Finally, after about 9 months, I have at long last completed my router table. Yipeeee!!! I want to thank many of you who have written profusely about your own router tables. Your experiences have been most helpful in guiding me through this project.

The cabinet design is an adaptation of Bill Hylton's router table in his wonderful book "Woodworking with the Router". The cabinet is constructed from 3/4" birch plywood with a birch face frame. I made a few modifications, like a front door to the router compartment, bigger drawers and modified dust collection. The door to the router compartment is 1/4" polycarbonate in a birch frame. I got the idea for the see-through door from a design posted at the Woodworker's Gazette (www.woodworking.org/WC/GArchive98/7_10johnsrtab1.html) where they also put a 40 W appliance bulb in the router chamber.

I added some beveled sides to the bottom of the router chamber to aid dust collection and prevent buildup of dust in the corners. I also put a 3/16" slot along the bottom of the door for air to sweep over the bottom of the chamber. You can see the green monster (the Hitachi M12V plunge router) hanging from the table.

For bit storage I made two drawers, each with some 1/2" and 1/4" holes.

The table top is made from the most excellent procedure described in Bill Hylton's other book "Router Magic". It is constructed from two pieces of 3/4" birch ply glued together, edge banded with oak and then laminated on both sides with Formica. I then made the baseplate insert from 3/8" phenolic, complete with bit inserts for different sized bits. I also made the hand crank for raising and lowering the router. All of these designs and procedures are described very nicely in "Router Magic".

The fence has a split design allowing you to open it for different sized bits, has a dust port for 2-1/2" hose, and some T-track for attachment of accessories like a bit guard or a featherboard. I found this fence design in a recent Woodsmith magazine (#131) which has very straightforward instructions for assembly.

Finally, the whole thing was finished with 2 coats of a wipe on mixture of 1/3 naptha, 1/3 boiled linseed oil & 1/3 polyurethane. I'm very happy with the way it came out.

Here is my dog "Bear" sitting proudly in front of the completed project!

Thanks for viewing. See ya 'round the Pond.

-Ron

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