To Build or Buy?

swampgator · Post by **swampgator** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 9:28 pm

Jeff, first, thank you for your service. Secondly, I live in Pensacola. When you come, PM me so we can get together. Hope to have up both machines by the time you arrive. Hope you get to come and spend some time at the local Naval Air Station. Worked there for 35 years, but very different since BRAC 93. We were near the last of the 10 years, 5 rounds of BRAC. One round after us in 1995. But, it looks much newer and the quality of life is far from what we endured during the Viet Nam years.

reible · Post by **reible** » Sat Jan 28, 2012 10:18 pm

Since it has been brought up, I have the router workshop router table. What is different about these is the ease that the router can pop out of the table and a second/third/fourth/fifth router can be pop in. You just have to have enough routers and bases.

I personally have I don't even recall for sure but let's say 15 routers. I have had the opportunity to leave say a 1/4" round over bit in a router, height set the way I want it and then be able to pop it out and put in another router with say a 1/4" spiral to do a groove and then another router to pop in with say a rabbet cut. Then pop the rounder router back in and be ready with that. Of course you still need to adjust the fence for placement but that is easy enough.

I have at times had as many as I believe 11 router tables set up in my garage, and within the last 4 years or so I was going with 9 of them. I am now down to 5 unless you count the couple of shopsmith mounted tables I have and if you count the overhead router/table router as one or two then maybe is is 8.

The is no ultimate router table, believe me I have tried. I have hopes or retiring at least another one this summer, well boxing it up anyway. It is set up to make rosettes and I haven't made any in years so it would be best just to get it tucked away. I also have a router crafter that has been boxed for a few years now, almost tempted to sell it after I saw one go for over $300 this week, but no I just have to have it.

My table for my incra jig is now just a table top, pending finding a way to perhaps mount it on the shopsmith or ????

Anyway I mostly wanted to let some of the newer people here that the older people here have posted a lot of router table ideas and projects, maybe in to the hundreds and if you would like to see then then you need to make use of the search engine here or google with ....:site:http://www.shopsmith.net where the .... would be "router table", "router", "opr", "overarm router", etc.

After all with over 9,000 threads and over 106,000 posts they are not all just fluff.

Ed

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 1:40 am

I started building my first router table tonight. I have a couple tops to this model instructional cart (not the cart itself, just the top flat surface). I cut the holes and routed the recess for the plate, but that was as far as I got.

I hope to build the base tomorrow.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 2:08 am

How useful is a slot for a miter gauge on a router table?

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 7:16 am

heathicus wrote:How useful is a slot for a miter gauge on a router table?

Back when I was watching the Router Workshop show (its been a few years) They never had a miter gauge slot at all. They used either squared pushers or coping sleds guided by either the fence or the cutter bit bearing.
Squared pusher:
[ATTACH]15961[/ATTACH]

Coping sled:
[ATTACH]15962[/ATTACH]

They way they worked there was no need for a slot and the fence could be ran about any angle across the table. The only alignment involved was cutting edge to fence.
When I build my new router table there will be no miter slot. I personally believe that it is just unnecessary based on the way I personally work... and is just something else to be putzing with trying to align the fence with the miter slot on a tool where the round cutter can be approached from any angle and need need not be approached moving square with the table. It is not a flat saw blade, it is round.

Your mileage may vary.

.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 7:24 am

Interesting discussion. I will be following this thread with curiosity.

I have a miter slot in one of my Shopsmith router tables but I don't recall ever using it. The second table (also from Shopsmith) does not have a miter slot.

fiatben · Post by **fiatben** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:22 am

Now that you mention it, I put a miter slot in my table, but can only think of one time in the past 3 years that I've actually used it. I think when I build myself a new one I will leave it smooth on top and focus on storage issues and a better fence.

chucks · Post by **chucks** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 3:49 pm

I've only seen them for feather boards....

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 4:41 pm

chucks wrote:I've only seen them for feather boards....

Hi Chuck:
I had considered putting in a miter gauge slot just for that but then I decided that I could make a clamp-on piece much like the Workshop guy's fence that would clamp down on the left side of the cutter and have a feather board attached to it. Of course some of my tablesaw feather boards are fairly long so I can clamp them to the edge of the table. I could do the same thing on a router table too.
I have also been planning to drill and tap the feather board area in one or two places on my table saw and that is also a possibility on the router table.

.

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 9:33 pm

I got the top of my router table done today. I took a lot of influence from the first article pennview linked to in post #2.

I still haven't built anything below the top. I don't know yet if it will take up its own floor space or if I'll pull it out and set it on something else when I want to use it.

I made a couple cuts with it sitting on my trash can and have realized that a dust collection port is going to be a necessity.

Other than dust collection, the Shopsmith fence works out pretty great.