Router Table: Part 7

A quick note up front: The bronchitis is completely gone. The slight rib pain lingers. I'll live.

The table, as reported earlier, is finished to the point where I can use it. Storage to come later, and I'll be able to use the router table to help mill up the parts for it.

I finished the fence as well. Here you can see it from the front. It is mounted to the table saw fence, and I'll be able to use it from either side of the bit by simply turning it around and mounting it to the opposite side of the table saw fence.

I built in the dust collection. There is a channel inside the fence, connecting the opening at the bit to a flexible hose which leads to the "Y" near the floor and then to the vacuum hose itself. I blocked off the other half of the channel inside the fence.

I shouldn't have any major static electricity issues with such a short run of PVC/flexible plastic tubing. If that assumption turns out to be wrong I can always add some grounded copper wire to the system to carry the charge away. For those who don't know, static charges in a dust collection system can be extremely dangerous; a spark generated inside the hose can ignite the wood dust and cause an explosion.

Here is the sacrificial face mounted to the fence. It splits in front to allow access to the bit (I may be over-explaining this for some of you, but others are unfamiliar with the tools of the trade and how they operate). I'll mill up another face with no split and just run a bit up into it to make the opening. I'll have use for both. Also, I think I want to build a much longer version of the split fence to use for jointing the edges of my stock. I don't have a jointer in my shop. If I get one it will need to be a bench-top model because I just don't have room for anything bigger.

Here you can see how the face is attached to the fence. T-bolts run through the fence into the slotted holes in the face. I can slide the face left and right, positioning it where I need it, then tighten down the knobs to secure it in place. If I need one side to be proud of the other (that means one face will protrude farther forward than the other, useful if I'm taking material off of the entire edge of my stock), all I have to do is add some shims behind it and tighten the knobs down, capturing the shims between the face and the fence.