Brian Parker
01-14-2013, 9:50 PM
I’m going to be making my second router table soon. My first I gave to my dad, it was built from the New Yankee plans which at the time was good since I didn't know what I really wanted. I have loosely based my new table design on that but I improved on it (or so I think).
Before I go into my question some background on the table/cabinet. The top is 43”w x 27”d (Woodpecker phenolic top) with a router lift. While I like Norm’s initial design I thought why not go out and try a few new things. I cut down on the bottom drawers some to allow for one long drawer for my multitude of bits (I like to see them all together if possible). While I only have a few really tall bits (5" is the biggest) I figured to make the entire drawer tall enough for those few bits. I took the four little drawers on each side of the router compartment and made two drawers (11”w x 5.5”h) on each side of the router housing. I was able to cut down on the height as I got a router lift for this table. I’m going to go frameless and do a full inset on the drawer fronts and door. All drawers have full extension ball bearing sliders as I have them leftover from a kitchen I built. For mobility I have some locking casters that will support 1000 lbs between them.
Question 1) On the door, I was thinking of making 4-5 ¾” holes near the top of the door so that the port on the back of the router compartment pulls clean air across the motor. I’ve seen a few takes on this, some have the top, others bottom and some with both, thoughts?
Question 2 background) My main reason for posting. I have a Rockler 7” wood vise just sitting around the shop errr I mean garage that I got a few years ago when I saw it on sale for a steal somewhere. My main workbench has a standup freezer on one end and a metal bench vise on the other end. There are drawers directly under the top which means to use the wood vise on the main bench I’d have to do a lot of modification or mount t-tracks to the top and make an apparatus to hold the wood vise to the top and then take it on and off as needed. I have some wild ideas and thought I’m building the vise into the back section of the table. To help visualize it would mean making the top left drawer shorter by about 9” to account for the screw (using 1.25” pads of undetermined material). I would beef up the cabinet by adding about 2.25” of material to the underside of the top to secure the vise to. The base will be ¾” plywood and I believe that the strength will be there. I have jaw adapters for the bench vise but the problem that I have is that it’s a little too high for my liking if drilling a few things or hand planning etc. The wood vise would also offer a much larger clamping area. My first location is when looking at the table on the back side (left) and another thought would be to turn it 90 degrees and place it on one of the short ends as it would only shorten up my one drawer by about 6 inches or so.
Question 2) Am I out of my mind in thinking of building a vise into a router table? In no way would the jaws interfere with any operations, all it would do is extend out of the back or side a few extra inches on top of the table top footprint. If you think that it’s a good idea any thoughts on the best placement (I’m a leftie) I attached a sketch to help, the yellow and green area is the proposed area for the jaws and the green is for the screw and portion that would normally reside below the top of the bench.
It's probably not necessary but the red on the top in the center is for the router plate and the ones on the side is for the fence tracks. On the right side the blue box is the router switch. under the router plate the horizontal blue line is the bottom of the router router when the collet is flush with the top of the router plate. I added 2.5" to the bottom to allow for dropping bits down some (as most are less than 3" in height). Any questions or other feedback is welcome. I haven't made the cut list/layout just yet but I hope to be cutting the wood up this weekend.
Before I go into my question some background on the table/cabinet. The top is 43”w x 27”d (Woodpecker phenolic top) with a router lift. While I like Norm’s initial design I thought why not go out and try a few new things. I cut down on the bottom drawers some to allow for one long drawer for my multitude of bits (I like to see them all together if possible). While I only have a few really tall bits (5" is the biggest) I figured to make the entire drawer tall enough for those few bits. I took the four little drawers on each side of the router compartment and made two drawers (11”w x 5.5”h) on each side of the router housing. I was able to cut down on the height as I got a router lift for this table. I’m going to go frameless and do a full inset on the drawer fronts and door. All drawers have full extension ball bearing sliders as I have them leftover from a kitchen I built. For mobility I have some locking casters that will support 1000 lbs between them.
Question 1) On the door, I was thinking of making 4-5 ¾” holes near the top of the door so that the port on the back of the router compartment pulls clean air across the motor. I’ve seen a few takes on this, some have the top, others bottom and some with both, thoughts?
Question 2 background) My main reason for posting. I have a Rockler 7” wood vise just sitting around the shop errr I mean garage that I got a few years ago when I saw it on sale for a steal somewhere. My main workbench has a standup freezer on one end and a metal bench vise on the other end. There are drawers directly under the top which means to use the wood vise on the main bench I’d have to do a lot of modification or mount t-tracks to the top and make an apparatus to hold the wood vise to the top and then take it on and off as needed. I have some wild ideas and thought I’m building the vise into the back section of the table. To help visualize it would mean making the top left drawer shorter by about 9” to account for the screw (using 1.25” pads of undetermined material). I would beef up the cabinet by adding about 2.25” of material to the underside of the top to secure the vise to. The base will be ¾” plywood and I believe that the strength will be there. I have jaw adapters for the bench vise but the problem that I have is that it’s a little too high for my liking if drilling a few things or hand planning etc. The wood vise would also offer a much larger clamping area. My first location is when looking at the table on the back side (left) and another thought would be to turn it 90 degrees and place it on one of the short ends as it would only shorten up my one drawer by about 6 inches or so.
Question 2) Am I out of my mind in thinking of building a vise into a router table? In no way would the jaws interfere with any operations, all it would do is extend out of the back or side a few extra inches on top of the table top footprint. If you think that it’s a good idea any thoughts on the best placement (I’m a leftie) I attached a sketch to help, the yellow and green area is the proposed area for the jaws and the green is for the screw and portion that would normally reside below the top of the bench.
It's probably not necessary but the red on the top in the center is for the router plate and the ones on the side is for the fence tracks. On the right side the blue box is the router switch. under the router plate the horizontal blue line is the bottom of the router router when the collet is flush with the top of the router plate. I added 2.5" to the bottom to allow for dropping bits down some (as most are less than 3" in height). Any questions or other feedback is welcome. I haven't made the cut list/layout just yet but I hope to be cutting the wood up this weekend.