Veritas router table

[Robert Coldwater]

Hi, I’m a newbie here. I recently acquired a used Veritas Router table top. It’s steel, 3/16 thick. It however did not come with the plastic inserts. I am wondering if anybody might have one of these tables, and have some of the half inch inserts. They are not available directly from Veritas, or any of their suppliers in North America South America or Europe. I am also looking for the jointer sticks. Does anyone have any information that may be helpful? Thanks very much.

[David Buchhauser]

Hi Robert,
I assume you mean the insert has a 1/2" hole in the center. What is the inside diameter of the hole in the router table top, and what is the thickness of the insert you need to fit into the hole? Perhaps there is another brand that will fit, or maybe I can make one for you.
David

[Jim Becker]

Did you actually contact Lee Valley and ask if the parts you need are available? If you did and they cannot help you, someone with a CNC can likely make you replacements.

[Mike Kees]

Did you actually contact Lee Valley and ask if the parts you need are available? If you did and they cannot help you, someone with a CNC can likely make you replacements.
Robert I would phone/email these guys. The new website messed everything up a bit. They were still selling the inserts right up until the website overhaul.

[Robert Coldwater]

Hi all, thanks for the help. Before posing the question I spent hours on the phone with Julie at Lee Valley and someone at Veritas. Lee valley had 33 of the 3 5/8” dieter 3/16” thick inserts with 1 1/2” cemented holes. They had a variety of the others as well, like zero clearance and counterbore inserts. But no 1/2 inch hole inserts which are the basic one. And no jointing shims. I bought up much of what they had. Really would like the 1/2” insert for smaller bits. I’m new to routing & understand (may be wrong) that the smaller bits are safer with the smaller hole in the insert.

if anyone (David) could make some of these for me I would be grateful and joyful. Jointing shims too?
once I receive the inserts with the 1 1/2” hole I could send one to you as a model. They have an off set groove that screws into the table with a pin wrench.

thanks for the quick responses.

Robert

[David Buchhauser]

Hi Robert,
I don't think I can PM you unless you are a contributor. So you can contact me via email at dbuch@cox.net to discuss.
Thanks,
David

[Frederick Skelly]

Threads like this are another reason I so enjoy this site and make me glad to kick-in a little every year to keep it going. Good on ya folks.

[Mike Kees]

Robert are you talking about using the fence of your router table with a straight cutter for edge routing ? You can use anything for shims,arborite etc.

[Jim Becker]

Robert are you talking about using the fence of your router table with a straight cutter for edge routing ? You can use anything for shims,arborite etc.
That's true if he cannot find replacements for the original shims...this setup supported the edge jointing process natively "out of the box".

[Robert Coldwater]

Thank you David, I will be in touch.
And Mike I am planning on using the router as an edge jointer. The Veritas router table system used to have shims available. Here is the info on them.













Plastic shims are 0.010", 0.020" and 0.030" thick and 12-3/4" long


http://www.veritastools.com/Content/Assets/ProductHTML/StaticImages/bullet.gif
Color coded for thickness


http://www.veritastools.com/Content/Assets/ProductHTML/StaticImages/bullet.gif
Use a straight bit in router set for 0.010" to 0.060" of cut and install matching thickness of shims behind outfeed sub-fence; loosen sub-fence screws, drop in one or more color-coded shims and retighten


http://www.veritastools.com/Content/Assets/ProductHTML/StaticImages/bullet.gif
Micro-adjust substitutes for an adjustable infeed table and shims provide an adjustable outfeed
















This is straight off the Veritas website.

i’ve been looking online for other solutions to be able to edge route.
I am a rich man, but I don’t have money so using an existing tool to do the job is at a premium.

The timber frame that I have fashioned with my wife, we are building without the use of any poisons. No glues, no caulking no plywood or OSB, no paint, etc.

we have milled much of the material ourselves from trees we’ve taken down on the property, or from buying truckloads of logs from loggers that we know, and milling them with friends who have sawmills. So they are rough. And I need to make sure the edges are straight, because I am making a bunch of the rough-cut, and dimensional materials that we have, which is 2 x 4, 2 x 6, 2 x 8, 2 x 10 into tongue and groove subfloor boards.

So first I want to remove bow and twist from about 1200 square feet ( I have not done the math on how much linear feet this is) with a combination of tablesaw and planer, and hand plane, joint the boards, plane them to a uniform thickness (hopefully 1 1/4”) and then put a tongue on one side and a groove on the other. tons of work, I know, but I am working with the materials we have, some of which have been sitting for three years, well stacked stickered and covered, but outdoors, while I have produced the other materials needed to complete the addition (28’x34’ 1 1/2 stories) Now I am back to building, and need to get the subfloor made. Thus the need to joint on my router.



thanks much for your interest and input, and I hope that this was not too much information.

i will look into other materials or options to work for infeed outfeed adjustment. Lots out ther, including one this site.

planning to make a planer sled. In addition to all of the lumber, I have 11 cords of boards that have live edges on both sides. Was planning on making those into live edge wood siding, but since we have decided on a straw bale wrap for insulation around the timber frame, the finish exterior is a traditional natural hydraulic lime instead. So I have all of this live edge, 1 inch thick 16+ foot long boards, some of them 23 inches at the bottom and 17 inches at the tip plenty of material for projects in the future.

[Mike Kees]

Robert I have jointed wood on a router table like you are attempting to do. My table was homemade but the principle is the same,all you need is the "outfeed" side of your Router table lined up with the cutting edge on your bit. This is the side that you shim. The shim thickness determines the depth of cut . The "infeed "side is now offset whatever the thickness of the shim is. Not magic,Lee Valley just made a kit to do this in tiny increments which you probably do not need. I think you may also be attempting to do too much with a router table in jointing all that stock.Good luck.

[Bob Jones 5443]

Robert, try these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00065UYKU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

They are precision plastic shims, 5" x 20". It's a set of 14 thicknesses including the 0.010", 0.020", and 0.030" you want, plus many others starting at 0.0005". There are lots of other uses for a set like this in the woodshop.

Good luck.
Bob

[Tony Shea]

I also own this steel router table top. I unfortunately do not want to sell any inserts as I use this table top. I was just posting as I am very surprised that Lee Valley did away with this setup. The steel top is great and the design to hold the router is also great. There are no specific holes you need to drill for specific brand routers and in general is just a simple setup. For some reason they did away with this router table for the bechtop CNC'd plywood version that honestly doesn't even seem close in terms of quality. I don't own the fence that is designed to go with the steel router table but would love to as it looks very well made. For now I just clamp a shop made fence to the table but some day will pick up the original fence designed for this setup, if I can ever find it. I love the idea of the all steel router table as magnets work all over the top which can be very useful for feather boards, fences, etc.

[John Stankus]

Hi all, thanks for the help. Before posing the question I spent hours on the phone with Julie at Lee Valley and someone at Veritas. Lee valley had 33 of the 3 5/8” dieter 3/16” thick inserts with 1 1/2” cemented holes. They had a variety of the others as well, like zero clearance and counterbore inserts. But no 1/2 inch hole inserts which are the basic one. And no jointing shims. I bought up much of what they had. Really would like the 1/2” insert for smaller bits. I’m new to routing & understand (may be wrong) that the smaller bits are safer with the smaller hole in the insert.

if anyone (David) could make some of these for me I would be grateful and joyful. Jointing shims too?
once I receive the inserts with the 1 1/2” hole I could send one to you as a model. They have an off set groove that screws into the table with a pin wrench.

thanks for the quick responses.

Robert

Shouldn't it be trivial to take a zero clearance insert and make it a 1/2 clearance insert?

[Robert Coldwater]

Thank you everyone for your input. David has offered to make inserts for me, so when I receive the 11/2” insert from Veritas I will send him one and he may be able to fashion some for me. As a newbie to this forum I am pleased to find so much good spirited and generous help. Also impressed with the amount of information on various forums.

[David Buchhauser]

Would 3/16" thick hardboard (masonite) be a good choice for making some of these inserts? Or other suggestions? I can machine some from aluminum plate, but this will be more costly and more involved. With the hardboard I could use the cnc router, which would be much quicker.

I'm also thinking that perhaps 3/16" thick acrylic (Plexiglas) might be a good choice. I think this can be machined on the cnc router with a decent finish and to tolerance.

Thanks,
David

[Jim Becker]

I see no reason why you can't use a variety of materials for this kind of thing, David. The only reason I wouldn't use the hardboard is if it's not smooth both sides because it may be a good idea to laminate it. Another alternative is to use thicker hardboard and machine the rim from the back to the required thickness, leaving the rest thicker for more strength. Various plastics come to mind, too. I'm actually going to be doing something similar for another 'Creeker shortly and the plan is for a thicker blank with the rim milled down to match the original inserts. I did a similar job for another 'Creeker about a year ago for bandsaw inserts...starboard plastic for that one.

[John Gornall]

These inserts are a little complicated. The opening in the steel router table is bored and then counterbored. The counterbore is not concentric to the primary bore. There is a ridge halfway thru the 3/16 inch thickness. The insert has 2 non concentric steps. The insert is placed in the opening and sits on the ridge. This non concentricity is a few thou. The insert is turned with a 2 pinned tool which tightens the insert to lock it in. It's quite precise. The 2 pin tool is shop made - Veritas supplied the pins with the table. This is harder to describe than to use.

[Jim Becker]

That's good information to know, John.

[John Gornall]

One of the table inserts was made to fit the commonly used brass inserts with various sized collars. Veritas makes a set of brass inserts without collars that are flush with the table surface. This is a precise version of a 1/2" opening for smaller bits.

[John Gornall]

The Veritas table instructions gave some information on how they designed it. The steel is stressed and rigid so it won't sag even with a heavy router. They point out that a slightly rising table is better than a sagging table. With a sagging table your cut will be full depth at the start of the cut but will be less as you progress and the workpiece bridges the sag. The cut will be full depth all the way on a rising table. In a letter about tools years ago Leonard Lee indicated the Veritas Router Table was a big seller when introduced. I think in the end it was probably left behind by router lifts.

[Andy D Jones]

Why not use one of the zero clearance inserts and plunge cut a 1/2" hole in it with a same-sized spiral bit in your router?

You have a lot of tongue and groove to mill. A shaper would probably be a good investment, and stand up to the punishment better than a router/table. Either way, make sure you have adequate fixturing/hold-downs to ensure a straight tongue/groove on the long boards.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[David Buchhauser]

Why not use one of the zero clearance inserts and plunge cut a 1/2" hole in it with a same-sized spiral bit in your router?

You have a lot of tongue and groove to mill. A shaper would probably be a good investment, and stand up to the punishment better than a router/table. Either way, make sure you have adequate fixturing/hold-downs to ensure a straight tongue/groove on the long boards.

-- Andy - Arlington TX


Andy,
The zero clearance (blank) inserts are not available for this application.
David

[David Buchhauser]

These inserts are a little complicated. The opening in the steel router table is bored and then counterbored. The counterbore is not concentric to the primary bore. There is a ridge halfway thru the 3/16 inch thickness. The insert has 2 non concentric steps. The insert is placed in the opening and sits on the ridge. This non concentricity is a few thou. The insert is turned with a 2 pinned tool which tightens the insert to lock it in. It's quite precise. The 2 pin tool is shop made - Veritas supplied the pins with the table. This is harder to describe than to use.

Hi John,
Thanks for your input! Robert (the OP) sent me one of the original inserts and the stepped portion (smaller diameter) is offset (non-concentric) by about 0.015". I was not sure why, but now I understand. I'm not sure how well hardboard would hold up for this application, since the narrow step is under an interference fit when rotated for tightening. I am thinking either acrylic sheet or the HDPE sheet that Jim mentioned would be the most cost effective solution. I do have the ability to cnc machine the parts from aluminum or steel, but the setup and fixturing would be more involved and not as cost effective.
David

435607

[John Gornall]

2 circles of acrylic 3/32" thick - put them in the table in the neutral position with acrylic solvent (glue) in between - weigh it down and let it bond - turn lightly to lock in place.

[David Buchhauser]

John,
Thanks for the tip! Unfortunately, I don't have the table. These are for the OP (Robert) who has only sent me a sample part. But it's not any problem at all to machine the complete part from acrylic with my Avid cnc router table. I would just cut the 2 circles at the same time from a single piece of 3/16" acrylic, with the center of the smaller circle offset from the center of the larger circle by 0.015". And machine in the 2 holes for the spanner at the same time.
David

[Charlie Jones]

I have this tabletop with fence and some other accessories. When Lee Valley stopped selling it I bought some inserts. I got the blank ones that I just drill to whatever size I need.

[Steve Marcq]

That's what it was for me, I had one for many years, got tired of the little step lines caused by raising the bit by turning the motor. Went with a mast r lift which is awesome, especially for sneaking up on bit heights...