Hi,
I purchased a new router recently and have yet to mount it in my router table. Right now I still have my 1 3/4Hp PC mounted to a piec of 3/8″ thick Polycarbonate.
Am I better off buying an aluminum router table plate with inserts? or is the 3/8″ thick polycarbonate strong enough to mount a 3 1/2 HP Milwaukee fixed based production router. Problem is if I switch to a 1/4″ thick plate I’m going to have to replace the entire router table top.
Shame Rockler doesn’t carry 3/8″ thick aluminum plates. Plus many of their plates are predrilled for PC and Bosch/Freud routers.
I was hoping Woodcraft sold router table plates with inserts but my search came up empty.
Wanda
Replies
Can't you shim up a quarter-inch plate? There's bound to be some kind of ledge on your table.
Jim
Hi Jimurock,
Yes, that is one possible solution. Now to find out the dimensions of those Aluminum plates that Rockler is selling on their website. my plate is 11 3/4 X 9 3/16th.
I really like the router table featured in Issue # 195 of Fine Woodworking. A router table you can put together in a weekend and at an affordable price. Nothing complicated about the fence on that router table. The table is plenty wide.
Wanda
Wanda
Rockler has 2 sizes, and I believe the larger is 9 by 13. If you can find one, you'd be better off with a plate larger than your existing one. That way you could rout out a new opening at 1/4 inch deep, with no need for shims. You could use the new plate as a template, and use an inlay set. (LV has one for $11.95).
From the sound of it, your existing plate is big enough to hold the Milwaukee for the time being if you're planning to build a new table. You'd just have to drill new holes in the plate. I went that route when I got a new router, and it worked well for the short time I needed it. In the end I got rid of the table to make more room in my small shop, and bought a cast iron table-saw extension with no plate. I threw the table in the garbage, but some guy admired it so much he recycled it into the back of his truck. Very civic-minded.
Jim
Helo Jimurock,
Maybe one of these days I will get around to building a new router table. Best to stick with the one I have for now.
Right now I have to build a mobile base/stand for my General bench top drill press. I haven't even put it together yet. I'm so behind. So many projects I'd like to do.
I better get back to writing out my materials list for the drill press. I need to get it up and running.
Wanda
Wanda,
Busy Bee has a phenolic plate on sale now, but it's 9" x 12". That 9" seems to be about as wide as most of them come. Freud's is the same. Any way you can fill in that 3/16ths?
Jim
Hi Jimurock,
Does that plate come with inserts?
At the moment I am not using any large panel bits so I won't worry too much right now about the router plate. For now I'll have to make do with what I have. I have to get my drill press up and running so I can drill those holes in the plate I do have. Right now I have my 690 PC mounted to it.
Are you a fan of The New Yankee Workshop? I believe Norm uses an aluminum plate with inserts. I love the look of his table. But I bet the router table featured recently in FWW magazine can be built for a lot less and will perform just as well.
Wanda
Hi Wanda,
It's item B2465, 3/8 phenolic, with openings 1-1/4, 2-5/8 and 3-7/8 at $21.88.
I had a Norm -type with phenolic Plate. It never sagged, and I only gave it up because I needed to make more space for working on large pieces. I'm quite pleased with the cast-iron TS wing type -- no plate, and it's never going to sag. I didn't go for the elaborate type with its own T track and double-decker fence. Most commercial tables are way too fancy for my taste. I make my own fence, and the only time I use track is for a shopmade coping sled, which I can run on the TS track.
Have fun putting the drill together,
Jim
Hi,
Hmmm, a cast iron table saw wing... I"ve heard of mounting routers to mdf/melamine table saw extensions but not a cast iron ts wing.
I'd like to see a picture of your router table cast iron wing. The phenolic plate you mention is so much cheaper than the ones I've seen online. The one on the Yankee Workshop sells for $69.00 US.
Wanda
Hi,
There are actually a few cast-iron router TS wings on the market. Benchdog has one, and MLCS a slightly cheaper clone. Both are 16" wide, mainly because they have double miter tracks on the outside edge. They're expensive because you have to buy a package including fence, etc. You're looking at $300 to 400. What's really stupid about both of them is that they have phenolic plates. The standard benchdog plate is useless because the insert opening is too small, so you have to order a replacement. The MLCS does offer an optional aluminum plate.
The other type available is a solid wing with no plate, just a round aperture with two metal inserts. There are four clamps that fit into grooves underneath to hold the router in place. You can jockey them around to fit just about any router. There's one wing whose name I forget on E-bay, and General makes one specifically for its own contractor saw, but you can adapt it to any saw. Both are only 10" wide. The General costs $116. They have no miter slot or track -- you have to use the TS one, and that might be a problem if you have a contractor saw because obviously you have to push a coping sled from the TS rear to have the correct bit rotation. It doesn't bother me. I use the old fence from my table, and use the TS fence to line it up. You could add a router fence to the TS one.
I don't have a picture at the moment, and I'd be embarrassed to take one right now because my shop is somewhat dusty :>( . No surgical operating theatre here! General's website has a picture under contractor tablesaw accessories.
Jim
HI,
Thanks Jimurock, I'll be sure to check out the General website.
I also have to check out that workshop thread #39362.1 on router plates.
Wanda.
Wanda,
Your 3/8" polycarbonate plate will sag. If it hasn't already it will with a heavier 3 Hp router on it. I've used a phenolic plate by Rousseau with a Dewalt 625 3 Hp router on it for years and it has never sagged. I've even had an aluminum plate sag on me with a heavy router left on it. It was a piece of regular aluminum that I had purchased at a metal dealer. I believe the ones their selling to mount routers on now have some special harding that prevent them from sagging. There is currently another thread on knots about router plates that you may want to check out if you haven't already. It's under Workshop. No is 39362.1
Danny
Edited 1/18/2008 2:01 am ET by brownman
Hi brownman,
Been searching through my bookmarks and came across a woodworking site I had bookmarked ages ago... Woodhaven.com Wish we had stores like that in Canada. Can't really order anything from the States because I'd end up paying duties/brokerage fees if the item isn't send expediated mail.
Woodhaven have a few different size Phenolic plates on their webpage. I must search around town and see if any of the local woodworking sites sell phenolic. for now I'll have to just drill 4 new holes in the plate I have to mount the Milwaukee 3 1/2HP fixed based router.
Wanda
Have you looked at the plates by Woodpeckers? They are very well done.
Michael
hi,
Nope, I had no idea Woodpecker had plates. Have to look them up online.
thanks for letting me know.
Wanda
“[Deleted]”
“[Deleted]”
Wanda, diid you check out Highland Woodworking, Eagle America or MLCS?
Mikaol
did?
She probably did...back in 2008.
Well, what I want to know is: what happened to the Veritas steel-topped router table and all its fine bits & pieces? I've had one for nearly 15 years now and it performs just as well as it did when new. That steel top is thin - 1/4" but very stiff with zero sag (they build a very slight dome in, enough to counteract the weight of the router attached underneath so it becomes dead flat).
But it's disappeared from their offerings and has been gone some time I think.
All current router table tops seem to be phenolic or similar. Some are still 5/8" thick MDF! Don't these sag and warp? They always used to.
Perhaps the cast iron ones are still about?
Lataxe
If your concern is adapting a std ¼" plate to your ⅜" rabbeted ledge take a look at the Kreg PRS3040 adjustable router plate levers. They are available at Woodcraft, Klingspor and other dealers. They might do the trick for you. I've used them with success.
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/kreg-precision-router-table-insert-plate-levelers
PS. You might need to use a top bearing pattern bit to route away the remaining rabbet but after that they should let you level the new plate perfectly, something not easy to do with rabbeted ledges.
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