Official Luthiers Forum!

Did you make your routing table or buy pre-fab(what kind)? For those who made own, any plans, tips, attachments needed.
Thanks so much,

I built my own. It is kinda like one Rockler used to sell. All wood construction, laminate top. It is easy to store it out of the way when it is not in use.

I think I"m going to buy one of those router raiser type bases and mount it in the extension table on my table saw soon though.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

I bought a Tool Dock unit when Woodworker's Warehouse was going out of business. Nice unit, but the fence is pretty poor compared to a lot of other units out there. Prior to that, I had cut a big cutout in my workbench top and dropped a router in there. I didn't like having to share my bench space with a power tool like that.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I saw a great tip in a woodworking magazine...use the plywood extension of your table saw as your router table. Just rout out a square hole that the base can sit in so it is flush with the top. Then your table saw fence can double as your router fence.

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

my routing table is an old fish tank stand, topped by a formica counter top offcut, but has a pc7518 as its heart and a bull dog cast iron router lift as its guts, and an adjustable fence with good dust extraction to keep everything on track..

there are lot of "ultimate" router table plans out there published by the various woodworking magazines and supply houses. for guitar work alone you don't need something elaborate. it has to be square, plumb, flat and sturdy, with a straight fence which is square to the table surface and a dust extraction funnel, also readily available from the woodworking suppliers, but easy to homebuild.. a good quality removable mounting plate helps also.

i know a professional cabinet maker who has 3 or 4 basically the same router tables which are nothing but hardwood frames with a straight strip of ply as the fence. why so many? he uses each for a step in the process of making raised panel doors and processes jobs from one operation to the next to the next. but he has quality pc or bosche routers in each, with a good dust extractor setup. they do the job.

i guess what i'm trying to say is that it's better to spend the money on the router to start and keep the table simple until you have done enough table work to know what bells and whistles you would like, and know that you are going to use them.crazymanmichael38485.3738888889

[QUOTE=JBreault] I saw a great tip in a woodworking magazine...use the plywood extension of your table saw as your router table. Just rout out a square hole that the base can sit in so it is flush with the top. Then your table saw fence can double as your router fence. [/QUOTE]

I have a Ryobi tablesaw. It has this as a built in. They sell a kit to mount your router, but I just made a acrylic adapter. I think I'm going to sell the saw and get the Grizzley, so I'll have to figure out how to replace it. I have limited space in my shop so sharing the tablesaw is a big advantage. Particularly since I don't use the router table much.

if you are going to have the laminate covered side extension you can just reinforce the under side to prevent sagging and route the appropriate inlet for your mounting plate. you can also buy cast iron side extensions that have the hole cut to fit on the side of the saw.

Thank you all very much.

[QUOTE=Don Williams] Prior to that, I had cut a big cutout in my workbench top and dropped a router in there. [/QUOTE]

Don,this is whst I'm thinking of doing in my little shop. What did you do for a fence?

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Scott Thompson
Port Townsend,WA

"In a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
But this is reality so give me some room"
-Billy Bragg

So, as I understand it, main ingredients are flat top,solid-accurate fence, and be able to make fine-accurate height adjustments from the top of the table. Oh, and router base. Right?

doing the height adjustment from the top is a boon; makes things far easier and convenient especially for decrepit, arthritic, degenerates of uncertain age, but is not necessary.

a special router base is not necessary. the cabinet maker i referred to above just screwed the fixed base of his router to the underside of the plywood table top.