Anyone have a black router table top?

[Steven J Corpstein]

I am just about ready to start on my revised version of Jointech's Routing Center. I found a manufacturer in Illinois that will fabricate the top from a Phenolic product ( Trespa Athlon) that I've been researching and I'm looking for opinions based on your personal experience.

Have any of you out there ever used an all black top on your router table? I have a Jessem Mast-R-Lift that is black anodized and I thought it would look nice with an all black top. I know it is going to show dust, but then after all, we are talking about one of the biggest dust makers in a shop!

[Mark Kauder]

Yup, I have a Jess-um Rout-R-lift, in a black extension on my router table, and use it with my JoinTech Cabinet Maker System.

Works Great, Looks Great.


Mark

[Jim Young]

I have a dark purple top (laminate on sale) that I would not use again. My thought is that if I have a light top I could see the work piece a little better.

[Mark Mandell]

My table top is black mica which I like for 2 reasons: a) it doesn't throw light back up at me so it reduces glare from shop lighting, and b) it's a dust barameter; it shows settled dust before other "colors" and thus tells me how well the DC and air cleaners are doing (or need to be cleaned) as well as when the other shop surfaces need to be vac'd off to help control airborne dust.

[Richard Allen]

Hi Steven

Mine is black formica. I like it a lot. That is a high contrast surface that makes it easy to see stuff and find stuff.

My router plate is black phenolic from Woodhaven and it has held up well for the past 7 years.

BTW my top is made of 2 layers of 3/4" plywood glued and screwed together (brass screws) covered on top bottom and sides with black formica. I added a slot for a miter guage after I had been using the router table for a few months and hitting a few brass screws made me glad I didn't use steel screws.

I use the table for lots of things (42"x42") and the formica has proven a good choice. Glue and finish sometimes finds the table top. I can be agresive with a sharp putty knife to remove the dry glue or finish.

Thanks

Richard

[Jim Becker]

Originally posted by Steven J Corpstein
Have any of you out there ever used an all black top on your router table?

Although my current router table top is off-white to match my outfeed table which it abuts, my previous router table top was black laminate with an oak edge. The only negative was difficulty in seeing setup pencil marks that sometimes were necessary for an operation. Go for it! It sounds like a great look...

[Wendell Wilkerson]

on the terspa athlon top? I saw that stuff when I was doing some research for a phenolic top my future router cabinet. Looked like perfect stuff for a router table top. What size and thickness top are you having made? If you don't mind, what are they charging you to have a top made up? Are they going to mill the opening for your router lift for you?

Wendell

[Steven J Corpstein]

I was put in contact with W S Hampshire, Inc. in Illinois by Trespa. These people do manufacturing of all kinds of countertops, locker room furniture, etc. (www.wshampshire.com).

I was told a 1" x 27" x 38" piece of Athlon would run $120.00 for the material and around $60.00 to relieve the top edge, rout the insert hole on a CNC mill, and put a 1 1/2" radius on the 4 corners.

All I have to do is send them a drawing and the material code for color and texture They have several textures ranging from smooth to fairly textured.

I got some samples mailed to me and have been drilling, scraping and driving my truck over it to test the toughness. This stuff rocks.

[Wendell Wilkerson]

That's not a bad price. A 1" thick 24"x36" sheet of phenolic from McMaster-Carr is around $158. It sounds like your top is pretty good deal especially since it would already be milled for you. Thanks for the source info too. I am definitely keeping them in mind when I get around to making my router cabinet.

Wendell