A Handmade Router Table

Today's topic is a router table that is one of the important tools for woodworking. A router is a power tool used to hollow out an area in the face of a workpiece. We mainly use the router for rounding the edges of puzzle pieces.

Juno bought a router table from a local hardware shop. It seemed all right but once he used it, he noticed that the router couldn't attain precision. He wanted to increase the precision and decided to make a router table by himself.

 1. The router table
Firstly, Juno made a box and attached it at the end of the workbench (The red legs are the workbench in the picture below). This box will be the base of the router table.

2. The router height adjuster
Juno bought a cheap router and attached it to the inside of the box upside down. Underneath the box, there is a star knob screw. This screw is connected to the wooden block that is placed in the box. The wooden block is holding the router and it can change the height of a router bit by rotating the star knob screw.

3. The dust collector
Behind the wooden block, there is a hole which is connected with a dust collection pipe. This dust collection system works really well, we won't be bothered by saw dust.

4. The air assist
On the workspace of the router table, there is another tool to get rid of sawdust, it's an air assist. The air assist is connected to the air compressor. We use this plastic flexible nozzle which is very convenient.

5. The changeable melamine boards
We use various types of router bits and depending on a bit, we change the board on the router table.

6. The fence of the router table
Depending on work contents, we need to change the position of the fence, therefore Juno set two aluminum T tracks and two star knob screws on the table. It's easy to use and stable.

7. The mitre track for mitre gauges
The long mitre track on the router table is for mitre gauges.

8. The switch
The last article is about the switch of the router. As you see, the router is inside the box and the box has a door. It is awkward to open and close the door when we use the router. For this reason, Juno uses the power outlet on the workbench as an on-off switch.


Preparing a good environment is key to making good products, we believe. Before we start the woodworking, there are plenty of jobs to do, aren't there?