Harish C. Mathur
07-16-2004, 7:52 PM
Hi all,
I’m thinking about building a horizontal router table for my shop. I have seen a couple of threads on the topic and have a few questions/ideas. It will take me a while to build it (my wife and I were blessed with triplets and I’m just getting to the point where I can get an hour here and there to play – usually used to fix things in the household… but I can dream about designs in the meantime!). Sorry if they have been covered or just plain dumb:<O:p</O:p
1- Most of the designs I see have the router pivoting about a fixed point.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=7693&highlight=horizontal+router
I was thinking this moves the center of the router bit as you change the depth… perhaps not a big deal, but it seems that you have to move the piece you are mortising every time you change the height of the bit relative to the table. Although it makes it a more complex, does it make sense to mount the router on a plate that moves straight up and down and has a thread rod that allows you to move it up and down. Kind of like the router lift design that was in Wood magazine a few months ago (for those that saw it).<O:p</O:p
2- The table on these designs allows you to plunge your work into the router bit. Does it make sense to put a lever on the router so you can set the plunge the router into the work instead (kind of like the woodrat design). It seems like it would be easier on larger pieces to have the wood stationary and you can use the router to control the depth. It also makes the table simpler (just need travel in one direction).
<O:p</O:p
3- If you do number 1 above, could you then cut through dovetails on the set-up? Where you free hand where you want the pins or tails and then use them as a positioning guide (with jig that adjusts for the width offset created by the bit) to create matching pin or tail? It’s kind of hard to describe without pictures, but I’m thinking of using the part that is cut free hand as a template that is followed by a jig with a stylus to cut the corresponding part. I’ve not tried dovetails before… so I don’t know if you can really cut both parts and have them mesh this way… I think there may be a need to cut the tails with an angle that can not be done on a horizontal table…<O:p</O:p
Anyway, so thoughts. Any comments?
Thanks, Harish
I’m thinking about building a horizontal router table for my shop. I have seen a couple of threads on the topic and have a few questions/ideas. It will take me a while to build it (my wife and I were blessed with triplets and I’m just getting to the point where I can get an hour here and there to play – usually used to fix things in the household… but I can dream about designs in the meantime!). Sorry if they have been covered or just plain dumb:<O:p</O:p
1- Most of the designs I see have the router pivoting about a fixed point.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=7693&highlight=horizontal+router
I was thinking this moves the center of the router bit as you change the depth… perhaps not a big deal, but it seems that you have to move the piece you are mortising every time you change the height of the bit relative to the table. Although it makes it a more complex, does it make sense to mount the router on a plate that moves straight up and down and has a thread rod that allows you to move it up and down. Kind of like the router lift design that was in Wood magazine a few months ago (for those that saw it).<O:p</O:p
2- The table on these designs allows you to plunge your work into the router bit. Does it make sense to put a lever on the router so you can set the plunge the router into the work instead (kind of like the woodrat design). It seems like it would be easier on larger pieces to have the wood stationary and you can use the router to control the depth. It also makes the table simpler (just need travel in one direction).
<O:p</O:p
3- If you do number 1 above, could you then cut through dovetails on the set-up? Where you free hand where you want the pins or tails and then use them as a positioning guide (with jig that adjusts for the width offset created by the bit) to create matching pin or tail? It’s kind of hard to describe without pictures, but I’m thinking of using the part that is cut free hand as a template that is followed by a jig with a stylus to cut the corresponding part. I’ve not tried dovetails before… so I don’t know if you can really cut both parts and have them mesh this way… I think there may be a need to cut the tails with an angle that can not be done on a horizontal table…<O:p</O:p
Anyway, so thoughts. Any comments?
Thanks, Harish