Made new router table fence today, pictures inside

[Duane Bledsoe]

I'm wanting to build a really nice router table sometime soon, but until then I made the one I have a little better. I got a cheap one for Christmas from Lowe's, but the plastic fence it came with is bowed in the middle as much as 1/8 inch out, and that made it (in my way of thinking) unusable. So I had a nice, straight, 1x6 pine board laying here from a project I did a while back (not just common stock, it came from the millwork department at Lowe's) and I used it to make a new fence for the cheap table. It came out pretty nice I think, for my first attempt (I'm a novice woodworker, just getting started).

I made the fence 5 1/2 inches tall, the full width of the board. It wasn't quite square to the table when put together so I shimmed where the upright attached to the base using a piece of paper folded over. Took 3 layers to make it straighten up. After I got it square, I tightened down the screws connecting the two pieces and then I made triangular pieces to reinforce it from behind, two of which I enclosed with a piece of MDF I had here to make a vacuum port for my shop vac.

It's a very basic setup, no frills at all, but most importantly it's totally square now to the little table so my projects should turn out a lot better than they did with the plastic fence in use. I attached it to the table in the same manner as the old fence was, with carriage bolts in routed slots in the table, and T-knobs on the backside for making adjustments. I had to buy new bolts and knobs since the old ones were not long enough, and they were metric threaded, and Lowe's here did not have longer metric carriage bolts so I went with 1/4-20 bolts and T-knobs to match. Turned out very nice I think. Here's a few pictures. Total cost is under $20 including the price of the board. I placed the reinforcing pieces so that if I wanted to in the future I could just clamp it to the table instead of using the adjusting hardware. Not sure if I'd need to ever do this, but it's an option. One pic shows the old fence along side the new one for comparison to height.

[Carl Beckett]

Looks great Duane! Highly functional, low cost, and uses leftovers you had laying around.

Welcome to the satisfaction of woodworking

:)

[Duane Bledsoe]

Thank you. Later on I got excited to use the table with the new fence. I had another board here just like the one I made the fence with and decided to try my hand at making a wooden shelf using the new fence. Turned out good. It could be better I think in that the router bit left the profile just a tiny bit rough in places. I can clean it up with sandpaper but I'm not going to be too hard on myself this time. It's the first one I've ever made. I'm learning to use a router and doing this stuff on my own. I have no one to teach me other than what I can learn from on the internet and reading WOOD magazine. I'll post a pic of the shelf. My wife is happy with it, she wants to stain it and hang it up somewhere in the house. I made it 3 feet wide, and 5 1/2 inches across on the shelf surface. The side supports are 6 inches tall and I let the back of the shelf be shorter than the side pieces on purpose, thought it would look better that way. I cut keyhole slots in the back to hang it with so it would sit flush on the wall. The pictures make it hard to see but I used an ogee bit on the edge of the shelf (as per the wife's request) and I used a roundover to make a beaded edge on the supporting pieces and the bottom edge of the back. The scrollsaw was used to cut the side supports and then they were freehand routed on the table without the fence since there were curves involved. But the fence made it especially nice to route the longer parts. I'm happy. I could do better I think but it would require a bit more practice on my part, and better equipment too maybe, but that's down the road. For now, I'm happy I can do even this good. While I was at it, I made a third supporting piece like what was used on the sides, to keep as a pattern for future shelves being made for gifts, or even to sell. I freehand drew what I wanted them to look like (that's a skill I'm sure I'll be glad I have to save me from having to buy so many patterns for things), then just cut them out and routed them. It was very easy, what a pleasant surprise. I put the whole thing together using my air compressor and 1 1/4 inch brads, and wood glue.

[Greg Hines, MD]

Very functional looking. My only concern would be warping from it being solid wood. I made one very similar to yours, but out of plywood, to avoid that problem.

[Gilbert Vega]

That's really nice. I just finished a router table/fence/outfeed table for my new PM 66 saw. Funny how great minds think alike. lol
Gilbert

[Carl Beckett]

Nice Duane - just keep building things, and dont 'over' analyze. My grandfather did some shelves like that a long time ago, and they have been one of the items passed down through the generations. Im sure he wasnt satisfied with them, but his daughters all coveted having one.

Since you are just starting out, I highly recommend you get a couple books on woodworking and read them. I liked this one: Tage Frid teaches woodworking http://www.amazon.com/Tage-Teaches-Woodworking-step-step/dp/1561580686

Im sure others here will have their own favorites to recommend, and I suggest you just start a thread asking what the top three books for a beginner (but brace yourself - you will get a lot of questions about what you want to do... which really you might not know at this point, but you will get some great advice from this group)

Enjoy!!

:)

[Duane Bledsoe]

Thanks for the advice. I did ask a while back what reading material to get and got some suggestions. I am exploring all routes to learn, and subscribed to WOOD magazine also, which I greatly enjoy for the tips I'd have never thought of on my own (ex...cove molding on a tablesaw? Outragious!) My wife has been shopping on Amazon so I'll have her get me that book.

I'm also worried about the fence warping. The wood has been here at my house for over 6 months though and was still straight when I went to use it. Maybe it was the way I stored it flat that helped. But for the convenience of it, and lack of cash to get a $45 sheet of the birch I want for a new table/fence, I just went ahead and used it. Hopefully it will remain straight since it has all the reinforcements, screws, and glue. I still will build the other table from birch ply when I get a chance. I am going to make a larger one, a 3' x 2' at least. The one I have is only 2' x about 14 inches.

[Curt Harms]

Good job. A crooked fence is worse than no fence at all. For your next act, perhaps consider adjustable faces so you vary the gap for the bit. A 1/2" bit requires less opening between the faces than does a 3 1/2" panel raiser. That's for the future though. There's no law that says you can only have one router table fence. Ain't it a hoot?:cool: