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Finished My Router Table

9K views 16 replies 12 participants last post by  ChuckF. 
#1 ·
Finally. It took about 4 weeks, working a few hours here and a few hours there. It's based on Norm Abrams' plans, which really need to be scrubbed. I bought the hardware kit from Rockler. They didn't include clamping bolts and leveling screws with the kit, which I didn't discover until I was about ready to mount the router. I dropped the first table top and had to build another one. One of the screws broke off in the router when I attached the base, so I need to tap it. I'm just glad to be done with it. I do like the storage space that this plan allows for. All but one of the little drawers are for bit storage and they consist of a drawer front and a bottom with holes drilled in it to stuff the bits. As such, the bit drawers can't store anything else. I wish I would have made one or two of them conventional drawers for a little bit more storage for small items. The one conventional little drawer filled up quick with wrenches, collets, bushings, etc.
 

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#5 ·
Thanks all. I'll take some more pics and post them tonight. Two of the casters are locking. The scrap that you see is AC ply. The drawer fronts are select pine and I used all of it. Maybe one day I'll buy some more and convert one of the drawers.

Yes, Norm's plans are kinda incorrect/confusing. He has couple blunders. I don't remember exactly what they were, but it would be something like referring to a piece of MDF, when he really meant birch ply. He lays out all of the cutting for the birch ply, but then he only describes the cutting for the AC ply and the MDF and it's easy to misunderstand his instructions as sometimes he tells you to cut a piece of certain dimensions and in the next sentence he tells you cut another piece from which yet other pieces are cut. What he tries to do is give you a rough cut for handling purposes (say cutting 3'-6 x 4'-8 out of a 4' x 8' sheet from which you can cut 3 or 4 other smaller pieces). I think Norm could have made it a lot easier if he would have used piece marks. In other cases he shows a piece of 3/4" material, but he doesn't tell you if it's MDF or ply and you just end up going through mental iterations trying to figure out what he is doing. Finally, the plan is not a guide - it's more like a series of drawings.

Norm only laminated the top of the table (I posted about this in a previous thread) and left much of the MDF fence bare. I laminated both sides and painted any bare MDF surfaces.
 
#3 ·
Nice job! I see some scrap laying off to the side that looks like it matches the drawer fronts, so just throw it on the to do list to build a drawer to replace one of the bit storage ones. I can't get the picture larger for some reason, but are those locking casters?
 
#12 ·
You should think about copyrighting and selling your plans if they are in a physical form. I might not make you rich but you might get a little royalty check now and then.

Of course we live in an era where generations think it is alright to steal intellectual property. If they find it on the internet the assume the can own it without compensation to the creators. Hardly makes it worthwhile to write and publish anything anymore.
 
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