It all started (as most of my modding so far has) with some free stuff! I found this 2 drawer filing cabinet out on the street on night, so I picked it up and threw it in my trunk. I knew then what I was going to do with it… yep… Router Table! I’d been looking at plans to make my own, so this just stuck in the head as Router Table, even at 30mph driving by. It wasn’t in the best of shape when I got it. The reasons why it was being tossed was clear. The hole on the bottom that held one of the casters into the mdf/particle board was broken out, so it was lopsided. Also, the back was made of tacked on hardboard with a split down the middle (intentional apparently.) Therefore, it was wildly racked, swinging from side to side on its little pegs and that ingenious little holddown that you find in ikea and bolt together furniture products. (I don’t know what it’s called… here, have a picture.) Here’s what it looked like originally. You can see the hardboard in the back. The casters have been removed already. I thought I had more and better pics of it at first, but I seem to have misfiled those, or otherwise tossed them. I dismantled the case, taking the wheels off and drawers out. The plan was to strengthen and firm up the sides using rabbets and some 3/8” scrap plywood. So I set up my router with a 3/8 straight cutting bit, and measured the distance from the top to the planned shelf, and included the height of the router. I drew my lines, which ended up going across the rubbery threaded inserts which had held the top drawer slide in. I tried prying those out, but ended up chipping out the mdf. I decided my bit could handle a few measy pieces of rubber, so I lined up a square guide board and the cutting bit. I might have been able to do the cuts to both pieces at one time, but I didn’t have space, and felt I could match up the cuts well doing them singly. So I measured and clamped and finally routed. I tested with the edge of the plywood I’d be using for back and shelf, and it fit perfectly. Then it was time for the long cut. Again, I clamped a guide piece down, but this time I did it by measurement. I measured from against the far cutting edge and the router baseplate edge. And went to it. Result: Not so bad, but I mismeasured, and cut too deep. Not a big problem. Just a little extra overhang at that back. Here it is dryfit for size: (note those cool fastener gizmos. They actually came in quite handy for snugging the case together. They’re in the top piece as well. With the router in it: Once I was satisfied with the fit, I glued and clamped it up. Next day, I took the clamps off… and it was solid! Installed the bottom drawer rails, and it was time to work on the top. I found the center of the top, and used the router baseplate to center and lay out the hole locations on some tape. I’d already taken the baseplate bolts to ACE to find a longer countersunk version, so I just drilled a hole a little smaller than they were and drove them through. It was here that I realized a mistake of poor planning on my part. I had not measured the router height with the motor fully extended, so I couldn’t just use my largest straight cutting bit and reverse plunge up through the top as planned. I couldn’t even fit the router in with that bit in place! After a lot of trial and error and swapping of bits, and unmounting and remounting the router, I finally got through with. It took a V notch bit (not sure of name), a roundover bit, and finally the straight bit to allow me to poke a hole in the top. It was only then that I realized that the router motor and collet could only extend so far, and it wasn’t far enough for the full blade edge to poke through the cutout! The wrapup So it’s not perfect. In fact, for some cases/cuts it’s useless. But as a stage one, first ever DIY router table, I’m fairly pleased. I learned a lot and have some things to improve upon for the next bit. Next up is to replace the top with a longer/wider piece of laminate. I need clamp space! If I’m feeling ambitious, I might route some slots for runners and whip up a sliding fence. I also need to make it hinge mounted. The problem is that it’s the same thickness as the current top, so I may have to make an insert plate out of ¼ or 3/8 acrylic. I don’t know if that will be strong enough however to not bow under the weight
Well, the problem is that it is. (no router baseplate piece, just the bare metal router base) and screwed up to the flat face of the top. but my router collet doesn't want to extend that far.
Yeah, at the moment it's flush with the inside surface of the top piece, I meant making it flush with the outside surface of the top piece (don't really know how to mount it like this, though).
The only way I can think of is to make an insert plate out of thinner material (and have it in a recessed lip on the top.) But I don't think 1/4 acrylic will be strong enough.
I use one of these in my router table at work 6mm aluminium plate sits in a rebate in the router table levelled with grub screws and magnets, sits perfectly flush with the table top and means i only lose 6mm of my collet adjustment without sacrificing the strength of the top It does the job, but im trying to justify buying a complete router lift, after having used one they really are so much better than just an insert plate.
Thanks for the tips. +rep So the plate is just a ring, or is it the whole top? How do you level with magnets? I can understand grub screws being adjusted to level, but not sure how you do it with magnets. I'm thinking of making a rebate (love learning proper terms!) in the top of my next table top for this carcass, but having a rectangular homemade plate similar in looks and attachment as this one. Just thinner thickness, and with a lot more of the table top removed to allow for the router body to be pulled out. I'm probably going to have to figure out a way to add another 2inches in height to the top. That router lift kit looks sweet, but pricy! I saw a plan on making your own while I was looking for my table making plans. I'll see if I can find it again.
The top image is the plate i actually have, The gold plate is aluminium and the insert rings are just plastic inserts that allow larger holes for larger cutters. There are 4 threaded holes in each corner for the grub screws. After you've cut the 6mm deep rebate for the plate to sit in the magnets are mounted flush into the lip and glued in place (i used polyurethane glue for mine) this gives the grub screws something to level against instead of digging into whatever you made the table out of. EDIT: you could also look at getting a collet extension seeing as your in america rockler.com would probably be your best bet
