router extension

[Dave Anthony]

I was given this aluminum plate: it's 3/8" thick, 18" wide x 41" long. It's flat and has angle brackets welded to the bottom, so attaching legs would be trivial. My first thought was this would make a nice router table top, and could live in an extension of the table saw, serving double duty as an extension wing/outfeed table. Since the plate is 3/8" thick I don't think most commercial inserts/lifts will work, since there would be little material for the insert to sit on. I was considering a router (maybe a Triton?) attached directly to the plate. Assuming the router has good above the table height adjustment/bit changes, the only other problem I see is figuring out some way to add reducing rings. Does this seem doable, a good/really bad idea? If you were going to pursue this, what router would you choose, how would you mount it, and how would you adress the issue of reducing rings (to limit the size of the hole in the top with different bits).

[Steve Costa]

Someting to consider is cutting the material to a router plate insert the size you want to use, for example 9 1/4" x 11 3/4". Buy a router plate insert from Woodhaven or another vendor who usually provide various size inserts. Support the plate insert from below by attaching the left over aluminum by attaching the pieces to the table. Adjusting screws can beused to level the plate. You will need to drill & tap through the table for aluminum support pieces & for the adjusting screws. Attach the router to router plate insert. Hope this gives you some ideas to work with.

[John Lifer]

I have a plate that is about 1/2" thick. Cut out hole and milled a 1/4" plate to fit. Works, but one thing about aluminum, it marks almost everything I run thru it. Anodized would be nice, but I'm too cheap. 3/8 is too thin for a slot also.

[Curt Harms]

John, would a few coats of wax help with the marking? I made my own router plate out of 1/4" aluminum so have some experience. Aluminum can be cut and routed much like wood. Routing it does make a mess--little shiny chips all over. I routed a hole 3 3/4"using a 1/4" spiral upcut router bit mounted in a plunge router with a Jasper jig (router trammel). Shallow cuts and I sprayed the cutting area with WD40 each time I set the cutter deeper. I don't know if the WD40 helped keep the cut cool or not but it made me feel better.:). Once the hole was cut through I switched to a carbide rabbeting bit to cut a 1/4" ledge around the hole. Again, 2 shallow passes. I then made a circle out of 3/4" plywood that perfectly fits the 3 3/4" hole. Took lots of time here to get a good fit. Now I can rough cut circles out of 1/4" plywood, tape the 3/4" plug to them with double sided tape and use a flush trim bit to get 1/4" circles that fit the router plate very nicely. I can make as many 1/4" ply inserts with different size holes as I see fit. Here are a couple pics
191897191898