Router questions

[Brian]

I have a craftsman router (315.175340).  I want to build a router table.  A couple questions.  Will my router fit any router plate?  Doe the router mount to the bottom of the plate?  Is it better to buy a router table or build on to your specs?  Thanks.

[Gary roofner]

Rockler or mlcs sell plates you buy the plate for your router. Kreg plate you have to drill. Several ways to go about it.

You can buy top and plate and fence seperatly. Complete table ready to go. Then you have to decide if you want

portable or full size.

[John Schaben]

Hi Brian - Most likely you will end up needing to drill your plate. Not a difficult process you just need to be very precise in the centering of the router on the plate. Use the subbase of your router for a template. It's true that some of the suppliers will provide predrilled plates but they are generally for specific, very popular routers; ie, Porter Cable 690, deWalt 618 and 625, Hitachi M12V.... Some, I think Peachtree, will custom drill a plate for you for extra $$$$. Don't know if you have to send your router to them or not. More important, if you already have a

 table, is to make sure the overall dimensions of the plate are OK. If the plate is slightly larger it can still be dealt with by making the hole bigger or the plate smaller but if it's to small.......

I recommend mounting it to a plate. Main reason is that you loose the depth of cut of whatever you are bolting the router to. If you have a 1" thick table, you loose 1" of bit travel where with a 1/4" plate you only loose 1/4".

Buy or build? I elected to buy my first table as I had no idea what I wanted in one. Now that I have made some mods to mine to fix things I didn't want to live with and other things I don't want to have to live with, I will likely build my next one. I thought Kreg had plans available for a router table build, or at least the cabinet but I haven't been able to find them.

 

Good Luck.

 

 

[Jens Jensen]

http://www.woodworkersworkshop.com/router_tables.php

 

here are a few ideas

[Brian]

Thanks Jens.  I should be able to find something useful with those links.

[Keith Griffin]

Hi Brian.

Kreg has a video on building a router table. It is very complete and the instructions are excellent.

 

[Brian]

Thanks Keith.  I did see the video and liked the design.  Ideally, I can use my craftsman router if I can find a plate to fit.

[Antoine boyd]

There are some great replies given here.  So, I guess my 2 cents won't hurt.  I built a work bench with a built in router table.  (My photos)  If you can use the base that come with your unit and on your table, cut your hole and rout the depth of the base and drop your unit in that.  Most routers today come with a wrench that will raise and lower your router if mounted in a base..  I was fortunate to find a smooth cutting board and using my original base made a duplicate base.  You will in the future want to add a fence, so plan for that as well.  Under my router table, I boxed it in and attached it to my dust collection system.  That really works great.

[Gary roofner]

Here is the link with plate predrilled for craftsmen item B.  http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=21299&rrt=1

Gary roofner said:

Rockler or mlcs sell plates you buy the plate for your router. Kreg plate you have to drill. Several ways to go about it.

You can buy top and plate and fence seperatly. Complete table ready to go. Then you have to decide if you want

portable or full size.

[Larry L.]

I saw a video on you tube where a man used a 12X12 marble tile as a router insert

he cut a 2" hole for the bit and drilled countersunk holes for the screws that hold the router to the tile.

He then routed an opening in some wood he had for the tile to fit flush.

but you can make your own top from MDF this would keep the cost low.

I looked and looked for a good cheap plate until my local hardware store had a sale on router tables with a router included top is MDF and router is plunge type.

Too cold here to do any wood working for me.

my xmas to my self this year router, router table and new 10" table saw.

Merry Christmas to me!!!!  

[Charles Andrews]

there seems to be lots of manufacturers selling expensive router tables these days.  actually all you need is a flat surface to attach your router to and a fence.  these can be as basic or as fancy as you care them to be but they all do the same operations.  it's the techniques that make a router table such a fantastic tool not the bells and whistles

[thetoolnut]

Check out Norm Abrams router table on newyankee.com or else the dvd with measured drawing can be bought from rockler.com. When i get the time and money i will buid my own full size router table and it will be based on Norm's design.

[John Schaben]

Actually, at $329 I kinda like this thing. Almost not worth the savings incurred building one.

http://www.rt1000.com/id42.html