Router Table Surface

[Mark Oberreuter]

My Christmas present arrived this week; an Incra LS Positioner Super System. I'm excited to start using it, but need to build a new router table top, as my current setup is a 24"x48" centered table. I was planning on laminating two 3/4" sheets of MDF for the surface, then covering with formica. However, I had a new idea whilst roaming the aisles of the BORG: why not use a door slab.

For $50 I can get a 30"x84"x1 3/4" undrilled door slab with birch veneer on both faces. This would save me from buying:
- MDF
- Formica
- J-Roller
- Contact Cement

This would also save me the time of gluing up the MDF, then adding the formica top and trimming to size. I can just cut the door slab to a 48" length and be done with the whole process.

Is there any reason not to use the door slab?

[Glen Butler]

MDF alone is just fine for a table top. Wax it and it will run smooth as silk. A full sheet of MDF is half the cost of a door slab. The borg may sell half sheets so you would even be better off.

[Cory Hoehn]

Or you could buy a quarter sheet of MDF and a quarter sheet of MCP, then glue them together to whatever size you wanted. Total cost would be around $40 and you have some left over to make your fence and fence faces.

[Paul Incognito]

I got a bunch of 1-3/4" door slabs from a buddy who was demo'ing a commercial job and used them for workbenches, miter saw station and a router table top.
Heavy, flat and strong, they work great.
PI

[Michael Drew]

As far as the door slab is concerned, it would depend on what it is made of. Some solid core doors have some pretty exotic make ups nowadays and not all would be suitable for a table or be dense enough to support router plate leveling screws. I wouldn’t assume anything and verify what it is actually made of first. I’d also take your straight edge with you. Don’t assume it’s flat and check it with your straight edge first.

Another thing I’ve learned, is when working with MDF, don’t assume that it’s flat either. I made that mistake when building my router table. It was my first woodworking project and I learned a lot making it, (including the need to pay attention to router direction when cutting a dado against a straight edge……du..) I just assumed that MDF had to be flat, and if I glue two sheets together, they’d be even flatter. As a result of those assumptions, I have a router table with a sag in the middle and some cosmetically challenged T-track groves.

All that aside, I am also going with the Incra TS system in the near future and will need to build a different table. I’m researching router table design and configuration now. I think it’s pretty important to get the table size right when using the Incra system. I do not know at this point what that size should be either…. If you plan on using it for dovetails and double dovetails and all the other crazy joinery options you can do with the Incra, being close to the bit and perpendicular to the fence, I believe, is important. But, I like having a wide table top for putting an edge on long boards without having to drag out in feed / out feed rollers. So at this point I’m just not sure how big to make the table.