I've never owned a proper router table - I've been makin' do wit' an old piece of plywood with a hole cut in the middle since the late 00's. This "table" does have a Rockler insert plate and fence, and it just about got the job done:
What I would really like is this state of the art setup, with a cast iron bed and integral dust collection, but it is out of my budget:
I'm confident that I can build a stronger and better cabinet for very little $$. I'm starting with some rough-cut lumber that came from a very nice pallet that has been sitting in my shop for a couple of years.
Each piece of timber was bowed or twisted or both, so I started by flatting two (2) perpendicular edges on the jointer (i.e. face side; face edge). The most seriously disfigured pieces were cut in half before jointing, which saves a lot of material.
The next steps were trimming both remaining edges at the table saw and then planing to give uniform material of approx. 2-1/2" x 1-3/4."
Some small sections were imperfect - I could have planned out these defects, but that would have reduced the thickness of all the material. Instead, I will work around these areas.
Dry fitting what will be the base and the top of my cabinet. The cast iron table is very heavy, so it is important to build a strong cabinet.
I'm adding blocking to the cabinet base to support the castors I will be using:
The top panel requires a specific size opening with support at the perimeter, which was achieved by adding a second rail and spacing it with some pieces of 3/4" plywood:
Pocket holes were bored in all the rails:
Clamping material prior to installing pocket screws; I did use wood glue as well but it's optional.
Top panel (left) and bottom panel (right) after assembly:
I made a template out of a scrap of plywood...
And used it to drill pilot holes in the underside of the base where the castors will mount:
After drilling mounting holes and securing the "top" section to the table:
I used four (4) 1/4" x 20 pan head bolts:
Dry fitting the uprights/legs:
This is a bit later after the uprights/legs have been secured to the top and bottom sections with a mixture of wood glue and pocket hole screws - the entire structure is still upside-down:
I have to install the dust collection box next, so that I know exactly how much space I'm going to have left for building the cabinet and drawers. The collection box comes flat-packed:
After assembly and placement below the tabletop. The four (4) inch diameter dust port faces the rear of the cabinet/table. This port will connect directly to my dust extraction system:
The first flaw in my design: the dust collection box has a front-facing access door, which cannot be opened without hitting the frame:
I made a spacer to go between the box and the underside of the table:
Door works now....
I unbolted the frame, and sanded it all over to 120 grit:
Onto filling in the sides. I installed supports at the perimeter of each side opening:
The side panels are made from walnut veneered plywood - I have a lot of this material left over from previous projects. The panels were cut to exactly the same size, and both were a perfect fit:
The next photo is after gluing and pinning both side panels. The panels are recessed 1/2" with respect to the frame.
Installing supports for the back panel and starting to build a sort-of shelf which will divide the dust box from the rest of the cabinet:
Dry fitting the shelf/dividing panel after I added walnut veneer to the front-facing edge:
Glued and pinned:
Moved on to the back panel which is made from 1/4" plywood and will be installed with screws so that it can be easily removed.
I made an error when I was cutting the opening for the dust extraction ports - I cut the hole in the wrong place initially. I made a fill-in piece from some scrap plywood:
And used tape to hold it in place:
I cut a scrap of veneer....
And attached it over the repair with contact cement:
After trimming the veneer:
After wood filler, sanding and installation of the back panel:
I'm using two (2) spacers to set the power switch an inch away from the edge of the walnut panel. The reason for this will become apparent later:
I used a 1/4 inch drill bit for the two (2) holes where the switch mounts. The 1-1/2 inch diameter hole for the plugs to pass through was cut with a hole saw.
Testing switch mounting position:
From the front....still upside-down:
Front the back:
Moved on to making the drawers. As before, I'm making use of scraps of walnut plywood because that's what I have. I'm making one big drawer and one small drawer; I cut the fronts, backs and sides on the cabinet saw, and I cut 1/4 inch rabbits into all the parts to recess the bottom panels:
Dry assembly with 1/4 inch plywood base panel:
I'm using pocket hole screws to assemble the drawers. The holes are typically drilled in the drawer fronts, so that they can be hidden by false fronts....but these drawers will not have false fronts, so I drilled the holes at the sides. This means the pocket holes will be visible inside the drawers, as will a number of other minor defects which I am choosing to ignore, since this is shop furniture.
Constructing 2x drawers:
Adding 1/8 inch walnut veneer to the top edges of both drawers:
After sanding:
This was the point in the project where I could no longer work upside-down. Neither could I turn the cabinet over with the cast iron table attached. So....the table, the dust collection box and hoses and the back panel were all removed before the structure was rotated:
I'm installing what is essentially blocking - a solid surface where I can mount the drawer slides. I need four blocks in total:
I can then use a walnut plywood spacer to align the drawer slide and install it:
I cut some 3/4 inch spacers to go underneath the lower drawer:
After attaching the slides to the drawer:
If you're wondering why I need a drawer this deep, it is to accommodate my handheld router:
Both drawers installed:
I turned the cabinet onto its side and installed the castors with 1/4" x 1-1/2" lag bolts. The two (2) front castors have brakes:
Cabinet on floor:
Although at this stage I have not re-installed the table or dust box, let alone the actual router, I could do so and I would be able to use the tool/table. I think I could legitimately claim that my cabinet is better than the one Rockler sells. My one comes with drawers for a start. But I'm not finished yet. In fact, I have several more embellishments planned, starting with veneer.
I had always intended to make a two-tone cabinet: walnut plywood and something else basically. The first idea was to stain the non-plywood sections a darker color or paint them black. But then I had a hunt around in the shop, and I found some oak veneer that was left over from a dining table refurbishment. The first step in this process was to cut the veneer into strips just slightly wider than I need with a very sharp box cutter.
The veneer has been kicking around for a while; we don't even have the dining table it was bought for anymore, and all of that time, it has been rolled up. I tried clamping the strips to my worktable for a few days to see if it would flatten out:
Before installing the veneer, I filled any small imperfections in the framing with plastic wood:
Contact adhesive was applied to both sides and allowed to dry:
The veneer was much easier to work with after flattening over the Thanksgiving break:
You only get one go at alignment:
The excess veneer can easily be removed with the handheld router and a flush-trim bit:
The framing remains visible at both sides of the router table where the plywood panels are recessed:
I will be covering this transition with oak trim. The basic material is 1/2" square and came from a bunch of different scrap pieces:
To complete the trim/molding I needed to set up the router table. I installed the bed with two bolts and didn't bother with the dust collection components since the whole thing will have to come apart again soon:
I used a coving bit and several passes to make some simple trim. The new router setup was a joy to use; I'm particularly happy with the working height. I also did a bit of work on the cabinet doors while the router table was operational.
Dry fitting trim to the side panel after removing the bed:
Trim installed at both sides with glue and 18 gauge pins:
The next mini project is the doors. The design mimics the sides of the cabinet where "walnut paneling" is recessed inside an apparently "solid oak" frame. The plans call for 1-1/4" x 1" oak stock, which I don't have, but can make from a recycled 5/8" thick panel:
The panel was cut into strips which are a bit larger than 1-3/4" wide.
Glue was applied to one side of each strip after giving some consideration to which edges were the most ornate and which were better-off hidden:
Strips were clamped together in pairs, and a pin nail was added at each end to prevent slippage of the glued surfaces. The pins were placed as close to the end of the strips as possible:
After setup time, this gives material which is close to 1-3/4" x 1-1/4":
The ends of each piece were cut off to remove the pins - I don't want any metal to pass over the table saw etc. Two perpendicular edges where then jointed to give a face side and face edge:
Trimming to final dimensions, followed by several passes across the router table gave material 1-1/2" x 1" with a 1/4" wide by 3/4" deep rabbit cut in the least attractive corner:
The two central cabinet panels were cut from scrap walnut-veneered plywood and measure 29" x 8-13/16":
A quick mockup to check the overall width will be 22-5/8":
The perimeter frame for each door was mitered next:
This material is too big for my miniature underpinner, so I built a jig and used some scraps to test it:
Frame assembly:
Testing the panel fit:
Gluing and securing the panel inside the frame:
It was another beautiful early December day while all this was going on:
Cabinet doors after gluing/clamping for 24 hours (one front and one back):
The inset style of the doors is intended to match the sides of the cabinet - so I also need some similar trim. If I was to cut blank material and pass it across the router table, the size would be 5/16" square, which is too small for the router setup. I only just got away with the 1/2" square material for the side panels.
After kicking myself for not crossing this bridge the day before when the router table was all set up, I had a look on my wood rack, and I found a piece of oak flooring that is very close to 5/16" thick:
I made a fence from a scrap of plywood and clamped the floorboard to the bench. This stops the board moving when I run my handheld router along the edge:
The board can be flipped around and the opposite edge given the same treatment:
Strips 5/16" wide can then be cut off the board, which produces ideal trim material:
Passing the board across the jointer a couple of times for each side after cutting off the finished trim helps maintain uniform material - without this step any imperfections will be magnified. It also helps to have a very sharp blade on the cabinet saw.
Mitering and dry fitting the trim:
Trim installed at both doors with glue and pin nails:
In time I plan to make divers for both drawers - after I've figured out exactly what I need. For now, I just want to build dividers to retain the handheld router that the large drawer was designed for. I was bit low on 1/4 inch plywood, but I do have a bunch of scraps which came from some shelving/pigeonholes the previous owner (PO) left behind when I bought my house. I think the PO was a pretty decent carpenter. His designs were stuck in the 80's, but everything I've ripped out has been well put together.
I used the crosscut sled that I bought from King's Fine Woodworking to trim the plywood into suitable pieces:
When I was at Uni, the Chemistry Department underwent some major renovations and the construction crew needed to use the main lift/elevator. The floor and the three sides of the elevator carriage were lined with plywood for protection. My lab was on the fourth floor at the time, and the office was on the floor above, so I was in and out of the elevator every day. I was always impressed that the plywood had been precisely cut and methodically installed such that only two (2) screws were needed to hold it all in place, and those fasteners were deployed into other sections of the plywood. I tried to follow this concept for my drawer dividers in order that they can easily be removed or modified later. I used wood glue on the double/outer divider (clamped in next photo), but otherwise the dividers are only held in place with short 18 gauge pin nails:
The final pre-finishing steps consist of sanding (urgh....), wood filler and more sanding (more urgh...). This is shop furniture though, so I did not bother to fill every tiny nail hole. Cabinet after final sanding to 400 grit:
I decided to finish the cabinet with Danish oil instead of polyurethane or Rubio because it is so much easier to apply (vs both) and so much cheaper (vs Rubio). If it was going to be proper furniture I would have used Rubio.
The oil can be wiped on with a rag...
Cabinet after applying Danish oil:
The drawers and doors were finished off the cabinet:
Marking out for cabinet door hinges - I am not using Euro-style hinges because they would restrict the width of the drawers.
It is helpful to install the rubber bumpers before final alignment of the doors:
Finding the center of the cabinet:
Aligning doors and attaching hinges to the cabinet:
Doors installed and cabinet moved onto the floor:
Re-installed both drawers, table bed, power switch, dust collection box and so on:
Moved the router table to the other part of the workshop:
Connected the router to the dust extraction system:
Next target, the planer cart!
So, the cost of the "state of the art" setup from Rockler, including tax and shipping, would have been around $2000. I spent exactly $702 on the cast iron tabletop, start/stop switch, dust collection box and related parts and ducts. I also spent $78 on drawer slides and cabinet door hinges.
All the timber, plywood and veneer was either free or left over from other projects and the castors were repurposed from another shop cart. I had to buy one (1) 1/4" x 20 bolt because I only had three on hand, and I had to buy the lag bolts to attach the castors ($11). All other hardware, wood glue etc. was already in my shop....so total cost = $791. And not only is mine much better, but it was very enjoyable to build. Which is just as well, because if you include labor, the cost would have been closer to $8000....!
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