New Yankee Workshop router table

[Howard]

Have any of you built Norm's router table? What specific tools were necessary? I presume it will fit either a Woodpecker or Rocker router table... Could be an interesting project. BTW, the wife is going to be very happy. I'm actually going to completely clean up the garage this weekend. Little does she know my nefarious purposes... making more room for more machines... he he he...

[just4funsies]

Oh, she knows (they ALL do)... She's just not going to put a stop to it until AFTER the garage is clean!

[Pappy]

Mine is based on Norm's plans, modified for my storage needs.



Mostly done on the table saw. If you don't have a dado blade set, you will need a router for them.

[JimD]

Mine is similar in size but I incorporated a router lift using a design from American Woodworker and also some ideas from other router tables I liked. I used Norm's idea for bit storage (but I used planned 2x4 scraps rather than multiple layers of plywood) and drawer arrangement. My fence has small pipe clamps like a design I saw in FWW. I really like the lift but I wish I had located the router a bit closer to the front of the router table and forgot about miter guage slots. Not worth fixing.

The BT3100 with a dado set plus a cordless drill and some hole saws was about all I used.

Jim

[drumpriest]

I'm not sure what method that the new yankee design uses to rout out the plate mortise. Rockler sells an MDF template and a router bit for doing it for thier plates. Not sure about woodpecker. Most of the construction is simple cabinet work.

[just4funsies]

Woodpeckers also has the template and bit.

[Pappy]

In the picture, mine has a Rosseau plate with a Hitachi M12V. The top has since been reworked to hold a Woodpecker lift.

[just4funsies]

How do you like the 'pecker lift, Pappy? Mine's on the way... I love the M12V. It's more than a tool, it's MACHINERY.

[Pappy]

How do you like the 'pecker lift, Pappy? Mine's on the way... I love the M12V. It's more than a tool, it's MACHINERY.

Great improvement over the undertable height adjustment. The instructions say not to remove the springs from the M12V but I am thinking about removing the one from the post away from the lift mechanism and let that side slide free. When the router is lifted high, it seems to want to rack to that side a little.

[LarryG]

Beware: plate sizes are NOT all the same.

The size of router table insert plates and lift plates vary among manufacturers. Rockler's Mast-R-Lift, which is built by JessEm, is the same size as the JessEm and Woodpeckers plates (9.25" x 11.75"). But Rockler's plate-only plates (i.e., no lift) are available in two different sizes, neither of which is the same as the foregoing. You'll need to decide what plate or lift you want before you cut the hole.

I bought one of Woodpeckers templates, in anticipation of building a new table, and happened to discover the other day that the long dimension of the opening is about 1/8" oversize. So it pays to check even a store-bought template. I'm going to use the one I have to make my own that is the correct size.

[Hoyden]

I have the masterlift it came with a template but i had to supply the bit. I love the lift use it with the porter cable router.

[JimD]

I have never used a router plate. I've built at least 3 router tables plus the router setup in the extension table of my BT3100 and I always just mount the router to the underside of the table - except for my current table where the router mounts to the back of the table on a lift. My setup on the accessory table of the bT3100 is typical. The top is 3/4 melamine. I reduced the thickness in the area where the fixed base for my PC 690 is mounted to 3/8 inch. I then screw the PC 690 to the melamine. Because the distance is only 6 inches across and the melamine is still in one piece, there is no sag. The opening for the router bit is 3 1/2 inches so I can use big horizontal panel raising bits. I did not make a reducing insert for this setup but made one for my router table. It is just a circle of the same material as the router table top - a sink cutout for my router table. the outside diameter is 3 1/2 inches to fit into the opening and the inner diameter can be whatever you want it to be, mine is 2 inches and I have another blank one I can drill to whatever I need. A couple of screws into metal flat stock screwed to the circular disk holds it in place. Shims of paper and business cards makes it flush.

My setups are low tech but cheap relative to router plates, especially the ones with lifts. They also work. My router lift uses about $50 of purchased parts - mainly two 3/4 inch steel bars that are machined to a precise diameter plus some oilite bushings. A 3/8 threaded rod moves the slide a precise 1/16 inch per revolution. Nothing fancy, just works.

Jim

[gad5264]

Jim, would you have any pictures of your design that you can post?

Thanks,

[WEG]

Rousseau to Woodpecker

Don;
What did you do to the top for the new Woodpecker plate? It's smaller than the Rousseau in one dimension isn't it? Did you replace the top? I have been thinking of replacing my Rousseau as well, but the size thing has been holding me back..
WEG

[Pappy]

WEG, I recut the hole oversize and added a Maple frame to hold the lift plate. I'll try to get a picture up tonight.