Router Table Question

[Buddy Forshee]

I am in the process of building a router table. What dimension should the top be? I plan to glue two 3/4 pieces of MDF together. I figure I will need some overhang all around for clamping. I only want to do this once. I might add an Incra fence down the road. Any other suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot for your help!

[Jim Becker]

Many of the commercial tables are 24" deep by 32" wide. Mine is 36" wide as I prefer the extra table area. Your choice of fence does make a difference and if you are planning on using the Incra fence, you'll need to build for it "now"...it requires you offset the router to one side. Look at the pictures of the tables at Woodpeckers that have the Incra fence installed to understand how things need to look. In fact, I'll go on to say that a top for a "regular" fence generally is designed differently than one for an Incra (or Jointech) fence system.

[Richard Hash]

Well, the only person who can really answer this is you, since you'll need to decide how you plan to use the table. That said, I think Jim's point about taking future fences into account is a good one. Bill Hylton makes a great argument for offsetting the hole for the router plate in his book "Router Magic", pointing out that many people typically route narrow items. Then if you need to rout something wide, you can just flip your fence around and have a really deep area to the bit, whereas if you locate the hole in the center you compromise from all directions.

Unless you are really tight on space, I would trend towards bigger instead of smaller...

I would also forget about trying to rout a lip for a drop in plate, just plunge straight thru the table and splurge $15 on the Woodhaven table levelers, and then you'll never bother with paper shims trying to get that plate exactly flat, it's just a tweak of a screw. It also allows you to easily use plates of different thicknesses...

[Byron Trantham]

Here is a shot of mine with the Incra Twin Linerar. it's 43x27. It too, is made from two layers of MDF and a Formica overlay.

[Bob_Hammond]

Decide on what fence you are using first, and then buy the fence, then build the top. I planned mine for the Bench Dog fence (http://www.benchdog.com/) and built the top before I bought the fence. When I got hte fence, I realized I needed to modify the top to allow the fence to attach.

Bob