondering about L-brackets... I was unsure if they would apply enough pressure to keep it all straight / level since my top is only 17mm and I'm relying on the stability and straightness of the backing frame. I take your point about plywood tops being disposable - I decided I wont be gluing it down so I can remove it later and continue to make use of the base frame on version 2.

Q. Is there an ideal distance between a mitre track and the bit if I decide to add one?

Cheers,

Chris

Originally Posted by CeeJay

Do you get any hassle trying to get at the router from underneath? Or do you just yank it out through the top to make changes?

Hi CeeJay,
My routers all lift out through the top as they are either fixed to the insert plate (the twin routers for the Gifkin jig) or fixed in the Jessem router lifter which is fixed to the insert plate. After using the table for a while, I built a box to enclose the router/s and have a dust port at the back connected to the dust collector to remove shavings and create a continuous airflow to keep the router cool. The box has a hinged front 'door' which allows me to adjust router height for the twin routers as the main router is adjustable from above the table anyway. So far there is no sign of the laminex covered ply top warping and the surface is very 'slippery' even with heavy workpieces. To my knowledge there is no 'standard' distance to the mitre slot and every jig I have ever seen or made is adjustable in that dimension anyway.

fletty

My router table project has taken some shape since last time I posted and worked very well with 95% passable results.

Using it as a basic table with a length of wood as a guide I slotted a dado in some MDF to make a zero clearance fence with a track for stops / feather boards and it was almost perfect re depth & width. Chamfers and round-over work was consistent along a reasonable length so I'm happy with that (table top run-out is about 0.3 to 0.5mm).

The fence is pretty good but the 80x80x6mm alu angle is not perfectly 90degrees so there is a small vertical error to the top of the fence but that's also because the MDF in the fence has warped around the track a small amount which is annoying but easily replaceable with better stock. (BTW, I milled the slots in the alu angle for the zero clearance adjustment with my router using a "disposable" 1/4" bit)

I have also incorporated a circular saw into the project to create a table saw which is going to give some folks the absolute horrors because it (so far) lacks some safety which I will add as time goes by while adopting a "belt AND braces" approach to its use. Firstly I want to add a riving knife at the aft of the saw blade and a feather board on the in-feed side... then some kind of guard over the blade.
The saw is a Bosch PKS1500 from Bunnies and it's face-plate is bolted to the table top through the 8mm polycarbonate sheet with six 3/16" bolts. It takes about five minutes to install and also remove and then it is immediately useable as a 185mm circular cut-off saw

I ripped down a few 19mm thick hardwood sticks this evening for a project and it worked very nicely and the result was great (less than 0.4mm variation in cutting width).

Anyway, as a compact, multi-use, stow-able table it works well which was my objective... I've made mistakes but they can be corrected or worked around.

The usual pain is setting up the fence parallel to the saw blade when ripping but that's obviously not a problem when using a router bit.

Improvements and additions are planned.... mitre track looks attractive and useful for feather boards as well.

Any other tips welcome.

CJ