Archived from the Tools In Action forum (In The Shop). This thread is read-only.
I bought a full Rockler Router Table setup just over a year ago. Since the day it showed up, I wanted to fill in the area under the table with usable storage. I found a youtube video of a guy doing this with his Kreg setup, but nothing on the Rockler unit. So, I based my build on the Kreg video.
I had to work through some issues, but I think I am on the right track. I still need to add two drawers, drawer faces for the bit storage slide outs, a door for the router cubie, a dust shoot to hook the shop vac up to and run the cord. I’ll share more pics when I get some more progress done.
Man that looks awesome Dude! Plus the shop looks also looks badass!
Bigmikez wrote:
Man that looks awesome Dude! Plus the shop looks also looks badass!
Thanks. I love my shop and am always looking for ways to better it
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Feel privileged to see it come together on periscope a little while I had some spare time, great idea!
Do you have to lock the casters when pushing wood through the router table?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
KnarlyCarl wrote:
16 hours ago, KnarlyCarl said:Feel privileged to see it come together on periscope a little while I had some spare time, great idea!
Do you have to lock the casters when pushing wood through the router table?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Yes, I do need to lock the casters when running wood through it.
Hopefully the periscope event wasn’t too boring.
SAWEEEETTT !!!!!
looks great, very clean
Came out nice John. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.
Mondo1310 wrote:
19 minutes ago, Mondo1310 said:Came out nice John. Looking forward to seeing the finished product.
I’ll post some more pictures maybe this weekend when I get a chance to work on it again.
@tugnut1 what router lift did you get? That’s an awesome set up!
ChrisK wrote:
@tugnut1 what router lift did you get? That’s an awesome set up!
PROTOOLNUT wrote:
Your skills are truly amazing, good job man! [emoji4]
I got the Rocker FX lift. It’s affordable, but only fits a few routers.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
That’s a great looking piece you’ve built.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I got some time today to work on the router table setup between going to work and having a sewer service come over and clean out my main drain in the house (yuk).
I was able to get all of the drawers and doors mounted. I’m not thrilled with the bit holder drawers, but they are functional. I still need to attach the dust collection port on the back side and run the power cord from the big paddle switch to the router, but other than that, it is done. I need to decide what size dust collection port to put in the back and look into connecting that to the fence dust shoot. Should be simple, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
You may notice I used some plexiglass in the router box door. I didn’t realize it was going to be that small when I started out or I might not have gone through the effort. Pretty funny.
That thing is awesome dude!
Jimbo
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
JimboS1ice wrote:
That thing is awesome dude!Jimbo
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Thanks Jimbo.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Wow! It’s a real treat seeing that come together, I like all the bit storage right there easy access, very cool!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
tugnut1 wrote:
4 hours ago, tugnut1 said:I got some time today to work on the router table setup between going to work and having a sewer service come over and clean out my main drain in the house (yuk).
I was able to get all of the drawers and doors mounted. I’m not thrilled with the bit holder drawers, but they are functional. I still need to attach the dust collection port on the back side and run the power cord from the big paddle switch to the router, but other than that, it is done. I need to decide what size dust collection port to put in the back and look into connecting that to the fence dust shoot. Should be simple, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
You may notice I used some plexiglass in the router box door. I didn’t realize it was going to be that small when I started out or I might not have gone through the effort. Pretty funny.
Awesome job John! Has that kind of Norm look and I’m curious why you don’t like the bit storage. It looks awesome to me. Great and inspirational work dude!
ChrisK wrote:
10 hours ago, ChrisK said:Awesome job John! Has that kind of Norm look and I’m curious why you don’t like the bit storage. It looks awesome to me. Great and inspirational work dude!
Thanks ChrisK. I’m not thrilled with the bit storage because of the big paddle switch on the right. I didn’t realize that it hangs over inside of the frame until after I started building the unit (overlook). So, the right side bit storage doesn’t cover the plywood frame. Also, I was concerned about how far apart I placed all of the bit holder holes. But after I looked at it and thought about it last night, I figured if I ever want to change it up, I can just put a piece on top of the shelf and redrill holes because there is enough room to add height.
Over all, I’m really pleased with it.
My next concern is plugging the router to the front switch and I think I have a solution for that. I have to take a closer look, but if I can add a different cord to the switch, I will run that to a duplex that will live in the router box and then just plug the router into that. That way I can get rid of that stiff cord, tuck the cord out of sight and make it easy to change routers if I need to in the future.
Sounds like a good solution and remember as you get those bigger panel bits the larger storage is going to be great for those huge things!
Today I tackled the switch situation that I wasn’t happy with. The large safety on/off switch had two very stiff and short cords on it that made connecting to the router and outlets more difficult than it should be.
I went to the local Ace Hardware and bought some really nice power cord that I use on most of my tools when I switch them out. I bought 20 feet of it, which gives me about 16 feet of cord that I can use to use my table wherever I want to in the shop. Much better than the 4 foot section that came with the switch.
The bottom of the switch where the cables drop out have some Strain Relief Bushings to hold the cord to the box. These are a bugger to get out of the box. Once they are secured, they are there to stay. I found a really good way to remove the cord and save the bushing. I cut the cord real close to the bushing and then used a drill bit to drill out the wires. After they are gone, you can open the bit right back up. I did find some replacement bushings at the store just in case my idea didn’t work.
You can see by this picture that I have one cord replaced. The duller finished one is the replacement (on top) and is much more flexible.
In order to run the cord from the switch to the router, I drilled a hole in the frame (not big enough for the bushing-damn!, mistake) and then ran it in the space between the table top and the top of the cabinet and down into the router box.
I wired a duplex in the box and plugged the router into that.
The last thing I had to do was run a power cord from the switch box and then hang it from the recessed section on the side of the cabinet.
Whenever I get into a wiring project, I always seem to have my bench cluttered with stuff when I am done.
The last thing to do is attach a dust shoot out the back of the router box, but that will have to wait until next weekend.
That’s pretty good thinking with the outlet, you can even run dust extraction off that.
Jimbo
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
JimboS1ice wrote:
That’s pretty good thinking with the outlet, you can even run dust extraction off that.Jimbo
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I was thinking about putting a light in there
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Very cool dude!
That is awesome! I would love to build a router table this summer. We shall see…
I went to Saginaw today to buy some materials to connect my router table setup to my future dust collection setup. Buying the items for dust collection drives me nuts. I wish they would make this stuff the same as PVC and make it easy on all of us.
I actually bought three or 4 more parts that I don’t need because I changed my design as soon as I got home. The original plans were to have a 90 degree sweep coming off of the cabinet and then run the dual hookup horizontally. I didn’t like this option because it requires a coupling and with the 90 degree sweep, it hangs out way to far of the back of the cabinet. After a quick google search, I found one example where they used a short section of 4 inch hose to connect the two pieces. Of course I didn’t buy any 4 inch dust hose while at Woodcraft. So, I ordered some on Amazon.
Here is what I have so far.
You’ll have to let us know John, how that hook-up worked out for you. By the way, your work on the storage table is over the top! Thanks for posting.
Glasseyi wrote:
You’ll have to let us know John, how that hook-up worked out for you. By the way, your work on the storage table is over the top! Thanks for posting.
Thanks Glasseyi
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Its beautiful, the organization of those shelves, the clean workbench top, the pegboard, it’s well lit, the floor looks nicely finished and…. oh yes, router cabinet is looking stellar, too ?
So do you have plans for grounding the dust hoses and fittings for static build up?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
KnarlyCarl wrote:
Its beautiful, the organization of those shelves, the clean workbench top, the pegboard, it’s well lit, the floor looks nicely finished and…. oh yes, router cabinet is looking stellar, too ?So do you have plans for grounding the dust hoses and fittings for static build up?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Thanks. I do not have any plans for grounding it yet. I will be looking into this before I get a larger shop dust collection system.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Beautiful work John,,, love that shop you have there
John, this is probably my favorite post that I have had in a while. I’m really interested in where you go with this and what you decide to use for a DC unit next. Are you going to splice into the 4″ further up the ,one and are you going to use flex or go with ridged duct work?
tugnut1 wrote:
On 4/6/2016 at 5:35 PM, tugnut1 said:I went to Saginaw today to buy some materials to connect my router table setup to my future dust collection setup. Buying the items for dust collection drives me nuts. I wish they would make this stuff the same as PVC and make it easy on all of us.
I actually bought three or 4 more parts that I don’t need because I changed my design as soon as I got home. The original plans were to have a 90 degree sweep coming off of the cabinet and then run the dual hookup horizontally. I didn’t like this option because it requires a coupling and with the 90 degree sweep, it hangs out way to far of the back of the cabinet. After a quick google search, I found one example where they used a short section of 4 inch hose to connect the two pieces. Of course I didn’t buy any 4 inch dust hose while at Woodcraft. So, I ordered some on Amazon.
Here is what I have so far.
cant put into words how awesome that looks tugnut, im amazed at some of the ideas you people have in this forum.
mohawkdec wrote:
cant put into words how awesome that looks tugnut, im amazed at some of the ideas you people have in this forum.
Thank you a ton. That’s what forums are all about…..sharing ideas.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
ChrisK wrote:
John, this is probably my favorite post that I have had in a while. I’m really interested in where you go with this and what you decide to use for a DC unit next. Are you going to splice into the 4″ further up the ,one and are you going to use flex or go with ridged duct work?
Wow! That’s some serious honor there.
As of now, I plan on getting the 2 HP Jet Cyclone dust collector unit. If someone else comes out with a similar unit, I’ll look at it. I’ve already eliminated the Laguna and Baileigh Industrial units from consideration.
I will have a combination of solid piping and flexible when I start that project. I’ll of course be posting progress of the DC system when I dig into it.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Sweet. I’m actually looking at the same one at Woodcraft. Very highly recommended unit.
Looks really nice! It’s really coming together for you!
Jimbo
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Here is the final shots of the router table setup. I finished the dust collection setup.
For now, I will be reducing the 4 inch to a 2.5″ to fit with my shop vac. As soon as I get a large unit for the shop, I can go straight through to a 4 inch line.
The best part, the dust collection system doesn’t take up much room and I am able to continue storing the table in the same area.
Nothing like building for the future!
Jimbo
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
JimboS1ice wrote:
On 4/11/2016 at 2:07 PM, JimboS1ice said:Nothing like building for the future!
Jimbo
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
And then forgetting about it…
Nice job on that! Looks really good.