| Blog series by Jon3 | updated 10-21-2007 01:20 AM | 8 parts | 12267 reads | 25 comments total |
Part 1: New Yankee Style Router Table
NOTE All of my photos have been migrated to a new provider, and the links in my posts are likely out of date. You can find the photos here. So, I’ve needed a router table, and I wanted an nice big surface area. I’ve used some of the lighter weight ones before and didnt’ care for them. The only product I used that I liked was the Bench Dog with the CI top, and the whole system, including a nice beefy 3HP router would have set me back around $1500. I couldn’t se...
Part 2: Dado Time!
I grabbed a Dewalt Dado set off Amazon for a song a while back, thanks to the wonderful deal hound at Woodnet. So I loaded that up, got a good fit, and began to run down some Dados Then I began to glue & brad the chassis together. I set that aside so that the glue could dry, and moved on to the drawers. I broke down the ply, and laid them all out. Before I assembled, I did a big tape-up, tossed on some cheap sacrificial borg ply on the bottom, and drilled the...
Part 3: Skipping Ahead.. Making the Top and Face Frame
Unfortunately, I forgot to bring the camera to the shop and document the big drawers, installing the drawer slides and runners, and the first pieces of face frame work, and the toekick. Oops! Well, I cut some red oak to strips for the face framing, and I rough cut the top to size as well I picked up some nice cheap formica from the Borg. Piece had a corner missing, so I got a deal on it. I was going to caul and clamp like crazy, but I noticed that Woodcraft had a really nic...
Part 4: The Top and the Toys!
I pulled the top out of the vacuum press, and had a nice wonderfully tight fit. In the meantime, my toys had arrived. Paddle power switch, Woodpecker PRL, and a PC7518. I created a small jig to match the exact outside of the top of the lift, minus a half inch around. Then I rough cut the hole with my crappy ancient craftsman jigsaw, and made a note to get a nice new Bosch, and then I used double sided tape to stick the jig to the top of the table, and then used my router...
Part 5: The next day, the next DOH!
I prepped my hand-held PC892 for the rabbet that will support the lift. Put the right bearing on for a half inch rabbet, and cut away. There is where the DOH! comes in. When I made the jig to size the hole in the top, I put a half inch extra for the whole thing, meaning I’d have to do a quarter inch rabbet to make the PRL fit. Meaning… of course, that I ended up with a hole that was a half inch too bit in my top. DOH DOH DOH! I made some oak stripping around the PRL,...
Part 6: Fence Time!
Now that I have a working router table, I started in on fence making. Not much time available last night, so this is a short entry. Clamped on my temporary fence. Loaded up the straight bit, then the slot cutter, and ran the backsides of the adjustable fence blocks through Voila. Adjustable fence blocks ready to rock. Laid out the base and fence back… Loaded the circle cutter up, and began working on the round cutout for the bit area and DC port. ...
Part 7: Photo-Minimal Update, Fence Completed!
Although I completed the fence last night, my girlfriend unknowningly borrowed the camera, so I only have some after-completion photos today. Here is the completed front face of the fence. Some mini quick grips still holding the upper fixed fence portion in place. And here’s the back of the fence. I deviated quite a bit from Norm’s design on the dust chute. I really hate routing dust, so I decided to just use a 2.5” coupler, and I’m going to use the shop...
Part 8: Finito!
Not much to say. Time to put the old PC698 up forsale! Many mistakes, much fun. Most importantly, I’ve got a great router table that I made myself!
