My home made router table


Router Table Admittedly this is a very expensive chamfering and round-over tool, which is what I use it for mostly. The table body is made from 18 mm MDF with a 25mm MDF top. The router is mounted on a Trend steel plate recessed into the top. The plate was intended as an under-plate for an old style Trend router table. and as it was not perfectly flat it was recessed low, over-filled with epoxy filler, and sanded flat before the whole table was laminating with Formica. The cutter aperture in the Formica was made after laminating by drilling then winding up the chamfer tool til it was the right size (25mm). There are no additional blanking plates as I use small cutters mostly.
The mitre slot is B&Q aluminium U section 22mmx10mmx1mm, glued into a routed dado. The table is used with the door closed to keep down noise to the neighbouring houses. The hinged door seals the box and dust is extracted from the rear of the box using the Vax cleaner pipe, pulling air through the cutter aperture. 30 minutes continuous use seems to pose no problem with heat build-up.
Router Table The fence has a micro adjust on each end. Using 6mm studding gives exactly 1mm per turn movement. Studding runs in a dowel nut from Screwfix. Clamps are 8mm clamp screws and T-nuts.
Construction of the fence is biscuited MDF with a plain waxed face, see Bandsaw Fence for construction details.

Router Table The DeWalt 613 has no speed adjustment dial like the 615. This means that a long 8mm diameter tube (B&Q) can be fitted where the depth stop normally is. One of the turret screws is replaced by a long piece of 5mm studding which runs through the tubing. The MDF adjuster has 5mm nuts embedded. The four cap headed screws gives the adjuster enough momentum to spin all the way up the studding when given a flick.
(The depth adjust and fence micro adjust ideas have already won a Brimarc prize from the Router magazine)
Router Table Detail of fence opening which also has a dust port made from a spare Hoover dustpipe, the crosscut sled made from an old beech shelf bracket, which runs against the fence (not along the mitre slot), and home made beech depth gauge (design is from Robert Wearing books).