On account of all the distancing, I haven't been doing any at home gaming so no new models to paint. I have been upping my wood working though. I'm posting this not as a detailed tutorial but more to show that it is possible. I'm not a woodworker (yet?) so my terminology may be all wrong; sorry. I picked up a router a while back with a mountable base (and a separate plunger base) and wanted to mount it to something. I looked around, and there are router tables for sale but I didn't like the price or the size. My entire workshop is also my garage that I use to park in. With my vehicle, I have about 3" of space at the front, rear and passenger side. So clearly space is a premium and I didn't want to take more up with a router table or dedicated stand. I looked online a lot and there were quite a few table saw - router stands but usually for bigger table saws which are probably more robust. I have a Ridgid R45171 - a 10" compact/portable one. I wasn't sure if the rip fence extension could handle the weight of a router but figured I'd give it a try. The router is a 2HP mastercraft one I got on sale.
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| all of the parts beforehand. |
With the rip fence extended out 7", I made an insert that is two 3/4" pieces of plywood laminated together, the top piece is larger so it rests on the tablesaw rails; the bottom board is just the right size to fit in the gap so it won't move. I counter sunk the bolts that hold it on and once the tablesaw extension is locked down, the router table is snug and doesn't slide around.
It's not so snug that it won't easily lift out, but it doesn't move at all when in place. I can pull it out easily to remove the motor and change out bits.
I set it up so I can put the shop vac on the bottom if I don't use the fence as well. I didn't use dust collection before, but once I started using it on my table saw it was a pretty big game changer, so now I do. I don't have some crazy set up, just a bag in a vac but it still gets most of the dust and makes clean up way easier (still wear a mask).
For the top, everything I'd read suggested I'd really want a fence. So I built a simple box I could clamp to my table saw fence which makes it fully adjustable and integrated with the existing table saw. So it's solid.
For dust collection I picked up an adapter on amazon and screwed it down. I put some woodglue on it first to seal the cracks (yup, I know it probably leaks but who cares?) There's a small hole and some adjustable fences when I need zero clearance.
I used it for the first time this weekend on a closet wardrobe redo I'll share when I get all of the hardware installed. It was stable and worked for what I needed. The power switch is easy to reach and it all stores in the table saw stand I'd made a while back. So while it doesn't have all of the bells and whistles a store-bought router table may (or some of the fancy ones I've seen built online) it is functional and cuts straight and safe based on my current skill level (used a router twice). Enjoy!
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