Making a make shift "router table" pics/ ideas

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Hi All, I have a router but no table for it. I could really use some kind of fence and table for it but don't have the resources for this right now. Is there a way of doing a temporary fence and table for a router? Thanks for any ideas and pics are much appreciated.

[Myk Rian]

Get a sink cutout from a kitchen shop. That's what I used for my first RT.
Use a couple of C-clamps to hold it to a bench. Use any piece of straight scrap for a fence. Clamp it to the RT.

[Peter Pedisich]

Alan,

You have the right idea. I would take a look at Pat Warners basic sheet of mdf with a hole in it and a 1.5" thk fence of jointed hardwood.
I spent weeks designing & building a fancy homemade aluminum extrusion fence with all kinds of doo-dads and the simple mdf/hardwood table would have covered 98.96875% of the work I've done on my table so far.
I broke the K.I.S.S. rule, and not for the first time, by the way.

Pete

[Glen Butler]

I will assume that you don't have a router plate either. If money is tight, your local pastics supply can get some phenolic for cheaper than a plate and you can cut it yourself. If times are really tight, 1/2 BB ply could sub temporarily. Beyond that just follow these steps

1 Sandwich 2 pieces of MDF 24x32 together. Have plenty of clamps standing by and as much weight as you can find for the center.
2 Place the phenolic or other router plate centered about 12" from the front onto the MDF
3 frame around it tightly with 1/2 mdf just tacking it to the table.
4 remove plate, and frame inside that with 1/2 mdf ripped 3/4 wide.
5 route through the table following the inside frame with a top bearing bit.
6 remove inside frame and route again but at a depth slightly thicker than your plate, again using the top bearing bit.
7 Now you should have a hole and a shelf to hold the plate. Decide on a set screw that you want to use for leveling the plate. Anything between #10-5/16 works well with between a 24 and 32 pitch thread.
8 Drill a hole in each corner of the shelf you just routed that matches a tap size for the set screw you chose.
9 wick thin CA into the holes.
10 Tap the holes. The wick CA again. Then tap again.
11 Now you have strong screw threads in MDF and you can set up your router from there.
12 I made a simple framework with legs out of 2x4 to support the MDF table.
13 A fence can simply be a jointed 2x4 or a piece of MDF that clamps to the table that is notched to recess the bit.

Clear as mud? This is how I did my table except my fence is a little more extravagant. It work for everything I do. I will get you pics tomorrow if need be.

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Thanks guys for all the detailed information. I like the" double frame around the plate" to get the recess. Great idea. Please keep this coming. I'd love to see some pics of your tables. Thanks!

[Jim Andrew]

I went to the local neon sign company, they gave me some scraps of 1/2" clear plastic. Made my own router plates, have 4 routers and made the plates so I could just drop them in my 2 router tables, both homemade. One has a piece of scrap laminate, the other just finished on both sides. I also doubled the top around the edge of the plate cutout.

[Greg Peterson]

We've all seen some really nice router tables in the vein of Norm's design. After spending an evening listening to Gary Rogowski talk about design and then touring his shop, IMO, the fancy router tables are more about vanity than function. Rogowski uses MDF for his router table and if it took more than five minutes I would be shocked. Nothing fancy, three sides and a top.

Save your money for bits. Slap some MDF across some supports and let 'er rip.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

This thread is right up my router table alley! I have a sliding table shaper, so I don't make big cuts on the router table, but I do use one for little jobs. The last one was trimming of edgebanding.

I just clamp a piece of mdf or ply to my big bandsaw's table (allows the use of its dust collection hose) and attach a router by screwing through the top into the router base. The fence is just a chunk of whatever lumber makes a good fence at the time. I screw one end of the fence to the top so I only have to undo one clamp to adjust.

Super simple, and it works just fine.

[Carroll Courtney]

I don't have pics of one,but I seen one where a table about 3'x16" had a pair of hinges mounted on it,then mounted on his wall.He would remove the router then it would fold down out of the way.It was neat for a small space---Carroll

[Ellen Benkin]

i had a table and top from Rockler and then made a new top from solid surface material. The Rockler top was perfectly functional and, of course, their plates fit with no fussing around.

[Wakahisa Shinta]

Mine comes from a particle board shelf of an old bookshelf. Frostner bit to bore a 1 3/8" hole for the bit. Use the baseplate's screw holes as template to drill holes through the board for attaching the router. Scrap piece of 2x4 as fence with a 1 3/8" hole drilled through using the same Frostner bit. Clamp the whole assembly to two saw horses. Took 1 hour to make. Cost nothing.

I jointed 2x4 face that serves as the fence so that it's flat. When done, detach router so that table does not warp.

[Stephen Edwards]

You've been given some good advice. A RT can be as simple or as complex as you want. I suggest starting simple and cheap, as others have described. The more that you use it the more you'll know what you want a RT to do for you and then build a more elaborate table later, should you decide to do so.

[Myk Rian]

Here's a simple router table.