Instructions for a Router Table

A router table is commonly used in a woodshop to hold the router while the woodworker guides wood across the moving router blade. The router table ensures that the router blade will always be perpendicular to whatever it is cutting. Ultimately the router table makes for easier cuts, with less concentration than it takes when holding a router to make your cuts. Building a router table is often simple, involving a spot to hold your router while you make cuts. The designs here are for a simple router table that requires little supplies, is easily mobile and can be built in just a couple of hours. Does this Spark an idea?

Instructions

1

Draw a line from corner to corner on your melamine board with your straight edge and pencil. Drill a 2-inch hole through the center of your melamine board. Repeat this process with your plywood.

2

Lay your 22-inch pine boards on edge, parallel and 19 inches apart. Place the 19-inch boards perpendicularly between them so they are spaced 19-inches apart. Screw through the 22-inch boards, into the ends of the 19-inch boards. You should have a 22-by-22-inch frame.

3

Screw your plywood to the 22-inch frame so all of the edges are flush. The mount from your router will attach to the plywood. We do not want to mount the router to the melamine because it is likely to become loose over time. Screw the melamine to the frame so its smooth side is facing up, and so the 2-inch holes line up. Countersink the holes for your screw heads in the melamine. This is so you will have a truly flat surface. This is your router table top.

4

Turn your router table top upside down. Screw a 15-inch board so it is upright in one of the corners of your 22-inch frame. Repeat this process in all corners so you have four legs.

5

Mount your router so the bit is at the center of the 2-inch hole. Turn your table upright and set it on your workbench to use.