New Router Cabinet

That's a beauty!!

Re: New Router Cabinet

Joseph Mulherin, sr

Stephen, I used the same cabinet design I also got from Norm's website. The table top I bought from Rockler. It has two slides on it to allow the fence to go back and forth from front to back. It also has the slot in the front which I never have used, but I think it is used for wider boards.

Good design and very good use of the scrap materials, and finish is marvelous.

Put slot in

Gary Smyth

Since you're building and you have the space, put the slot in. it is a very convenient hand hold for routing ends if nothing else. Make sure when sliding in the channel the back of the miter gauge clears the router plate hole by at least an inch! Look at pictures of others to get an idea. You might have to search for a aluminum slot piece long enough for the table but you won't be sorry. You can set up the groove with a dado head on a table saw and do it in one pass if you are careful. I didn't have trouble with the top laminate chipping, but it did scare me (and I taped it). Also I didn't use a "T" slot just a normal u channel set a hair below the top. I set mine so that I could use the table saw miter gauge. In the intervening years I bought additional miter gauges and rig them for a specific project. I find older Delta and Craftsman and typically find them for $5-$10 at estate sales.

Re: New Router Cabinet *LINK*

Ellis Walentine

Sweet job, Stephen. That design sure has legs. Believe it or not, I designed the original table, which we then turned into an article in American Woodworker magazine, back in 1995. Our original table had a crank that you can use to raise and lower the router motor in the table.

Anyhow, Norm liked the table a lot and came to our shop to film an episode about it, and he ended up doing his own version. There have been a lot of variations and improvements on the design over the years. Your improvements are excellent and very practical.

Cheers,

Ellis


http://books.google.ca/books?id=uPYDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Re: New Router Cabinet

Jim Hoeller

I built one similar to yours and used "T" track for the miter gauge and fence. The miter slot with a fixture to hold the wood made cope cuts easy and accurate.

Re: New Router Cabinet

del schisler

no need for miter slot, use fences is all you need , you don't have to be

streight on the table, as you know alway's on the left side of the bit or into the rotatation not on the right side, this is in the table i am talking about ,you can ue it as a jointer also , make a fence with the outfeed 1/8" thiner than the infeed , that is so that the wood doesn't hit the outfeed side, of course a bit with with beiring , i have the table from the router work shop , if you aren't a member you should join, it is all about router and table's ect, very good site , the link

http://www.routerforums.com/

For the majority you are correct

Gary Smyth

However, my debate would be that while it is easier not to have a miter slot, that doesn't mean it should not have one. A good fence is essential. One a split fence, and the other a solid wall. But both are better with a miter slot in some applications, A quick examples are the instance of a board longer than the width. This is profiling perpendicular to the fence. If a profile is wanted on the end it is easier, safer, to brace/lock down the piece using a miter gauge captured in a slot, with a backer board, than to use it freehand and either risk a (handheld)blow out or separation of the piece and the backer when one clears the bit and the other is still engaged. The same if you need a through groove away from the edge. Do you need a miter slot? In my view it depends on how you do work, but I believe the extra effort now in the build will generate benefits, safety, ease of use with multiple applications throughout the life of the table.

Re: New Router Cabinet

Don Evans

Excellent looking job. Just in case you may NOT know this, NEVER tighten down the self ejecting collet in that router with no bit in it.

If you do, it will pull the collet out of the catch groove in the nut and will no longer self eject the bit.

If you do, do that, it isn't the end of the world you really have not harmed it but you have to put the collet back into the nut in such a way to get them locked together again.

Takes a block of wood and hammer and slight hit to fix it. You should call Triton and let them talk you through it, much easier that way.

Don

Re: New Router Cabinet

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

Nice job! I built a somewhat similar table a few years ago, based on an article Ellis published in, as I recall American Woodworker. I did install 2 aluminum miter slots on the table (one toward the back and one in front). The only use I have made of them is to attach fingerboards to press against workpieces when running long material. I lucked out and ran into a excellent brand new Bench Dog fence at an Estate auction - paid around $20! I have a Porter Cable 7539 router with the router raiser on the table with a Rockler plate. I did hinge my top so it is easier to change bits.

Why no glue with the pocket screw joinery?

Dick Coers

I've always used glue since wood moves from season to season. Always thought the wood under the screw heads might give over time.

Re: Why no glue with the pocket screw joinery?

William Duffield

I don't know about Stephen, but when I build a shop fixture, I don't use glue becuse I figure it is experimental, and I might want to change it after I've used it for a while. If I glue it, I'm either stuck with my original design and measurements, or I have to throw it away and start over.

When I built the cabinet for my router table, I didn't use any glue or screws, just loose tenons. The sides, back, bottom and top rail on the front are 3/4" baltic birch. The rest of the front is doors and drawer faces. The 2" square corner posts are hardwood. Sides and back are joined to the posts with beech tenons, and the bottom is joined to the sides with the same. I test fitted it all together with a dead blow mallet, thinking I would glue it later, after I was sure it all fit together. I never did disassemble it again, but it's held together for a few years without glue and without any of the joints opening up. The top is joined to the sides with light weight aluminum angles and small screws, but I used what the manufacturer of the top supplied. If I had built my own top, I probably would have joined it the same way I put the rest of it together.

Back to the original issue, the top does have a miter slot, and I don't use it, but that's because I don't build paneled doors with cope and stick joinery.

Re: Cope and Stick on Router table

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

I do have a miter slot, but never use it for Cope and stick joinery. When I am making that joint (or any joint that requires a 90 deg. or other precise angle on the end of a workpiece), I make a sacrificial block of 3/4" scrap wood or MDF cut, in the case of a 90 deg, perfectly square. I find it far more accurate and easier to hold the workpiece while feeding as well as having a backing for the bit as the bit leaves the workpiece.

As I said before, the miter slot does come in handy for clamping down featherboards.

Re: Cope and Stick on Router table

William Duffield

I didn't mean to imply that using the miter slot is the best way to do that; it's just A way. Yours works better. Perhaps the ultimate coping jig is the JessEm Mite-R-Slide, but that is a really expensive way to get high precision, especially since it only attaches to JessEm's fences.

Re: Cope and Stick on Router table

Larry Clinton At Frankfort, (Central) Indiana

Your right of course, I do have the Incra miter table (5000) with the 3000 SE (as I remember) that I occasionally use on my Unisaw. I could set it up for the router table but haven't seen the need yet. It is extremely accurate, but seldom really need it even on the Cabinet saw.

Re: New Router Cabinet

AZ in Colorado Springs

I have a Rockler router table top which has a slot for a miter bar. Mostly it provides a nice place to set a pencil below the plane of the top, but then someone else mentioned feather boards. That remided me that I also have a pair of feather boards that attach to the miter slot and the t-track on the fence. Very useful for long, narrow stock. I don't use them too often.

For "crosscut" type of action I find a push block very useful. Made it from scrap -- two pieces form an "L" and there is a third piece that forms a handle. It pushes stock nicely along the fence, and can also serve to back up the cut. When the corner gets eaten away too much, flip it over and around, then start fresh. When that corner ges eaten away, make a new push block from other scraps.