Need advise on setting up router table for CMS table with no insert plate.

[gregnations@gmail.com]

I purchased a CMSVL table with some CMS router components. But the table did not have a router plate. What can I do to set up a mounted router without this plate.View attachment 1

 

[Peter Kelly]

You might still be able to order the plate from a dealer.
https://ekat.festool.de/login2/app?...29351DB45EA618EEFB7B1BB136D42B8044FCE28E6056D

 

[ElectricFeet]

I purchased a CMSVL table with some CMS router components. But the table did not have a router plate. What can I do to set up a mounted router without this plate.View attachment 1

Which components do you have? If you don’t have the lift, then there’s little benefit to having the plate.

If you don’t have the lift, then buy a router lift of your choice and make your own table top out of mdf / melamine ply. Or buy a full table solution and cut it down to fit.

I have the plate (and lift & fence) but it’s not as versatile as more recent router tables — no tracks to run 3rd party sleds in, for example.

 

[PaulMarcel]

I bought the CMS from a friend with the router plate kit. The draw for the CMS is interchangeable plates for different functions on a single table with nice DC, fence, and slider. But in the US, only the router plate is was available. So in a sense you pay for a versatility you can't actually realize.

But for me, I wanted it so I could eventually tinker with adding my own plates. With a decent SVG of the router plate, I could get an aluminum plate cut to act as a blank that I could cut/drill for whatever tool may work (HL-850 plate anyone? Belt sander? oscillating spindle sander? Oh, all in the omg-I-have-free-time pipeline).

So with all that said, you could make your own plate and mount whichever router lift you want under it. Like [member=64013]ElectricFeet[/member] said, most third-party tables have additions you may prefer over the original CMS router plate.

 

[gregnations@gmail.com]

Thanks to you both, this is really helpful. The rounded "catch/lip" on the long pieces that host the plate will make it harder to find a fit. Would you recommend figuring that out, or just not worry about the lip and drop a plate in that is flush and fits both the long and short components that hold the plate up.

Thanks again.

 

[tsmi243]

I've got a piece of 3/4 baltic that I cut to fit.  I rabbeted the sides, so it sits flush.  I was worried that the ~8mm thickness leftover on the rabbet might be too weak, but it's really not.  It'll hold a router. 

 

[ElectricFeet]

Thanks to you both, this is really helpful. The rounded "catch/lip" on the long pieces that host the plate will make it harder to find a fit. Would you recommend figuring that out, or just not worry about the lip and drop a plate in that is flush and fits both the long and short components that hold the plate up.

Thanks again.

What [member=51752]tsmi243[/member] said.

Also, when I made a general-purpose tabletop for mine, I:

- added a long strip of hardwood on one side, with a rabbet/rebate in it, so that it hooked under the rounded edge on one side of the table; and

- added two inserts on the other side of the underside of the top, so that I could clamp it down from underneath. I used 2 small blocks of ply with holes in them to accept knurled bolts that screwed into the inserts. I shaped them on a disc sander so that they had 45 degree chamfers and rounded edges.

This is what the original festool part looks like:
[attachimg=1]

The Festool ones are straight on one edge, so that you can swivel them round and remove the table with them still attached. The original blocks that I made unscrewed completely, so they weren’t so sophisticated. I later made some more that swivelled, like the Festool ones.

 

[ElectricFeet]

[member=78551]gregnations@gmail.com[/member] I was clearing out my drawer of small pieces of wood today and found the little clamps I had made to attach my home-made tabletop to the CMS table. They look like this and you can see the dimensions (mm) from the photo:
[attachimg=1]
I attached them with inserts / knobs and they swivelled out of the way to facilitate the removal of the table. They attached with the side you can see in the photo upwards, to match the contours of the underside of the table.

Hope this helps, if you need to make them yourself.

 

[gregnations@gmail.com]

Thank you so much.  Super helpful. I will dig out the CMS table parts I pulled off (the aluminum short side sides, etc) and take a look at those and you directions. Then I may hit you up again for additional questions. I think I am just intimidated about buying a router lift with plate, etc, and building a table top around it. But bottom line, it’s just a table top that needs to be secure to the table. So it really should not be that hard/intimidating. Your comments on the 3/4 BB being strong enough is a helpful fact. Thanks again.

 

[ElectricFeet]

… I think I am just intimidated about buying a router lift with plate, etc, and building a table top around it …

There are tons of videos of people doing it on YouTube. Some messily, some really well.

The only thing you must get right is to make sure that the lift you buy is compatible with your router. This will be stated on the manufacturer’s site.

Everything else is re-doable. Many plates have built-in height-adjustment (and some even have width-adjustment) so you can’t really go too wrong. But even if you do, at the end of the day it’s just a slab of wood/ply, so just make another one. You’ll probably want to make a sacrificial fence or some jigs at some point, so the material won’t go to waste.

I once watched an Adam Savage video where he explained his experience of making many things twice. Once where you mess it up and once again to get it right. Once you go into a project with the idea that the first one is just a prototype, it becomes easier. Bonus: the prototype is often good enough to use as the real thing