Horizontal Router UPDATE!!

[Jim Kountz]

Well I finished the Horizontal Router Table today and Im so excited Im squirming in my pants! The thing works absolutely flawless and I can rout mortises in seconds. Literally, thats about all it takes to plunge the bit and make the mortise. The Old Rebel (Ken Salisbury) was right, it only takes seconds to make a tenon too! The X-Y tables move smooth and I checked the accuracy of the cuts with my caliper and they are DEAD on. If a real Muliti-Router is more accurate I dont see how. Total cost for the entire thing minus the router....................$30!! How can you beat that??!!!! I agree with Ken that every shop should have one of these things. Follow his design, follow mine or anybodys but just build one! You'll throw rocks at your old methods of cutting mortise and tenons.

Yours grinning,

Jim

[Mac McAtee]

Jim,
Thank you for posting your design on here. You have some great ideas and have made the thing so it doesn't cost an arm an a leg to build.

I looked at the post you did with the photos. I didn't see mention of the size of the tables, can you tell us that or is it somewhere and I just missed it?

And, are the tables free floating, that is can they lift right out of the tracks or is there something that keeps them from lifting up other than weight. I could picture one of the tables rising up if you had some kind of unusual cut going on.

Keep up the good work. I predict that there will be quite a few of these made now that you have come up with a simplified design. I know of one to be made anyway.
Mac

[Jim Kountz]

Mac, thanks for the kind words. The tables are sized at 20x16. This is due partly to the fact that the steel rods I used were 36" long so it made sense. There is nothing holding them down in place and although after several test cuts in maple, purpleheart and pine I have experienced no problems, I thought of the same thing you mentioned about them possibly rising up. I have found a solution for that however. Pop over to www.woodpeck.com and check out their aluminum miter t-track, and the plastic "T" runners they make for them. I think this would be the ultimate sliding table hardware since its so slick and being "T" shaped it takes care of the problem. They offer if full size 3/8x3/4 or in a smaller t-track. It looks like good stuff!

Jim