Do I need a router table??

for small parts a router table is a necessity. If you don't have much space make a small benchtop model. I made a simple box for a router table and store it on a shelf when not in use. Its just big enough to put the router's storage box inside as well so it doesn't take up much more space.

Reply to
Eugene
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I am unsure of whether I need a router table.

I mainly do small projects, boxes etc. and I don't know if it really justifies a place in my 14 square foot garage space..

Please try to persuade me either way,

Cheers,

Sam

Reply to
Sam Berlyn

Reply to
Paul & Judy MacEachern

Do you already have a router? If so, it is extremely easy to mount it under a piece of plywood or MDF and then clamp the board to some sawhorses or something and then clamp a straight edge or board to that as a fence. A pretty easy make-shift router table. It really depends on how robust and how often you'll use it. I find the router table, with the proper jigs and safety precautions, to be a very good tool for making small moldings and other routing operations. To use a handheld router on small parts requires some effort (more than the router table, IMO) in order to make it safe and accurate. The router table was one of my first projects for the shop and it is one of the most used stations - coming into play on just about every project.

Mike

Reply to
Mike in Mystic

Yes, you need one. I'd be lost without mine. You don't need a big one and it can be stored under the bench (or the bottom of your bedroom closet) if you get a small setup. Take a look at the small Benchdog

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and see if it fits your space and either buy or build a similar size.

Simple chores like a groove or roundover are just so fast and easy with a table.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

How do I mount it? If I screw it on, how do I change the bit / collet?

Sam

Reply to
Sam Berlyn

try this link to give you an idea:

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you countersink some screws through the top of the board and screw into the router baseplate. This allows you to release the router motor from below and then change the bits with the motor out of the housing. You then adjust the height in various ways after replacing the router in the router base (different routers do this differently). At any rate, that article I linked to has a pretty good description of a simple router table that should get you thinking.

Mike

Reply to
Mike in Mystic

Can you always take the motor off of the housing?

Sam

Reply to
Sam Berlyn

What router do you have? If you're looking at purchasing one, and it will be your only one, I'd get the DeWalt 618PK with the fixed and plunge bases (and possibly the kit with the d-handle, too, which I find useful). For this router and the Porter-Cable 690 (which I also have) (and every other router that I've seen, for that matter) you can take the mouter out of the base. I can't envision any reason why a router would not be able to do this, and can't really see how it would function properly in terms of accessing the collet and changing bits if you couldn't.

Mike

Reply to
Mike in Mystic

If you have a router, you will increase its capacity immensely by having one. However commercial ones are very expensive and most of the UK ones aren't much good.

You can make one cheaply. I'll try hard to post photos of my own in the next few days, something I've been meaning to write up for months.

So yes, they're useful. They're easy and cheap to make. Don't spend money on buying a commercial one.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

consider it a project, something to practise your skills on.

router tables are very useful things.

Reply to
bridger

Yes. *Much* easier, much safer for small projects. Take the tool to the material for large projects. amke oyur own from scrap material :

4 legs with small ply squares fastened to the bottoms to fasten to the benchtop. 3/4" particle board or whatever for the top. hole cut to accommodate the router bits and then some. Two more or less parallel slots. One piece of hardwood for the guide, with two hole in it to run bolts through for fastening to the tabletop through the two slots, and one cutout to allow chips to fly.

If happy, then invest in a better metal one ASAP.

Reply to
Guess who

Yes... in your space, this would be a valuable addition:

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takes a screaming maniac of a tool and puts it in a much more controlled situation that will allow you to do MUCH more with the router. A hand held router is a disaster waiting to happen on most days.

Sam Berlyn wrote:

Reply to
Pat Barber

No - very rarely.

Remember that on the interweb everyone is an American. Routers in the USA are still largely "fixed base" designs, which are pretty much unheard of in the UK. They don't plunge and (rather bizarrely for a "fixed base") they come apart easily into two halves.

If you want a router table with a plunge router, you really need one with a good depth adjust. Sadly these are still rare, especially in the mid range. The better ones have them (I use a Freud 2000) and oddly so do the cheapies.

Another factor in choosing a router for a table is to have one with a switch you can leave turned on, and a separate switch that you can work from above (ideally this is a "no volt release" switch). Some recent cheap routers have "trigger" switches that need to be tied down with an elastic band to be used in a table - hardly convenient.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

I just took a look at the Freud FT2000E and it definitely doesn't come apart as the routers I'm used to. To be honest, I think this is a very big negative, not a positive.

the only thing the word "fixed" refers to is that the routers don't plunge. being able to take the motor out of the base greatly improves the ease of putting a bit in the collet and then tightening it down. Of course, there are times when the bit will be too big for the base opening, and you'll have to insert it with the motor in the base. Since I have a table with a big

3.25 HP router and a router lift, it is easy for me to forget about those difficulties as I never have to deal with them anymore.

At any rate, having multiple bases with one motor that can be exchanged between them makes an infinite amount of sense. There are a LOT of operations where I prefer a fixed base router instead of a plunge. I actually keep a tear-drop baseplate on the fixed base all the time, and have a big clear circular base on the plunge base. You can never have enough routers or router accessories.

Mike

Reply to
Mike in Mystic

listen to Pat, Sam....

Reply to
bridger

I actually prefer a table for small parts. Small parts are much easier to rout when the router is steady and the part is held with a hand screw or push block.

On large items, like table edges, I'll use a handheld router.

Barry

Reply to
Ba r r y

This cost less than $100 US and one day to make.

None of the dimensions are critical. If you want to save even more money, all you need is a flat piece of plywood that you can clamp between two sawhorses.

Barry

Reply to
Ba r r y

Yes you do Sam. But... you don't need a big, heavy, free standing table that's going to consume floor space all of the time and is going to be in the way more than it's going to be used. You can make a very light, simple "table" out of a piece of plywood, glued up boards, MDF - whatever, and mount an insert in it for your router. That's it - just the board. You don't need a fancy fence set up, just a good straight board that you can clamp on the "table". When you're not using it, hang it up on the wall out of the way. When you need it, take it down and put it across a couple of saw horses, a couple of 55 gallon barrels, or whatever is handy.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

Two choices Sam - either install a router insert which you can remove to change bits with the router laid up on the tabletop, and then place the whole thing back into the table... or just reach under the table top with your wrench and loosen the collet to change bits. You can get a wrench in under the table top to loosen collets. Worst case - take the three screws out that hold the router to the underside of the table and haul the router up to the table top. That's kind of an extreme method, but you don't change bits that often that it's a real killer. Just remember to unplug your router before changing anything. That part added to appease the catastrophe freaks.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

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