Uses For Router Table

[Kevin Wein]

In the next few months I want to build some simple furniture such as cabinets, desk bookcase. In general what are the main uses of a router table besides raised panels. I have hand held router and I want to get an idea how useful a table router would be.

Thanks

[Gene Waara]

IMO there is nothing that you can route on a table that you can't do by hand but a table makes routing infinitly easier for many cuts. On narrow boards you can do roundovers and other cuts without fear that tipping a hand held with a narrow base will gouge and ruin your board. Out of necessity I used to rout by hand but once I built a table I found the only time I use a hand held is when I need to make a plunge cut. So now I have one table mounted router and one plunge router and find I can do pretty much everything I want.

[Bill Huber]

Frist, welcome to the Creek, great place for good information.

I have both a table and a hand held router and I use the hand held very little.

I do all my round overs on the table.
All the edge work on drawers and the like.
I do some jointing on the table, works for me better then my little cheap jointer.
I do a lot of pattern work on table, if I am making more then one of an item I make a pattern.
I use it to make loose tenons for my Mortise Pal.
I use it to make small boxes with box joints.
I use it to make the mortises for hinges on small boxes.
And with a 2'x4'x3/4" MDF I use it as an assembly table, have a small shop.

[Kevin Wein]

I think the main use I would have, at first, would be edge treatments for moulding or banding since I plan on using mostly hardwood plywood. Is that a good use for a router table.

Thanks

[Jim Rimmer]

All the above plus consistency of location of grooves and dadoes from one piece to the next.

[Mike Barney Sr]

I do all my edge forming with a small laminate trimmer. I have been doing all my joinery on my table saw but am in the process of setting up a router table for more complex joinery not possible on a table saw such as making joints for curved framing members. These are very difficult with a hand held but easier on a router table, as most other joints are. With the various accessories such as incra jigs a precise fence set up is possible. I would also invest in a good set of various sized guide bearings for your bits.

[George Beck]

I never had a router table until last year, when I hung a router under a festool MFT. I now find it invaluable especially for edge shaping. It is just easier and you do not have to worry about the router being "tippy" or a ball bearing diving off on the corner. It is also great for small in batches like putting a chamfer on drawer fronts. It excels at small parts (like box and tray parts). One rule It is always preferable and safer to have the ability to take the work to the tool if that is more stable and to be able to take the tool to the work if that is more stable (like long parts).

George

[Kevin Wein]

I saw the incra fence for the router table - pretty amazing. I have decided to go with Kreg. Is there some jig I can use to make dovetails on this table. Also could you explain what a joint for a curved framing member is if you have the time. Thanks.

[Nathan Callender]

There is actually a lot of things you can't do with a hand held router. For one, I wouldn't put a bit with >1" diameter in a handheld router. So, raising panels, deep groove cutting (like a slot cutter), moldings, etc, need a table. Anything thin (like moldings) where there's not enough material to register the base against also need a table. If you want to do joinery like creating tenons, it's a lot easier with a table.

BTW, you can make a simple table with a router plate and some plywood, and a straight piece of wood and clamps for a fence. It doesn't have to be expensive or complicated to get stuff done, and you'll learn what features you actually want for when you build/buy a better one down the road.

[Don Morris]

Man, I don't want to think of me doing raised panels with a 3" bit by hand. That's a router table job! Maybe others do most with hand held, but I do a lot with my table. Not all, but a lot. And with my lift, it's so easy to tweek the height. Come to think of it, when the bits get big, that's when I would look to put it in the table. Plunge routing, sure, hand held. I do a lot of M & T joints that way. So it sort of depends, in my shop some jobs are definitely table, some of my jobs are definitely hand held.

[Mike Barney Sr]

Also could you explain what a joint for a curved framing member is if you have the time. Thanks.

179667179666

This is a jewelry box I have been working on for a couple of months now. The 3 horizontal pieces are frame and panel. The panels are 1/4" thick set in a 1/4" dado in the frame members. The frame members are joined by 1/4" long tenons. On straight frames I just cut the dados and tenons on my table saw, but with curved pieces that's not possible. I used a 1/8" wide slotting cutter on my hand held router. The cutter is 1-7/8" (I had a 1-3/8" guide bearing to give a 1/4" deep cut) in diameter which required very careful execution of the cut and much patience. The tenons on the ends of the pieces which intersect at the inside of the front curved piece were cut with a rabbeting bit with a larger guide bearing limiting the depth of cut to 1/4". I had to be real careful not to cut into the corner as the bearing rolled past the corner of the end. All of this would be so much easier on a router table.

[John Grossi]

Kevin, I started using a router table about 3 years ago. What a tool! Unless you invest in a shaper, where else can you do raised panels. Table saw I suppose, but not the same. Either buy or build a good one. A guy from Canada makes and sells a nice one on ebay, rt1000 I think it is called. Norm has some nice plans on the nyw site.

[Rich Engelhardt]

This is almost embarrasing to say - but - I find using a table emulates using the table saw.
Lord knows this newbie needs all the practice I can get.....

[Kevin Wein]

On a bookcase I want to build, I want to have a trim piece (column) routed on the edge with the cut ending 1 1/2 inches from the top and bottom. Is it possible or safe to do this kind of cut on a router table? Obvioulsy the router would have to be on and you would need to start somewhere along the length of the cut.

Thanks

[Burt Alcantara]

I build a lot of boxes using box and dovetail joints. For these I use the Incra Ultra jig. I can cut the all of the joints in about 2 minutes and I"m still slow at it. They come out perfectly all the time unless I'm not paying attention or jig them up incorrectly. I also use the fence as my every day fence. In other words, of all my routing, the table gets about 85-90% of the work.

[Bill Huber]

On a bookcase I want to build, I want to have a trim piece (column) routed on the edge with the cut ending 1 1/2 inches from the top and bottom. Is it possible or safe to do this kind of cut on a router table? Obvioulsy the router would have to be on and you would need to start somewhere along the length of the cut.

Thanks

I do that type of stuff all the time. Mark the fence on the left side of the bit as the start point, mark the board with the start point. Mark the fence on the right side of the bit as the stop point and mark the board with the stop point. Now with the board against the fence on the right and away from the bit on the left move the board into the bit at the start mark. Now do the routing to the stop mark on the board and pull it away from the bit.