router table cost

[dshines]

ok i have decided to build a table using norms plans, how much can i expect to pay for materials? what upgrades should i consider? thanks for any response

[KYHighlander]

incra jig ultra is one upgrade I would do, awesome little fence system for making joints.

[James D Kountz]

Total cost would depend on what materials you already have on hand. For example I keep a good stock of bolts nuts washers and other hardware you would use for something like this. Also when I built mine I had enough plywood and hardwood laying around to just about build the entire thing. You should definitely figure in for a good switch, table insert, locking casters and other more or less standard features. The fence can be bought or shopbuilt. Mine is shopbuilt and has served me well. It has individual adjustable fences, dust port built right in and easy to adjust knobs. I think it could range anywhere from $20-$300 depending on what you want to do and what you already have to do it with. Kinda hard to say really.

Jim

[Steve]

I'm about 3/4 done with my version of Norm's table. Put oak face frames on it and did the top with three layers 1/2 MDF laminated together, hardwood edge banded and formica on both sides. I got all the materials at the Borg so it's all medium quality. Here's what it's costing me - surprised when I added it up, expected to be spending about 1/2 as much. There's some MDF and plywood left over.

1 Sheet 3/4" Oak Plywood 32 1 Sheet 1/2" MDF 13 2 2'x4' pieces Formica 26 1/2 sheet 1/2" MDO 14 12 BF 3/4" Red Oak 50 Wheels 20 Drawer Slides 40 Misc (screws, switch, etc) 20 Total $210

Happened to have some 1/2" plastic material (might be Lexan, very clear, hard and stiff) for a router face plate, otherwise would have spent about $40 more to buy one. I'll be making a fence from MDF.

Steve

[Edwin Pawlowski]

A good table and fence like the Benchdog is $400. They get $65 for the casters and $65 for a drawer kit. Ed

[GRL]

Yep. $390 less $25 in their current promo = $365, with free shipping.

So for $365 you get an excellent table and fence on a very good cabinet. That's pretty hard to beat if your time is worth anything at all.

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

for under $125 in about 4-5 hours. The $125 includes the insert, but not the fence. I had the fence left over from something else and would not bother to buy one if I didn't have it. I would have made a simple fence.

The top is 1 1/2" MDF edged with scrap ash and laminated on both sides with Formica. The MDF sides are plenty strong and much heavier than plywood.

Barry

[GRL]

Nice table and no doubt adequate for your needs, but I don't think you can realistically compare its features with the Bench Dog top and especially their fence. That's my point, you can certainly make something that works for much less than the $360 they charge (as you showed), but you are not going to end up with the same feature set unless you get pretty darn close to what they charge.

- GRL

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

Maybe. I have never been using this table and said to myself, "If only I had a (blank)".

The only thing I've noticed missing from my fence is T-track and a plastic guard. I had a guard, but removed it, as charged dust was constantly sticking to it, blocking my view.

You can add the actual Bench Dog T-track to any fence. I didn't add it to mine, as I'm already comfortable with clamps. I usually make jigs and such as I find a need for them. If I never find a need for it, it never gets made.

Drawers? A sheet of 1/2" MDF and some pulls, and you're good to go. I didn't go with drawers, as I have a few rollaways around the shop.

If you take a look @ , you'll see that my cabinet essentially is the same, for over $130 less. In fact, I copied it. The main difference is that I've got a 4" dust port in the back, and they used melamine. If you really want the Bench Dog top, you could add it to the shop-made cabinet.

What other features does the Bench Dog have that I'm missing? Maybe there's something I should add to mine.

Thanks, Barry

[Bob G.]

=========================================== ... Barry I do not think you missed much...... LOL

I do have a benchdog Table and to be honest it is extremely well made and functions very well.... I purchased mine because I needed a portable table to take a few hundred miles and use at my daughters place... OTHERWISE I would have never spend that much money on the Table...

I do have a Router set up in the outfeed table of my Table Saw and that I used for years...TODAY I do 90 percent of my "table" work using the benchdog table... and I used to swap the Benchdog Fence every now and then to the table saw because I liked it so well... (only took 5 seconds to do...

Anyway I checked the price of just buying a second fence from Benchdog and said NO FRICKEN WAY..... So I actually made my own...without the T-Tracks however because I rarely used them...

I coppied it so well that the parts (disposable faces etc are interchanable) and I figure I may have invested 5 bucks in the fence... actual price was zero because everything came from scrap in my auto shop or wood shop...

Bob Griffiths

[Tom Wojeck]

Nice table Barry. I recently built the table that was in Wood Magazine about 2 years ago for around $130. It would have cost less, but I had no scraps or extra knobs laying around. It does all that I need to do. I even put a T-Track in the fence for featherboards etc. I just couldn't justify paying a lot of money for something I could do myself, and would serve my purposes just as well.

--Tom Wojeck

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

I'm a firm believer that everything I make teaches me something. Sometimes it's small, but it's something.

Our local woodworking school is part of a Woodcraft that sells router tables. All of the school tables are shop made.

Remember, the school could have bought the tables wholesale!

Barry