Router Table and Downdraft Table

**silentC** · 18th August 2004, 11:30 PM

Here is a photo of the router table that I've made for my tablesaw. It's a bit of a work in progress really. I plan to make a torsion box style frame to go underneath to give it a bit of rigidity. It doesn't flex too much except for the front corner where it has no support. It's a piece of hardwood ply that I had lying around. I just milled a couple of strips of hardwood that sit on the fence rails leaving the top of the table flush with the sawbench table. There's another strip that runs along the back of the ply table where it meets the sawbench to provide for mounting. It's just screwed to the outer edge of the saw table through the bolt holes that are there already with three coach screws.

The Veritas base plate is dead easy to install and I can get the router out from under the table in seconds with no need to remove it from the base plate when I want to use it hand-held.

This setup allows me to use the tablesaw fence for routing (with a suitable sub-fence). The fence can be set on either side, allowing me to feed from the front or from the back. I can also use the Incra Jig by securing it in the mitre slot (on the list).

The second pic is of the downdraft table I've been working on. My BIL is a sheety and he made the cowling underneath with the 4" spigot. I hook it up to my DC and it sucks the dust out of the air around whatever I'm sanding through the pegboard top. It doubles as an outfeed table for my saw. The chassis is an old poster rack.

**ryanarcher** · 19th August 2004, 01:38 AM

Great ideas! I love the downdraft table and think I'll steal the design when I get dust collection. thanks for sharing!
-ryan

**Cliff Rogers** · 19th August 2004, 01:45 AM

Originally Posted by ryanarcher

... I love the downdraft table ....

Yeah, me too on that one.

**Rocker** · 19th August 2004, 08:11 AM

What is that disgusting-looking orange thing you are trying to hide under the curtain?

Rocker

**silentC** · 19th August 2004, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by Rocker

What is that disgusting-looking orange thing you are trying to hide under the curtain?

Rocker

I'm still proud to be a Triton owner!

Currently surplus to my needs, the old Triton router table is one day to become a horizontal router table.

For now it's a useful place to put the old bedsheets that I cover my tablesaw and SCMS with

**bitingmidge** · 19th August 2004, 09:27 AM

OK tell me more about the downdraft table:

I have always looked suspiciously at peg-board tables because of the relatively small area of suckativity (lots of friction through small holes?)...so does it really work?

It'll be bugger for me if it does, (

) because I've gone to the trouble of using an AC grille to attempt to evenly distribute airflow, and have a timber egg crate over the top... connected to a 6" port.... Of course like everything else at my place. IT'S NOT FINISHED YET!!

Great stuff, thanks for sharing,

P

**Grunt** · 19th August 2004, 09:32 AM

I love the downdraft table

I think it sucks! Which is what you want in a downdraft table.

**himzol** · 19th August 2004, 09:49 AM

OK tell me more about the downdraft table:

What he said!

**silentC** · 19th August 2004, 09:53 AM

Midge,

I don't have any scientific results to pass on. It seems to work OK. Whether or not it could work better than it does is hard to say without experimenting. The pegboard only cost a few bucks, so I had nothing to lose in that respect.

To see if it worked, I hooked it up to my DC and sanded a bit of wood whilst looking across the top of the table towards the light. I could see the fine dust rising into the air and then getting sucked down.

I guess you can tell by how the load on the fan changes when you hook it up. I can pull the hose off the spigot when the DC is running without too much effort and the sound of the blower doesn't change much. It's a fairly large area so maybe that compensates for the small holes - there's lot's of 'em.

One I saw on the net used a sheet of 15mm ply with half inch holes drilled in it. Buggered if I'm going to ruin a perfectly good sheet of ply by filling it with holes :eek:

**AlexS** · 19th August 2004, 01:08 PM

Thanks for posting the downdraft table idea. While I prefer original design in most things, I think in this case I'll steal yours if that's OK.

After all, all design is derivative.

**silentC** · 19th August 2004, 01:15 PM

Alex,

Steal away! I nicked the idea from somewhere on the web anyway. It was just fortuitous that I happened upon the poster rack at the tip and it turned out to be the right size and shape. The sloping sides suggested the hopper-shape for the dust catcher.

Oh my god, an example of function following form :eek:

**bitingmidge** · 19th August 2004, 01:16 PM

Originally Posted by AlexS

After all, all design is derivative.

Originality is merely plagiarism undetected.

P

**Phil Mazey** · 19th August 2004, 06:25 PM

Looks pretty good to me - currently in market for router table, but since I have the same sort of tablesaw as the one in your pic, I'll try making one like yours instead. It could need legs on the outside - the tablesaw doesn't need a whole lot of weight added to those rails before it tilts. A heavy router and some weighty timber plus a bit of downward pressure exerted in the course of working it could be enough. However, legs would in any case be part of adding something to get the dust into the extractor pipe. Thanks for the idea. Saves space too. Re Veritas base plate - whereja getit and does it come with clamps to hold the router up?

**silentC** · 19th August 2004, 11:27 PM

Phil,

I got the plate from Lee Valley, details here: http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=10745

My saw weighs 180Kg so it's pretty solid but I guess legs would be a good idea. Mine's on a mobile base, so it makes that a little bit harder to achieve. Perhaps something that drops down with adjustable feet. Haven't had the overbalancing problem yet though, fingers crossed.

You don't need clamps with the Veritas plate, it replaces the existing base plate on your router and is a permanent fixture. It screws directly into the same mounting holes.

Just be warned that it's no good out of the box for large router bits like panel raisers because the clearance hole is not that large. You'd have to cut a bigger hole in it for more clearance.

**Barry_White** · 20th August 2004, 12:41 PM

Good idea. I read somewhere that if the holes in the top of the downdraft table are countersunk that they are more effecient.

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