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HOW TO BUILD YOUR OWN ROUTER TABLE
In this article, we will be looking at the various ways you could build your own router table from scratch or by using commercially available parts. We will also show you complete pre-manufactured router tables as an alternative to the DIY approach. A simple router table can be constructed with a base made from 2 x 3 or 2 x 4 lumber screwed together. You will probably want to have 4 legs, 3 cross bars and a 4-sided apron at the top. The front should be left open but you might want to consider a shelf to store router bits and other related parts. The top can be made out of plastic laminate over ¾” particle board, extending beyond the outside dimensions of the apron and legs on all sides. You can mount casters on the bottoms of the legs if you want to roll the thing around your shop. While it would be nice if you could just make a hole in a piece of ¾” laminated particle board and attach the router upside down on the underside, the reality is that the router bit probably would not extend fully above the 3/4"-thick table top and, thus, would not be high enough to make full contact with the workpiece. For this reason, you will either need to purchase a commercially available table insert or you could make one yourself out of aluminum or Plexiglas. 
You should trace out the shape of the table insert at the center of your router table top, cut out the table top about 3/8” inside of your pencil line, drum sand away the saw cuts to ¼” inside the pencil line and then rout a ¼” rabbet into the top around the hole at a depth slightly deeper or equal to the table insert. The table insert should have a hole in its center the same size as the large center hole in the original router base plate. The table insert must be screwed down and must fit snugly into the rabbet you routed. The table insert should be no thicker than the thickness of the original router base. You should use 2 small flat head wood screws, diagonally opposite each other that are countersunk into the table insert so that they do not protrude above it. These will be used to keep the table insert from moving around and becoming dislodged and will screw into the wood beneath your rabbet cut. You will, of course, need to counter sink the router mounting holes from above, as well. If you decide to purchase a table insert from a commercial source like Rockler, the holes and countersinks will probably already have been drilled into it. If you purchase a commercially available table top from Rockler, you will not have to cut and rout out a place for the table insert. The final step is to create a fence. A simple design would have two pieces of 1 x 3, flat , straight, clear, smooth wood screwed together at a right angle along their long edges. You will then need to cut a slot partway through both pieces that will allow your largest router bit to “retreat” all the way into the fence, The fence should be the same length as the table top and can be attached to the table top with a C-clamp on each end. If you are using ball bearing bits, you won’t really need the fence. If you are using straight cutters, the fence must be built in two, adjustable parts so that the out-feed fence can be set inwards of the in-feed fence to compensate for the thickness of the material that has just been removed by the bit. Think of a jointer table turned on its side. A jointer’s outfeed table is always set at the extreme height of the cutters while the infeed table is set below the height of the cutters. How much below determines how much material will be removed in each pass. A router fence is no different. If this seems too complicated, commerical router fences are available, ranging in price from about 80 to about 120 dollars.
OK, so
you can do it on the cheap, by yourself. But maybe, just Rockler High Pressure Laminate Table, Fence and Plate Package #1 $199.99 Bench Dog Solid Phenolic Router Table Fence & Plate Package #2 $399.99 Bench Dog Full Sized Cast Iron Router Table, Fence & Plate Package #3 $599.99 The above three packages do not come with a base or legs underneath. If you want a base or legs, consider following. Package #1 (above) plus Rockler Steel Stand $299.00 Package #2 (above) plus Bench Dog Steel Stand From $499.99 Package #3 (above) plus Bench Dog Baltic Birch Cabinet $899.99 Bench Dog ProTop Contractor Portable Router Table $249.99 If you just want the stand and plan on building your own top, these are available: Steel Router Table Legs set with free upper bracket attachment From $119.99 Rockler Pine Table Leg Set $ 59.99 You can also buy: Rockler High Pressure Laminate Table Top alone (no fence, insert, etc.) $ 89.99 Bench Dog ProTop Phenolic Router Table Top $239.99
Bench Dog ProMaxRT Cast Iron Table Top $429.99 And then there are the smaller component parts such as: Rockler pre-drilled router plates (table inserts) $ 59.99 Bench Dog pre-drilled router plates (table inserts) $59.99 Rockler 4-piece Router accessory kit (dust collection port, infeed/outfeed fence featherboards and a table featherboard $ 39.95 Rockler 32” Fence $ 84.99 Bench Dog ProFence 32” $139.99 Rockler Deluxe Router Fence $124.99 Rockler Retro Router Table Fence $ 24.99 A router lift is a neat thing to have mounted into your router table. It raises the entire router and router bit up and down through the top surface of the table. You can make minute height adjustments carefully and accurately.
Bench Dog 40-50 Pro Lift Router Adjustment System $329.99 Smart Lift Digital Router Lift $319.99 Bench Dog ProTop Phenolic Table complete setup with FX Plus Lift table $599.55 You can (1) build your own from scratch, using the instructions above, (2) build your own but incorporate some of the parts and accessories listed above or (3) build or buy the whole thing out of the parts listed above. It depends on your budget and how much time you have available to build a router table. I’m sure you’ll figure it out and the final product will be just what you need. I hope this article has been helpful. One piece of advice, though. If you live in a damp climate, particle board table tops will swell and distort making good routs impossible. If you bang things into the corners or sides of a particle board router top, you will also distort the flatness of the table. A phenolic top is much better and cast iron is best, if you can afford it.
Bob Gillespie © 2009 PerfectWoodworking.com |
maybe, you
might want to skip all or part of that by using commercially available
parts. Let’s look and see what’s available, from the bottom up. Rockler
and/or Bench Dog are the best sources for these parts. Here are some
that are available that you may want to consider. Prices were current
when this article was written.
