Router Table Progress (with pics)

[Jason Morgan]

Some of you may remember a few weeks ago when I was bending your ears about how to size a router table. Well, I went for it and went big big. Here is an update.

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Carcass size is 26" deep by ~36" tall by 40" wide, made out of birch ply and edge banded in maple. The bays on the side of the dust port will allow for three 4.75" Tall x 12" Wide x 22" deep drawers on full extension slides on each side. Thinner drawers like a tool box. I may make 3 on one side and 2 on the toher, but havent decided yet. Anyway, in the bottom bays will be two larger drawers to hold other routers and the PC dovetail jig.

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Another shot of the front. I copied dust collection from Aaron Montgomery. One 4" hose (bottom port) that will draw from the underside of the table top and from another 2.5" hose (top hole) that will go to the fence. A solid door will be fill the hole. Never understood the clear doors on router tables. When you are routing, you should be looking at the bit and your fingers, not the router under the table (although Im sure it looks cool sucking up all those chips).

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Here is a shot of the new M12V that will go in the table on the Woodpeckers Plungelift. BTW, the Rockler table that its sitting on will be be going up for sale soon if anyone is interested. Im selling the whole kit and kaboodle (fence, top, plate).

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Here is a shot of the top (not the whole thing). The whole top is 44"x30"x1.5" made out of two layers of MDF. I decided to leave the MDF top alone (no formica overtop) and put many coats of wipe on urethane (not on there yet). My outfeed table is made this way and has held up great. The top is edgebanded in maple and I even managed to get a piece with some curl on the front edge (dont know if you can tell from the pic above). If things get too beat up, I can put formica on later and chamfer the edge. As you can see, the cutout for the top is not perfect. I got the radius too sharp by not setting things up right. That was a big pain and an even bigger mess. If someone ever comes up with a formula for MDF that machines into chips instead of into powder, they will be a millionaire. I was pleased with the way the miter track came out. That was two side by side dado cuts on the TS. Let me tell you lugging that top across the TS was a little challenging, but it came out nice and even across the full length. I like the way the gold from the Incra miter track matches the Plungelift. Im thinking brushed brass hardware will tie it all together.

Thanks for looking, Ill post another round when I get closer to finishing.

[John Kain]

Nice job so far......

Norm puts a clear door on his table, so it must be cool.;)

[Jason Morgan]

Thanks for the comment. I cant wait to get it done so that I can get onto another project. It always seems to happen that way, about 60% through a project, I want to start another one.

[Randy Denby]

Jason, if I may add, be sure to cut slots or drill some holes in the bottom of the door. This will keep from starving the dust collector for air and suck all the chips from the front area and keep the bottom clean.

[Jason Morgan]

Thanks for the tip, I was thinking about that. I want to keep significant draw on the fence hose also, so I was only goint to put a couple small holes in the door. I figure that if the sum of the area of all of my holes is just slightly less than the area of my 4" fitting, I should be okay.

[Mike Zozakiewicz]

Nice job so far Jason. I hope to be starting my router table soon. I have the same router to put into it. I like alot of your design, and might borrow from it.:)

Thanks for posting,

Mike

[Pete Salvatore]

Looks nice. Two questions,

Were the middle shelves and sides dadoed or biscuit joined?

Where is your switch going to be located?

[Steve Clardy]

Looking great!!

[Vaughn McMillan]

Looking good, Jason. FYI, you can use Bondo to fill the glitches on the corners of your cutout. I made a similar mistake on a previous RT top, but it was pretty simple to put Saran wrap on the aluminum plate (tightly), put the plate in the cutout, then use Bondo to fill in the radius at the affected corners. A few minutes of hardening, a couple swipes with sandpaper (or a file), and you're good to go.

I bought some "home repair" Bondo a couple years ago from Lowes for an outdoor repair on a house I was getting ready to sell, and the "leftovers" from that project sure have been handy to have on the shelf for other fix-it stuff.

- Vaughn

[Jason Morgan]

Pete,

All of the carcass is dadoed.

Vaughn,

Thanks for the tip. I never thought about bondo, but that would work well I think.

Thanks all for viewing!

[James Warner]

Hi Jason,

I ran across this thread looking for information on placing a miter track/t track on a router table top. Looks like you used mitre track. How well did that work? What was the distance from the edge of the track to the center of the bit? Did you consider a combination track with both mitre and T-track? I want to be able to use it with some sleds and finger boards so not sure about which is the best choice.

Thanks,

Jim

[glenn bradley]

Hi Jason,

I ran across this thread looking for information on placing a miter track/t track on a router table top. Looks like you used mitre track. How well did that work? What was the distance from the edge of the track to the center of the bit? Did you consider a combination track with both mitre and T-track? I want to be able to use it with some sleds and finger boards so not sure about which is the best choice.

Thanks,

Jim

Welcome Jim. Not trying to speak for Jason but he hasn't posted here since 2009 so he may not answer. It is always nice to see these older threads still retain their value and I hope it helps you out.

I put my router table miter track about the same distance from the bit as my tablesaw miter slot is from the blade. This lets me use feather boards and other jigs between the two without a lot of major setup changes. My miter slots on both the RT and the TS have the "T" shape that many have and I use feather boards with these types of retainers in those positions. I use t-track or routed t-track profiles on the fences and other locations.

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Another option is to use a combo track that has both a 3/4" x 3/8" miter slot and a t-track in the extrusion. The combo tracks generally support 1/4" "T" hardware and I run mostly 5/16". I found a combo track that accepts 5/16" along with the miter slot but have yet to install it. Probably because I already had the alternate t/miter slot hardware for those items. either in the expansion type:

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Or "T" type configuration:

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In the end I thought I was standardized but, eventually ended up with 1/4" (Incra, Woodpecker, etc.), 5/16" (the heavier hardware used by Rockler and others), and miter slot type jigs and fixtures. So the (then) new track style I bought (Rockler product) accommodates all three:

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If I were doing it today I would use the Rockler Bench Dog product (https://www.rockler.com/bench-dogreg-dual-track-36)as it fits most types of fixtures you may have or are likely to get going forward. Others may now make this profile as well but, the acceptance of 1/4" and 5/16" hardware without a lot of slop was a Rockler "exclusive" at one time. Come on back and tell us how you do.

[James Warner]

Hi Glenn, Thanks for the information and suggestions. I decided to go with the Bench Dog combo track. Your suggestion to check my TS mitre distance was great. I checked and now will be able to use my feather boards and box joint jig on both.

This forum is so valuable both in the old threads and in the insights from others on specific issues.

Take care,

Jim