YARTF (Yet Another Router Table Fence)

[Dennis Lopeman]

I finally did it. I would like to share. There are tons of designs out there and I studied them all and came up with my version. I actually had this very sweet piece of aluminum that I got for $1 at a yard sale!! I designed the fence around it. You will see it below - very thick and strong and pretty much perfectly square. A great canidate for SOMETHING... I knew it had a future as a fence in my shop!

The aluminum was real dirty so the first thing was cleaning and putting the cool swirley affect on it. You'll see! Then I played around laying piece of wood out and trying to come up with a design. There was no template or plans... I was in essence redesigning or designing from scratch... pretty challenging.

Cutting aluminum is interesting. I had a metal cutting blade for the table saw and was able to use it. Problem was, I could not change the speed of my table saw, so it cut so fast bits of aluminum were melting onto the blade. So, 2 cuts, clean out EACH tooth on the blade, 2 more cuts, clean, cut, clean cut clean... PITA... Can't I change my saw to have gears like on my drill?

OK - I'll post the pictures - and I have a few to tell and ask about stuff... but will post those later cuz its time for bed!

[Dennis Lopeman]

So - quick continue...

I will show more pictures of close ups... and a little pricing...

Look at the vacuum tube. It's not even attached! It's 4 inches and just resting over the top of the 2 inch plastic router vacuum thing. There's so much suction on it, I don't even need to attach it. NO CHIPS on the floor or anywhere! So much better than what I had before (nothing!)...

Let's do the pricing:

Pieces of wood were free cutoffs from the lumber mill I go to. The two little dark brown pieces on top or actually Ipe floor sample that I got from Home Depot! Plywood pieces under the fence where off a project (a 4x8 oak veneer piece that I did pay for...) so maybe a little cost there although I wouldn't have used them for much else. That BORG plywood is COMPLETE CRAP. I should have gone to the lumber mill but it quite a trek.

Aluminum bar - $1... I already mentioned that steal!!!

All the screws were from the same yard sale... and I bought coffee cans full of screws of all sizes and shapes. I might have payed $5 or so... so the handful I used here would be pennies really...

The handles - FREE. Why. I had these under desk computer keyboard pull out thingies I stored away. I'm a pack rat. I knew I could use them for something! I cannibolized them and took their parts.

Router vacuum thing - $5 - WoodCraft

Aluminum tracks - 2 at $14 each

a steel metal tube to do the long bolts that hold the fence in place (also fun to cut!) The whole thing was about 3 feet long... I used about 3 inches! It was $12 I think...

Time... two whole weekends... more evenings... I'm a perfectionist... I also built a cool multi-purpose coping sled!! I'll show those pix later, too!

If I forgot anything, I'll cover it later.

[Greg Hines, MD]

Interesting design. I have always wanted to have my feather boards right over the bit. Have you had any problems with using them away from the bit?

Doc

[Chip Lindley]

Nice to see a guy excited about making *scrap* into something as nice as this RT! I'm impressed! One man's trash IS another man's treasure!

I am deliberating on THE PERFECT router fence. No doubt I can do wayy better cost-wise than the price of ready-to-wear by Incra, JessEm, or Kreg. All those extruded aluminum shapes at 8020,Inc. is awsome stuff. Something for everyone! Decisions, Decisions!

[Norman Pyles]

Nice!!!!!!!!!!

[Dennis Lopeman]

@Greg - you mention feather boards OVER the bit. The plan, once I make some feather boards, is to have them on both sides of the bit. That's what the T-Grooves are on the top part of the boards.

The other cool feature of the boards being designed as I did is that once/if this face of the boards becomes marred, I can flip the both of them over and and have brand "new" face(s)!! The t-grooves exist in the same exact positions on the oppisite sides.

Back to the feather boards: I have some acrylic shelving that I've also carried around/stored for years... I'm going to cut that up to make a see-thru gaurd over the bit.

@Chip - I see potential in lots of garbage!!! LOL... my wife, however... Well, I'm sure you know where I'm going with that! This Aluminum is very thick - I love it - there won't be any flexing, that's for sure.

Thanx Norman...

So I hope today I can post more pix, incase this design appeals to anyone. I really just studied a bunch of homemades, "professional" purchase types, etc etc... I then began laying pieces of wood out to mock it up... No drawings really... but some math and measuring to find middles and where the screws should be. Naturally, I was "winging" it... carefully!

What killed me at first was making the first CUTS in the awesome piece of aluminum!!!

I even had a screwup - big time... I drilled the holes for the board hold-down handles on the wrong side of the bar - ALL 4 HOLES!! I justified in my mind saying that maybe someday I could use the holes if I have to flip the bar over!! Yeah yeah... that's OK... LOL - I wonder if any of the pictures show those holes - I'll point 'em out.

[Dennis Lopeman]

@greg again - and this fence is only a couple days old... so I don't have any experience with it really, and therefore don't know of "issues" with featherboards, etc... But I can report on my findings as I learn...

[Dennis Lopeman]

Let's look at the inspiration!

It's Aluminum. It's sort of U shaped, so the back is open. L shaped might have been nice, but I had to work with what I had!

Look how thick that thing is! Drilling was actually NOT that hard, as you might have expected. Aluminum is pretty soft. Just slow your drill down to real slow...

Also notice those purty disc marks!! Well, I can't take credit for being original here... I read about this technique somewhere in some write up I saw a few years ago! Tucked it away in my dusty card catalog (brain) - which tend to be as much a pack rat as I am!! :D Well - I use a crappy little Harbor Freight/Scotch pad-like disk spinny thing. ON my drill press. The secret is that you will want them all to be exactly the same distance intervals. On this piece of aluminum there were already light cut-lines at even interval - so I didn't even have to mark it. On your drill stand attache a fence/piece of scrap. And on the table itself make a little pencil mark (keep it all clamped down so it won't move.) I don't actually have a drill press table - future project!! Anyway... move the bar to the first mark, pull the drill down on the surface, lift, move bar to next mark on the pencil mark, pull down drill, lift, move, drill, lift, move... etc. Get it?? If not - let me know. I can give a later demo of that. Trick is, keep it methodical, and stay in ORDER so they all overlap correctly. I did screw it up one time... and Aluminum is soft enough that I just went over the mistakes and you couldn't even see them.

Let's see - what else? OH - see that dark brown piece of wood. That's a piece of the HOme depot sample flooring - IPE... pretty freakin hard stuff... harder than the aluminum?? maybe!

[Dennis Lopeman]

Oh yeah - the knobs... Well the top ones were from that keyboard pull out thing... and the (4) other ones came with the 2 piece of T-Groove aluminum tracks I bought (actually had to pay for those!!)

So there's also the steel metal tubes so the knobs can protrude out from the aluminum bar. I had to buy 3 ft worth, but only used a few inches!! I figure maybe I'll make more jigs later where I might need these!

[Dennis Lopeman]

Here's some parts. The metal tubing from Ace Hardware. About 12 bucks I think. The T-groove is standard and accepts Hex bolts like the one in the picture. I used varying lenths of bolts... the longest is 4 inches I think - it's the two that attach/fasten the fence to the table.

See those little nuts - I don't know what their called but I have a whole bag of 'em (the "yard sale" was awesome! Carpenter guy was going outa business)? I'm thinking about make some home-made knobs with these... pretty easy and a good excuse to use my lathe!!

Another Gloat (unrelated) from that yard sale - Dewalt Compound Sliding Miter saw = $25... was in pieces, but download manual and 1/2 hour later had it put back together!!I think I previously gloated about that a long time ago... but, hey... for you new-comers!

[Dennis Lopeman]

Let's look at the Vacuum parts. Sorry this picture is blurry, but you'll get the idea.

Those two white screws pass almost all the way through that piece of wood. They are the only screws holding that piece of wood in place. Oh, it's there to cover the cut-out in the aluminum bar (where the router bit is on the other side) Nice piece of hickory. Free cut offs from the mill. It's garbage for them! Not for me. I'll be able to make all NEW Drawer Fronts for my kitchen for virtually FREE from Cherry cut-offs!!! Don't hate me. That's how this router fence became a priority!! and the Coping Sled i will show you all in a later thread.

YOu can't see it very well in this pic, but those black screws are holding a small piece of wood (on both sides) to close up the gap in the aluminum bar... see the wood - it's very blurry there. Maybe you can see it in other pix.

Notice how all the screws are different?? HAHA.. well I have "groups" of matching screws in a bin. Twosies and Foursies, etc... I just use them up as I need them!!

Oh yeah - forgot to mention... the vacuum hose is 4 inch - this opening is 2 or 2 1/5 inches. I just rested the hose over the top of this and it had more than enough suction! There were no chips anywhere after I got done with several items!!! WOW - what a huge difference! I used to have a big mess to clean up after stuff. You can see the hose just resting there in the first pictures.

[Dennis Lopeman]

The FENCE part. Ok... this thing can probably be improved later. A few things.

This is 1/2 MDF. They are glued back to back. I used some Granite cutoffs for pancaking clamping!! There's a granite place up the street that gives me free cut offs. (are you starting to see a pattern yet??) LOL - and throw a couple cinder blocks on top and you have a Glue-Press!? Nice.

See those board labeled 1 and 2? Those are exactly the same width. So the TGrooves are in the same place. Glue the pieces back to back like that makes one side and exact opposite replica of itself!!! HAHA... so guess what? When one face becomes all crapped up, I just flip the boards over! VioLA!! New Fences!

OK - here's my current problem. The tGrooves are too counter sunk. Look at the picture. what this means is that I cannot tighten the knobs too hard or I can end up ripping the TGrooves right outa the boards!! So I'm careful and finger-tighten only! Is that make it strong enough, you ask? YES - incredibly enough I was shaking the whole table to test it. The same was true of the hold downs to the table surface. Finger (not hand)-tightening is more than enough. WEll - I know me - eventually I won't be happy anymore and will want to make those TGrooves FLUSH, the way they ought to be. Then I don't have to worry about anything ripping outa anything!!! well, I can still flip them over!

So, the top T-Groove is where I'll put my bit guard and the featherboards. Much like half way down this page: http://www.woodcentral.com/bparticles/rtabcab.shtml

Wow - some great ideas on this page - why didn't I find this before now!!???


I wanted my fence tall so if needed I could stand pieces on end. Why not make it this tall - not like the MDF wasn't sitting in my garage for about 2 years!!! LOL

[Dennis Lopeman]

Ok - moving on. So look at this picture. See those RED arrows are pointing at the Aluminum bar going through the back? I don't know if these will someday get in the way, but so far look like the thickness of the fence keeps bit away from there. I may make it "deeper" later or round it out a little, but should be OK.

See the Blue arrow pointing at the gap? Well, mostly cuz the plywood pieces were not long enough! (grin)... BUT, that gap works out for me here cuz it will allow a bigger bits - like a raised panel bit! I had on in put it in there... it spreads into those gaps and rises up into the cut out area. So... I'm good for most situations I think... unless I use the sled - which is unlikely with a raised panel bit!

[Dennis Lopeman]

OH - I'm done!! :D


The fence was within 90 degrees with maybe a 0.5 degree tolerance!! good enough.

I love my Triton. It's the 3 HP one. Above table bit changes - with ONE wrench (which is attached to the underside of the iron router table with a magnet I pulled outa an old computer hard drive! Rare earth magnets are wicked strong. I have to fumble a little to get the power switch... but eventually I'll know right where to go to hit the power.

The Iron table I got new. Yup - had to pay for this puppy, too! But - was only like $150 at Peachtree: http://www.ptreeusa.com/, which is local to me! So no shipping and killer prices! I got the T-grooves there, too.


Well I hope this helps someone someday!!

Let me know what you think. Thanks for checking it out!