Replies

1. 
   scooter1 | Oct 17, 2003 10:17pm | #1

   Last year I bought some great used equipment from a retired woodworker and saw a beauty of a "router table. It was in fact a cast iron table saw top with a square milled out of it for aluminum plates for the spindle.

   But the spindle was operated not by a router, but by a series of long shafts and a couple of motors. A real Rube Goldberg machine. He also had a "fence" which was in reality another piece of long and wide aluminum plate with another insert plate in it for a horizonal spindle, too. So this piece was a two part router, shaper, horizontal router all in one, backed into the corner of his shop. It was about 5 feet long, about 4 feet wide and about 4 feet tall.

   It was for sale, but I didn't have room for this contraption.

   Another thing you can do is attach a cast iron table to your side extensions for a router table. NuCraft makes such a unit.

   One thing you may miss is, however, T slots, which I find invaluable for holdowns, and a decent fence system, also with TSlots.

   Regards,

   Boris

   "Sir, I may be drunk, but you're crazy, and I'll be sober tomorrow" -- WC Fields, "Its a Gift" 1934

1. 
   ToolDoc | Oct 18, 2003 06:41am | #3

   Boris: Yep this should turn out ok,I Hope... He is going to open up the opening where the Old Blade came thru the Cast Iron top to accept a Stainless Steel plate to which the Router will be attached.. I can still use the fence & miter gage slots.. figure I can use hold downs on the fence..  Ya IM aware that I could of attached a router table set up something like Forest Girl uses to my table saw , but wanted to see if this would work..

                             ToolDocProud Member of the Delta & Klein Tradesman Club & Milwaukee HD Club & Knots Bad Boys & Girls Club..

   A Non ~ Member of the Knots Bandsaw Guru Club..

2. 
   forestgirl | Oct 18, 2003 03:10am | #2

   Sounds like a great idea!  You are going to post pics, right?

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

1. 
   ToolDoc | Oct 18, 2003 06:47am | #4

   Jamie: Sure hope this works out ok & Not one of my pipe Dreams..LOL.. Yep will keep ya all posted on this.. Guess IM going to have to get a New camera soo I can post pictures when I get this Dream Machine back from the Machine Shop..

   Queston for you.. think I can rig a wood fence on the old saws rip fence to use or should I fabricate a new fence up for this?? also thinking of installing board buddies or something along those lines to help hold the stock for routing operations.. whats your take on all this??  Thanks for the Help..

                                        ToolDocProud Member of the Delta & Klein Tradesman Club & Milwaukee HD Club & Knots Bad Boys & Girls Club..

   A Non ~ Member of the Knots Bandsaw Guru Club..

1. 
   forestgirl | Oct 18, 2003 07:20am | #5

   My take?  My take?  ...that this is going to be a monster-table.  Wow!

   OK, router fences:  My preference is that they are able to pivot on one end.  In other words, whatever clamping mechanism is used to hold them to the table, the operator should be able to loosen one end, and pivot or swing the fence toward or away from the router bit for fine adjustments (leaving the other end clamped to the table).

   So, that being said, I'd probably design a new fence for the Monster Table.  I'd make a main fence that bridges solidly all the way across, with adjustable sub-fences that can be slide back and forth for zero-clearance and are fairly easily replaced when needed, and able to be shimmed on the outfeed side for jointing.

   As regards hold-downs, a couple things come to mind.  Your cast-iron table will lend itself magnificently to the Grip-Tite featherboards, which are magnetic.  I like the shaper-style hold-downs, which Veritas makes for the fence that goes with my router table top.  Board Buddies seem like overkill to me for router work, but then I don't work with big pieces generally.  Plain ol' featherboards work just fine.  Here's a pic of the Veritas hold-down.  For more details, click here:View Image

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl   ;-)

   Edited 10/18/2003 12:45:16 AM ET by forestgirl