Do you have a router table?

[Cochese]

I'm trying to make as much room as possible in my shop, and I'm considering focusing most of my effort around the router table. I have a full-size cabinet on casters. Currently, it's a bit too big to move around if I want to rout long or wide pieces.

I was wondering what your solution is, especially if your spatially challenged. I have the router mounting kit for the 21829, but I'm not sure if I can do what I want on the saw. I have nothing in mind, it's just a mindset. I keep coming around to the idea that I want a freestanding table, either alone or in conjunction with the table saw. I don't know that I need a table.

This is my current layout, which I posted in the other thread. I'm just not sure that if I keep the router table (in any form) where I could keep it and how I could use it. I suppose if I kept it narrow enough, it could slide up under the drill press, where everything below the table is wasted space.

[JoeyGee]

The only RT I have is the one in my head. I have some melamine, an insert and a router. All I need is time. I will put in my BT3100 (stock rails, no extensions) to the right of the blade. This is because I have no room for a freestanding table.

I have been dying to get to this project because 1) I really need a router table and 2) I really need more surface to the right of the blade.

[BeauxTi]

Funny - I am in the process of building one right now. I ordered a top from Rockler and building the base now. My shop is in my garage and shares space with my other hobby a bass boat - so space is always the first consideration. It will be on casters for sure. When I get it done - I will post pictures - provided I get it done ;-). In any case - I have tried using the extension on the BT3000 but gets difficult if you need to do any clamping due to the nature of the table. Given that, it is going to be a router table for me.

[chopnhack]

I had one, funny thing is its the first thing I built when I started this hobby around '01. It was a 2x4 frame, mortised and tenoned together with 2x6 stretchers lag bolted together so it was easily disassembled. Sadly, I ordered a new plate with the intentions of building a new table as part of a wide table saw with my darksider, but work found me instead!

[Knottscott]

A router table in the TS is a great space saver, and an a easily managed compromise.

[JR]

I have a pretty small shop, so I elected to make a router table which is integrated with my BT3K. Here is the thread with some pics.

I have two regrets with this setup. I wish the table was wider, but it's obviously limited by the distance between the BT3K rails.

Secondly, the fence should have been made longer. It's not limeted by the distance between the rails, but I didn't recognize that at the time.

HTH,
JR

[mpc]

You don't absolutely have to have a whole "box" for a router table. I went for a few years with nothing more than a table top clamped to Ridgid Flip-Top stands - but sawhorses would work just as well. I actually have the Freud router table kit that was clearanced by Lowes several years ago. It consisted of a mid-size table (nice and thick too), router plate, and the funky Freud fence system. Oh yeah - it came with a Freud router too. I stored the table vertically on a cleat/ledger strip attached to the side of a tall cabinet in my garage.

Having a large & flat surface for a router is very handy. You don't need anything fancy for the fence either; a straight board "C"-clamped or "F"-clamped to the edges of the table works fine. Or fasten a couple flat boards along their long edges to make an "L" shape with a bit clearance notch in the center. There are lots of fence ideas on this site... and almost any of them can be tweaked to simply clamp to the edges of a table top rather than riding in T-track, slots in the table, etc.

I now have a router table in the extension rails of the BT3 for most work but I still dig out the original tabletop now and then so I can have two routers & setups ready. Actually, I've even used the BT3 accessory table to support a 3rd router one time!

Another option is a shallow box that can sit on/clamp to your regular work bench. Just make it tall enough for the router to fit inside, maybe 1 to 2 feet wide for stability. The work top can be larger if desired. ShopNotes had a "knock down" design a while back. Looked like a fair bit of effort to build but it did fold down like a lawn chair. Another knock-down idea: imagine making a 3-sided box with slot joints (like the slots cut into hardboard to make drawer dividers) and a narrow strip for the front/4th side... and then add a table top with cleats underneath that snugly fit this knock-down box.

Router tables are very useful. It's so much easier to move long but thin/narrow stock over a fixed router than to try to move the router evenly along a long workpiece. And the router won't tip/rock like it can when hand-routing something narrower than the router's base plate. And you can clamp featherboards and whatnot to a flat table to help hold skinny pieces like moldings. Certain edging operations are very difficult to do holding the router (esp. with bits that are not bearing guided) yet trivially easy on a table.

mpc

[Pappy]

I have an older 1/4" Craftsman router mounted in the BT that is great for smaller pieces and key hole slots on picture frames. For bigger routing projects, I have a Hitachi M12V in a modified version of the NYW router station.

I don't remember who did it, but there was a BT3 mounted router set up that rotated so the extension was smooth when the router wasn't needed.

[JimD]

I actually have two. My main router table, which I reflected in my vote, is a separate structure on the infeed side of my table saw. When I need to cut large sheet goods, the fence comes off the router table and it helps support the plywood. Normally it is my primary router table. It has a home made lift which works well. It also has dust collection and drawers for bits and wrenches. It is not big, the top is a sink cutout edged with maple.

My other router table is just an area recessed into my melamine side table on the table saw with a PC690 fixed base screwed to it. I have t-nuts in the table for the fence which has a slotted hole and knobs with studs in them for adjustment. I don't use it a lot now that I have my other table but occasionally it is nice to have two setups available at once (like making doors). Usually I take the fence off and store it on the saw. That leaves only a 3.5 inch opening out away from the blade - so essentially no loss of functionality for the saw. Setting it up is just sliding a motor into the base with the bit attached and screwing the fence on. The main drawback is you can't rip wide stock with the router on the saw.

Jim

[sweensdv]

I think that a "full sized" and "TS mounted" router table are kinda sorta the same thing. The TS version would obviously be the more space saving of the two but both offer much more versatility than a benchtop type.

[leehljp]

If you will notice there have been several mentions of two possible setups. I had a full size table when in Japan (left the table there) that allowed for two routers. One for set up to be maintained throughout a project and a second for the quick change to a different bit.

Having a router table and using the table saw extension for a second router as a second will allow for this. If you are an occasional large project user, such as making two or three book cases or large piece of furniture or several mouldings, or rail and style for cabinets, a dual table or two router set up is VERY beneficial.

A router table with drawers keeps all of the router items in one place. For me, my table was 36 inches by 22 inches and while big, I parked it in an out of the way place. It would have been great (if the right height) as an outfeed extension behind the TS, so that it took up as little space as possible. For me, I "hid" it in corner where nothing else would fit and rolled it out when needed for long items.

[vaking]

I have a Craftsman midsize router table which is designed as a benchtop style, but I have it inserted into the BT3 extension, so with this extension it becomes full size. I have Hitachi M12V router mounted to that table. It is a monster router so the only limitation that my setup has is that the opening in Craftsman table allows for a bit diameter up to 2-3/4". It means I cannot use large size horizontal panel raizing bits. I can use mid-size horizontal bits or vertical bits, so not a big limitation for me.
Space in my workshop is at premium but I believe that the way to save is to use full size tools but make them multi-function. As a result I have BT3100 with full set of extension rails mounted on a mobile base. It is an 84" long construction and it is the biggest surface in my workshop. It is built to accomodate table saw, router table and a light-duty workbench which I use a lot. It has some clamping ability so I use it for carving, wood burning, sanding and many other light duty tasks.

[cwsmith]

I voted "Yes, Full Sized"... but then I'm wondering what a "full-sized" actually is.

In any case, I have my Ridgid sitting in a 24 x 32 inch Rockler table top with a fence. I built my own leg set and recently made that mobile thanks to some 3-inch lockable casters from Harbour Freight.

My basement shop is rather small, so mobility is required where possible. My router table and BT3 are both mobile. For me, mounting the router in the table saw accessory table doesn't work as well as having it separate.

CWS

[Cochese]

I should have said free-standing, not full size. My mistake.

My current table is a bit larger than 32"x24" and is mobile. Storage for bits and a few accessories. I could possibly make it narrower in both directions and keep it fully mobile.



I think I might could put it in the table saw, just to the right of the body. That area isn't great for much because of the handles, but a router in a box just might. I would still have room to keep my vac under the far end of the table, too.



The other option would be to put it on the left side and create storage there. A little harder to work with because of the outrigger, but I could manage. I could also integrate the miter slot for the saw in this as well.

[3thumbs]

My shop is in the third stall of a three car garage, that shares space with "my" car, the double is for my wife's car. Space is tight, so I put my router in the right side of my contractor's saw table, and built a removable fence that attaches to the saw fence with a dust port included. Works great and uses no more space than the saw itself used.