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.

Router Table: Part 6 (Really)

I had bronchitis. I know I have written about it already, but it needs to be repeated: I had bronchitis so bad I nearly passed out in the shower! And that was AFTER I had gone to the doctor and was already taking antibiotics. My wife was also sick at that time, and she had taken some medicine which made her a little loopy. My son was home, however, and he and his friend, Dylan, from Kansas, drove me to the doctor's office.

The second round of antibiotics was much stronger than the first, and it made an immediate difference. I felt much better by the next morning. But I started coughing a lot. A whole lot. So much so, and so violently, that I tore some muscle tissue in my rib cage. And then I dislocated a rib. It still hurts.

The upshot of all of this is that my router table project was seriously delayed. In fact, just this afternoon I finally got it to the point where I could stand it up. It is now mostly leveled, and I only have to trim it out, add a fence with dust collection built in, and some shelves on the front side, and I have to secure the table to my table saw so it doesn't try to walk away during use.

I have already been asked why I didn't replace the right extension wing of my table saw with the router table. I felt I was better off having as much stability as possible for large projects. Anyway, if I had replaced the wing I would have built all the way to the ends of the rails, so what's the difference, other than having the router mounted a bit further to the left?

You can't see it, but that's a Porter Cable 890 Series router mounted under a Rockler router plate.

Dust collection is built into the table with PVC parts. There's a "Y" attached to allow collection from the fence using the same shop vac.

Tomorrow I have to finish painting a cardinal to be placed on my grandmother's grave in a couple of weeks. While the paint is drying I'll continue working on this router table.

Router Table: Part 3

So, this is about where I left off last time, yes? The jig is built, the melamine top is screwed into place, in perfect alignment so the jig will guide my router bit to cut out the exact shape I want in the exact location I want it. The reason we build jigs is to make a job easy, controllable and, if needed, repeatable. And this jig meets the first two requirements.

Excellent!

The next thing to do is to place the router on the melamine top and start routing. As you can see here the router rides perfectly level because the center piece of the jig has a melamine top of it's own made of scrap pieces left over from the construction of the real top.

Here is the piece with part of the routing done. I started a little north of the lower right corner, moving clockwise, against the rotation of the bit so I can control the movement of the router. If you move with the rotation of the bit ("Climb Routing") the router can get away from you and accidents can result. There is a time and place for that technique, but this ain't it.

My wife, Debra, was kind enough to take this shot of me during the routing procedure. As you can see I am wearing all the proper safety gear, including safety glasses, respirator and ear plugs.

Here the work is nearly finished. One thing about hardboard, melamine coated or not; it may be a tiny bit brittle and very heavy to work with, but at least it produces mountains of nasty dust when you cut it! It is a remarkably versatile product when used properly, though.

So here it is with the dust vacuumed off. It looks a little better this way, yes?

Next time: I'll size the top and begin the process of mounting it to the substrate.

Router Table: Part 2

Things are shaping up nicely! I have the top nearly finished as of this writing. I'll begin taking you through the steps up to this point. I'm going to do this in small, digestible chunks for those of you who are not woodworkers. For the sawdust lovers who are reading this, please be patient... I'll get to the details you want soon enough.

Here is the material I'm using for my top. It's 1/8" melamine coated hardboard laminated to regular 1/8" hardboard. The opening for the router plate has been rough cut (VERY rough cut... I hate my jigsaw), and two points have been located and drilled out so that it can be mounted to the jig I used to rout out the opening to it's finished dimensions. The same points will be used to mount it to the substrate of the router table itself when the time comes.

Here you can see the finished jig. The two points I have circled with pencil line up with the two drilled points on the melamine top. When screwed down the top lines up perfectly with the jig so that the opening I cut matches the opening I have already drawn onto the top. The melamine surface mounted in the center of the jig serves only to to keep the router base level so the sides of the opening will be at right angles to the top. It also makes the job a lot easier because there is no chance of the router suddenly tipping to the side during a lapse of concentration on my part.

Here is the top screwed onto the jig, ready for routing. You can see the size of the whole thing as compared to my small level, which is one foot long.

And here is the router with a bearing guided bit chucked in it. The bearing rides on the inside edge of the jig I built while the cutters slice off the melamine. The bearing and the jig keep the cutters from removing too much material and the result is an opening that is perfectly sized to fit my router plate.

Next time: I'll actually turn on the router and get to the fun part!