sanity check, please

[Bill]

I just bought a 3/8" Lexan router plate which has been tapped for leveling screws around the edges but is otherwise untouched. I am intending to hang a Milwaukee 5625 from it, eventually using it to raise panels for cabinets around the house & shop.

I am thinking that I should find the center of the plate, drill mounting holes, put a 1/2" center cutting bit in the collet, mount the Lexan to the router and plunge through it for the initial hole and then repeat the process each time I need a bigger bit ... up to and including a ~3" panel-raising bit.

All the while investing in additional router plates until I have one for pretty much every diameter of router bit ever made. And changing the router base nearly as often as I change bits (best argument I've ever seen for long production runs).

I can see how this plan might be workable if I could just secure renewable govertnment grants to buy the Lexan, but I doubt if it is the best way to go with my pre-grant seed money.

Your thoughts?

[Leuf]

Pretty tough to plunge a bit that has a bearing on the bottom.

For my router table I didn't use a removeable plate, but what I did might work for you. I put a square 3" hole instead of a round hole. The corners are rounded as I used the router with a pattern to make the hole. The nice way that worked out is that the corners get supported by the base of the router, so you don't need any sort of rabbet for the insert. So all I have to do is make a 3" square of the right thickness, knock off the corners, put the appropriate sized hole in it, and pop it in.

Won't work for out of the table use. You really only need maybe 3 sizes, 1", 2", 3" but having to change the plate would be a PITA. So the simple solution, buy two more routers :)

-Leuf

[Lew Hodgett]

Bill wrote: > I just bought a 3/8" Lexan router plate which has been tapped for leveling > screws around the edges but is otherwise untouched. I am intending to hang > a Milwaukee 5625 from it, eventually using it to raise panels for cabinets > around the house & shop.

Before you get too far down the road, take a look at Rousseau, RM3509 Solid Phenolic Drop-In Base Plate for Router Tables.

Google RM3509.

Lew

[Bill]

I have one of the Rousseaus, but it only has a 1/4" thick lip on it and that Milwaukee is both heavy and expensive. Dropping it on the concrete is not an attractive option. I took the Rousseau out of my vertical router table to put it into my horizontal table.

Are you saying that the Rousseau is strong enough to handle the Milwaukee for the next several years?

If so, for less than $40 I can get back to work.

Bill

[Stoutman]

I had a Rousseau plate and I ended up throwing it in the trash. It flexed under the weight of my PC 7518.

Regarding your idea of having a different plate for every router bit seems like a big PITA. Also costly.

Have you looked into the Woodpecker aluminum router plate? I have one and it is a MONSTER. I hang my PC7518 in it 24-7 and no sag to date (since March 2005). It handles big bits upto 3-9/16".

Here is a link:

is mine:

[name]

Here is a sweet solution:

[lwasserm]

Very likely you can get by with just 2 or 3 plates. Most of the time it won't matter if the hole is somewhat lareger than the bit.

[Leon]

For 15+ years I used a router table with a single sized hole in it. I had no desire for multiple sized holes. Now that I spin raised panel bits I now have 2 different sized holes that I use. Why bother with so many different sized holes?

[Robatoy]

On Nov 3, 3:03 am, "Bill" wrote: [snip]

Find a local fabricator of Corian or other ACRYLIC solid surface materials. Ask for a vanity-bowl cut-out. If he charges you for it, he's a dick... but 10 dollars is still okay. If you're anywhere near SW Ontario, I'll give you some. The stuff machines like a decent hardwood, and won't sag if you keep the plate around 12" x 12". You can cut it on your tablesaw with a carbide blade, you can drill it with HSS forstners. Slow speed. I have had PC Production routers hanging off that stuff since 1986, never a problem. I repeat... make sure it is acrylic, like Staron, Corian, Meganite. If it smells like autobody filler, it is polyester...don't use it, because it is brittle. You bought the right router... it's a dream to use.

r

[J T]

Fri, Nov 3, 2006, 4:51am (EST+5) [e-mail] (Bill) doth query: Your thoughts?

I think I'm glad I make my own, out of 1/2" plywood - that comes from not liking somone else's ideas about what I need, saving money is a bonus. The hole mine is about 2" - no prob, the router just blows dust right out.

JOAT If it can't kill you, it ain't a sport.

[Gerald Ross]

I use a plate similar to this one. I got a couple of blank discs which I customized the hole. The red disc snaps out to change. It has worked well, and has four leveling screws to ensure it is level with the table.

[cselby]

I bought a chunk of lexan from a plastic supply house. It was in the 'scrap' bin and there was enough to make 3 ea 12x10 router plates. Cost was 20$. They are drilled to mount 4 different routers. The holes have gone large over that past few years and I use a thin sheet of plexi fastened down to the table for the small bit, small piece of wood work. You don't need various hole sizes. You need a thin overlay sheet of something to close up the hole for small work

An extra 5$ got me a bundle of 1" thick x 2x36 strips of polyethelene for fence/ jigs.

I think this is an almost gloat.

Pete

[Lew Hodgett]

They seem to think they can handle it.

Lew

[brianlanning]

If you dedicate a router to each bit, then you can attach the appropriate plate to the router. ;-)

brian

[Greg O]

Just two plates covers my needs. One with a big hole for the larger bits, and one with maybe a 1" hole for everything else. Greg

[CW]

That's the reason that they sell router plates with removable inserts. Adjust hole size rather than switching plates.

[CW]

I've never seen a center cutting bit with a bearing on the bottom.

[CW]

[Leuf]

Okay I missed that part. But still, not all bits are designed to plunge, even if you have a starter hole.

-Leuf

[CW]