Router Table

[JoeV]

What are current opinions regarding the best router table for the money? Benchdog?

Thanks!

JoeV

[Unisaw A100]

Ho-made.

UA100

[Pounds on Wood]

What's the going rate to get one?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I have the Benchdog and like it a lot. I also have their lift and reeeeeeeeeeealy like it. Makes bit changing so easy and adjustments are very precise.

OTOH, making a table can be a rewarding project. Lots of designs available and you can modify them to suite your needs. If building one is a consideration, maybe a Benchdog fence and/or top is a good idea too.

[Leon]

Depends on the experience and abillities of the Ho. ;~)

[Leon]

Home made is the most bang for you buck as pointed out by Keith but the Benchdog is an excellent setup.

[Bob]

Homemade is great. I used Norms deluxe router plan (which is a great deal for 24 bucks-excellent plans) and built every thing but the fence. Enlarged the top a bit and then outfitted it with the Incra Ultra Jig, Wonderfence and then finally the woodpecker Pro Router lift. Its a great table. But definitely not for the budget minded.

[Unisaw A100]

So far I have most of mine built and it's not cost me much other than some MDF corners from The Store Formerly Known As Wooddorker's, the continuous hinges, touch latches for the door and $500ish for the router and insert. OK, that part doesn't actually count.

I will acknowledge right now that the top will never be as flat as the top on Roger Cliffe's shaper.

sigh...

Pictures to follow on a abpw/abpf group near you, some day.

UA100

[B a r r y]

My shop made version was under $100:

Barry

[Rumpty]

As mentioned ho made.

A flat sheet of 3/4 birch ply with a hole for the bit and the router base screwed to the underside is all you need.

FWIW on ABPW my router table, a slightly modified version of the flat sheet.

[Al Reid]

I concur with the ho-made approach. I designed and built this one between Christmas and New Year.

[Han]

B a r r y wrote in news: [e-mail]:

I liked your sled so much I made my own using your plan. Do you have a plan for the routertable? The ppictures are nice, but (IMO) don't show enough detail.

TIA!!

[bridger]

my shop made version was maybe $20... for casters. the rest was found materials or scrap form other projects.

[B a r r y]

Sorry, no plan. FWIW, it's only an MDF box. I didn't even bother to dado, it's all butt joints, glued and screwed. The top is 2 layers of

3/4" MDF, laminated on both sides with Formica, edged with scrap ash. The height was chosen based on what felt right for me.

The hole for the DC fitting on the back looks like I shot it with buckshot! I needed the table to make an actual project, so I didn't have time to get all that fancy, but it's turned out to be all ever need.

If there's specific measurements or detail shots you need, let me know, I'll put 'em up.

Barry

[Jeffrey Thunder]

Ayup.

Here's a qwik tip for all you budding routertabletopmakers. If possible with your design, being able to flip the router top over is a good thing (tmMS). That way you can choose your evil: dip or crown.

[Han]

B a r r y wrote in news: [e-mail]:

My router table is an old kitchen cabinet (bottom part). The drawer "hole" is to access the router. The top is part of a solid core (MDF???) door, with a hole fitted with a 3/8" acrylate router plate. No real fence. So I am looking mostly for a fence and a better way to mount and dismount my new Bosch router. The old B&D router is nigh impossible to get to to exchange bits when mounted. Moreover, the height adjustment (sort of rack and pinion) gets full of sawdust, so I need better dust extraction as well.

Any advice welcome!

[John Carlson]

That looks very similar to mine, based -- more or less -- on one shown in Hylton's "Woodworking with the Router."

Cost me a sheet of plywood, some laminate and an insert. Couldn't have been much more than $50 total. Five years later, I'm still real happy with it and have never given a moment's thought to replacing it with a commercially-produced unit.

So count me as another advocate of home-made.

(I've never had a "ho-made" model. I th>I concur with the ho-made approach. I designed and built this one between Christmas

and New Year.

Published e-mail address is strictly for spam collection. If e-mailing me, please use jc631 at optonline dot net

[Barry Lennox]

Just about every WW magazine has run articles on yet another "Ultimate Router Table" I know, I have copies of most!

Anyway, I'm halfway thru the one in FWW March/April 2004 starting page

1. I liked it's versatility and simplicity, and it's cheap!

Barry Lennox