My First Router Table

[Darren Vass]

Hi All,

Yeah! I finally completed a woodworking project. Well almost. I'm leaving the side router bit holder trays till later. You can see the draw sliders already in place. I will also install the drawers for the bottom open space later. These are not needed for functionality. There is dust collection up top and through the bottom. I got the plans from the Kreg DVD and did use pocket hole joinery (I know, I'm pond scum for not using dowels and only a hand saw!) I tried to make the dust collection chamber fairly airtight except for the 1/8" slot at the bottom of the door for air to pull through and across the bottom of the chamber. As you can see, the table tilts for bit changing.

Darren :D

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[glenn bradley]

Looking good. Size those lower drawers to hold more router bits; DAMHIKT. I made one side of my lower area a pullout bin to hold an additional router. The routers now live in a cabinet on the wall and the clever "extra router" drawer is full of feather boards, throat rings and stuff like that despite my building in three other drawers for "all that". I never knew routers and router bits were so much like rabbits.

P.s. I used PH too. PH are not a second class form of joinery at all for some type of work. Fast, effective and surprisingly durable.

[Mike Heidrick]

Darren, it looks fantastic! I love pocket hole screws so I am right in the pond scum with you. I think I have given as much money to Kreg as most people give to their table saw mfg. Maybe more! I will be keeping the PH pond scum warm for a very long time. When hidden they are fantastic to work with in my opinion.

Congrats once again.

[Darren Vass]

Thanks for the feedback guys. It's a start. I hope it will function for my purposes.

Darren

[Ben Martin]

I like it, nice and simple and gets the job done!

[Don Morris]

Looks great. I also used the Kreg system. I too made mine from the Kreg DVD, but with modifications. I vented to the back at the bottom of the cabinet enclusure with a 4" outlet. Works fine. Didn't see any need for the bottom outlet. That just took space away from drawers. Which as others have said go to good stow away use for other router item needs. The side drawers are done with wood runners. Cheaper, and work just about as well. The variety of possibilities are endless. My Bench Dog fence has dust collection so between the two, very little gets out and the system works well.

[Paul Greathouse]

Looks great Darren. The Kreg pockhole system is also my weapon of choice when the pockethole can be hidden. Be sure and post some more pictures when the table is complete.

[Sam Layton]

That is a great looking router table Darren. I like the way it opens up for access, etc..

Great job, Sam

[Norman Pyles]

Nice looking router table. I sealed up the router chamber on my table too. Found it worked alot better after I drilled a few 1" holes in the door, so air could flow through.

[Darren Vass]

[QUOTE= I vented to the back at the bottom of the cabinet enclusure with a 4" outlet. Works fine. Didn't see any need for the bottom outlet.[/QUOTE]

Don, Do you happen to have a picture of how you did this?

Thanks,

Darren

[Darren Vass]

Nice looking router table. I sealed up the router chamber on my table too. Found it worked alot better after I drilled a few 1" holes in the door, so air could flow through.


Norman, did you have any space under the door to begin with? I'm wondering how much air flow it needs to be effective for air flow.

Darren

[mark kosse]

Just excellent work, looks great.

[Norman Pyles]

Darren, I had an 1/8 space all around the door [inset door]. You will just have to see how yours works, and adjust accordingly. :)

[scott vroom]

Darren, looks awesome! What make/model are you using for a table top? What model Bench Dog fence? Also curious why you didn't use a lift.

Very nice work. I was going to purchase the Jessem system including their stand, but after seeing your project and the nice dust collection feature I may go ahead and make my own stand. I just purchased the Kreg K3 system; there's a DVD included, I hope it has the plans on it.

[Darren Vass]

It was not a Bench Dog Fence. I purchased it at

http://www.routertabledepot.com/rm405rotaand.html

Real cheap, I think! The banding around the table edge is not pristine, but it will work for my purposes. It does not leave you with a perfectly straight edge. The table top with the wooden banding might be better if you are loking for that. Personally, I'll be using the fence for a straight edge, so I was not really concernced with a couple of slight bumps, probably from the glue up of the banding. The table is heavy, thick and flat.

As for the router, I went with this

http://www.routertabledepot.com/rm405rotaand.html

I just could not afford to go with a lift at this point. I'm sure that this setup will be more than enough for most woodworking that I will be doing: furniture and loudspeakers.

As for the plans, I watched the DVD on the router table construction and just made up measurements based on what the presenter stated in the DVD. It not difficult. All you need to figure are the 3 box dimensions WxLxH. The table top will be large enough if you go with what the DVD says. I have a PDF that's too large to post here, but would be happy to email it to you. Just PM your address if you would like it. This is the PDF from Kregg. I did not use it exactly. I used the plan, but my own dimensions, which were slightly altered. If you use the dimensions from the PDF, just make sure it makes sense dimensionally and that it will fit.

Darren

[Rick Hubbard]

Good Job !

I can tell you from experience that you will love the tip-up feature. I had that on my third and fourth router tables since I didn't have a lift on either of them and it was GREAT.

Also, don't belittle yourself on the Kreg PH construction. As I always say, there are two kinds of woodworkers: those who use Kreg PH setups and those who eventually will!

Rick

[Stephen Edwards]

Fine Job! Now that you have your table nearly completed you'll find that it will be very useful as your do the finishing touches on the table itself as well as all of the other projects you'll be doing. Again, very fine RT. Enjoy it!

As for your DC, after following several threads here at the Creek on that topic, I added a 4" blast gate to the rear of the router chamber on my table. I also have four 7/8" holes in the bottom of the door for air flow. I built those holes so that they each have a little "sliding door" that enables me to have them them opened or closed independently, and even partially open. I did this for experimental purposes. The 4" blast gate in the rear of the chamber, about half open, seems to be the trick for the right amount of air flow. Doesn't seem to matter of the four holes are opened or closed.

[Chris Tsutsui]

That's a cool looking funnel dust collection port you've got. I also like how your table top lifts up and out with that hardware.

For the DC air intake on mine, I just crack the front door open and put in a scrap piece of wood to prop the door open. This allows just enough air in and didn't involve in me installing an extra blast gate somewhere.

I used MDF instead of plywood for my RT carcass because MDF tends to weigh more and has some vibration damping characteristics.

My next obstacle is trying to organize my router bits...

[Darren Vass]

The tip up feature made a lot of sense to me as I was planning the project. It made sense for ease of bit change.

Nice table Chris. And oh, thanks for showing how neat your shop is. I have to push aside all my floor "decorations" the next time I snap pics of any project I post. Duh, didn't think of that. Really though, nice table. Did you make your own top?

Darren