I am unsure of whether I need a router table.I mainly do small projects, boxes etc. and I don't know if it reallyjustifies a place in my 14 square foot garage space..Please try to persuade me either way,Cheers,Sam

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

Sam, get a copy of "Woodworking with the Router", by Hylton and Matlack. It is the best accessory for the router I have ever found. It will show you how to make several tables and when to use one.Sam Berlyn wrote:

Do I need a router table??

Dec 02, 2004 28 Replies

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bridger 21 years ago

if you turn your router upside down you'll see that the surface that touches the wood is removeable. this is called the sub-base. what you're gonna do is unscrew the sub-base and replace it with another one a little thicker and a good 6 or 8 inches longer and wider. (make it a couple of inches larger than the overall footprint of the tool)

this plate in turn will be let into the surface of the router table so that the "top" of it (what was the bottom before you turned it upside down) is flush with the top of the router table.

now to change bits, make fiddly adjustments, etc you lift the router and plate right out of the table.

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Prometheus 21 years ago

No, but if you get a plunge router, you can change bits when it is still in the table by unlocking the plunge lock. Just make sure you're careful with the router- with the space you've described, it's an awful tight squeeze to keep control of the board.

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Randy 21 years ago

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Greg 21 years ago

I mounted my old Crapsman in a wing of my table saw. I can use the table saw fence and it is one less thing taking up real estate.

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Hank Gillette 21 years ago

How did you make a hole in your table saw wing?

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Mike Marlow 21 years ago

Hey Hank - I did the same thing with a DeWalt 618 and my extensions are built out of cherry banding with MDF as the surface, so I just routed the channel for my insert to sit in and cut out the waste. The MDF in my table will soon give way to melamine though. Not because it's giving me any problems, I've just decided that I hate MDF.

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mac davis 21 years ago

Sam.... absolute no-no, but I'm going to respond to your question before reading what others have said.. (busy morning) IMHO, you know when you need a router table... you'll be working on a project eventually that you really don't feel good about free hand or clamped to a jig, and decide to build a table..

Though I was never as space-inhibited as you, the area I worked in when I first needed a router table was very small... I ended up putting a hole in the back of my work bench with router clamps under it, and an oak 1/4 and a couple of deep throat clamps as the fence.. it worked until I could advance to the next step and was free, using what I had on hand..YMMV

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Greg 21 years ago

The table saw wings are heavy sheet metal with a depression in them. I cut some laminate to fill the depression and punched the hole with a chassis punch. The

3 mounting screws are countersunk into the laminate

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Prometheus 21 years ago

They sell router table extension wings for a lot of saws as well, IIRC.

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