jonny round boy
Member
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2007
- Messages
- 3,227
I've been toying with the idea of building a router table for some time now, but now I really need one so this morning I decided the time had come...
I decided to make it as an 'insert' for my Small Kapex Work Table which I made just over 2 years ago (now looking slightly worse for wear):
[attachthumb=11]
I decided on an 18mm MDF top, with a 9.5mm 'Tufnol' insert to hold the router itself. The Tufnol sheet came from eBay, GBP6.99 for a 300x200mm sheet (approx. A4 size). I drilled this so I could attach the OF1400 with 2x M5x20 pan head screws into the 2 tapped holes in the router base.
First, the top was cut to size with my TS55, here it is with the tufnol plate:
[attachthumb=1]
I then used a spare piece of 9mm MDF to make a template for routing out the plate recess. Since it was just a template, I didn't worry about over-running on the corners so could cut it straight out without having to cut the corners out with the jigsaw:
[attachthumb=2]
This was then clamped to the top piece, and the bit I cut out was cut down in size & tacked inside to carry the router:
[attachthumb=3]
I used the 30mm collar with a half-inch bit to cut the recess, once I'd set the router to the correct depth:
[attachthumb=4]
With the centre support and the template removed, I was left with cutting out the centre. I'd purposely cut the recess wide enough to take the 3omm collar, so I could simply use the same router setup to cut it out:
[attachthumb=5]
I deliberately cut the recess slightly smaller than the insert plate, as the edges of the plate weren't great. So I trimmed the plate to fit on both the length & width:
[attachthumb=6]
Obviously, the plate still won't fit due to the rounded cut-out corners:
[attachthumb=7]
I could have squared the cut-out corners with a chisel, but I thought it would be better to round the corners of the plate instead. I did this roughly by eye with my ETS150, then a final tweak by hand:
[attachthumb=8]
And, the plate fits!!!
[attachthumb=9]
The plate sits approx 0.25mm proud of the MDF surface:
[attachthumb=10]
And here it is on the base:
[attachthumb=12]
To use it, I'll need to remove the systainers from underneath so there's room for the router....
In the next post, I'll detail the process of building a simple fence to use on the table.
I decided to make it as an 'insert' for my Small Kapex Work Table which I made just over 2 years ago (now looking slightly worse for wear):
[attachthumb=11]
I decided on an 18mm MDF top, with a 9.5mm 'Tufnol' insert to hold the router itself. The Tufnol sheet came from eBay, GBP6.99 for a 300x200mm sheet (approx. A4 size). I drilled this so I could attach the OF1400 with 2x M5x20 pan head screws into the 2 tapped holes in the router base.
First, the top was cut to size with my TS55, here it is with the tufnol plate:
[attachthumb=1]
I then used a spare piece of 9mm MDF to make a template for routing out the plate recess. Since it was just a template, I didn't worry about over-running on the corners so could cut it straight out without having to cut the corners out with the jigsaw:
[attachthumb=2]
This was then clamped to the top piece, and the bit I cut out was cut down in size & tacked inside to carry the router:
[attachthumb=3]
I used the 30mm collar with a half-inch bit to cut the recess, once I'd set the router to the correct depth:
[attachthumb=4]
With the centre support and the template removed, I was left with cutting out the centre. I'd purposely cut the recess wide enough to take the 3omm collar, so I could simply use the same router setup to cut it out:
[attachthumb=5]
I deliberately cut the recess slightly smaller than the insert plate, as the edges of the plate weren't great. So I trimmed the plate to fit on both the length & width:
[attachthumb=6]
Obviously, the plate still won't fit due to the rounded cut-out corners:
[attachthumb=7]
I could have squared the cut-out corners with a chisel, but I thought it would be better to round the corners of the plate instead. I did this roughly by eye with my ETS150, then a final tweak by hand:
[attachthumb=8]
And, the plate fits!!!
[attachthumb=9]
The plate sits approx 0.25mm proud of the MDF surface:
[attachthumb=10]
And here it is on the base:
[attachthumb=12]
To use it, I'll need to remove the systainers from underneath so there's room for the router....
In the next post, I'll detail the process of building a simple fence to use on the table.