Hey all,
I had two dilemmas, firstly I needed to upgrade my router table, it's done a lot of work, and has seen better days. My second dilemma was that I had purchased a Stenner MAE spindle moulder at the end of 2012: http://ift.tt/1JCFD45 and although it only cost me $150 and has the same motor and control box as my Stenner ABM Patternmakers saw http://ift.tt/1JCFFcf (so it was worth that for backup parts), I had also at the time managed to get a Wadkin EQ Spindle moulder in a 4 speed (the Stenner is only 2 speed) http://ift.tt/1JCFD47 and it is getting very hard to justify 2 spindle moulders in my workshop (this year is about consolidating, although I think I said that last year :B).
This will be my 3rd router table, so I've got a fair idea of what I want and don't want it to be, my main priorities are:
* Flat table top
* Stable and accurate fence
* Able to handle long/ heavy stock
* Able to perform accurate and repeatable cuts
In the end the answer for me was obvious and solved 2 dilemmas at once. The perfect router table for me, is a spindle moulder with a router fitted.
I debated if it was the right thing to post this or not, my concern being that I may encourage someone to go out and grab a perfectly functioning and worth restoring spindle moulder and scrap it to make a router table, but I have seen enough spindle moulders that have been run into the ground, and end up being scrapped, to say if you consider this approach, please make sure you choose your candidate appropriately.
Now for me, I eventually see a time when 2 spindle moulders (one for tenoning and one for profiling) will occur and also the Stenner MAE in my opinion deserves to be kept complete, so I have removed the spindle and motor, to make room for the router, but I will be making a area inside the cabinet to store this equipment so nothing gets lost.
This isn't going to be a start to finish post, I need the router table soon for a project, so I am going to focus on getting it to a working state first, then I will likely tweak things as I go.
I started, as with most older machines, removing some surface rust. The process I prefer for speed, is an angle grinder with the copper wire (well copper appearance) wheels. The key with this is safety, these wire wheels can do some serious damage to skin if they kick into your stomach, so you have to respect the tool, I find the important thing is to focus on how it will grab at the edges, and orientate the grinder so it wants to climb on the table not jump off the edge:
By the way, those marks on the table are existing (some idiot has touched this top in a few places with the wrong tool, but the work area is good). I then followed this up with a green scourer and WD40 for lubricant, to get this (it's not shinny, remember I am going for get it operational, not make it pretty)
I had visions of using the existing components for router lift, and eventually I will do that, but to get it up and running, I am using my Triton router, so I have lift adjustment built in, and it has the above table setup, so KISS is my approach, and I just need a plate to mount the router to.
I had a piece of 10mm aluminium plate laying around (doesn't everyone :rolleyes:, if not, a scrap metal yard is probably a good spot to look). Spindle moulders generally have a large hole in the table top and 2 rings, so I am removing the rings which gives me just over a 240mm hole with a recessed lip of about 14mm for the aluminium plate to go in.
Here was todays progress. I took the aluminium plate, and marked and drilled holes for mounting the router. I then bolted the router to the plate, and inserted a "V" bit in the router, lowered it onto the plate and turned it by hand to mark the centre. I wanted to have the router centred in the plate. Using this centre mark, I then drew a circle the size of the opening in the spindle moulder.
With my scroll saw http://ift.tt/1JCFFsz and an appropriate blade, I cut it out close to the line.
From this point, I had considered making a template and routing to the final finish (aluminium can be cut using a router bit, with care and shallow cuts), but I was pretty close anyway, so I decided to just drill a hole in the centre of the plate, put a bolt through it, and mount it and a file on the edge of my work table. In no time I had a circle that fit the hole, and finished it with some sandpaper soaked in WD40 (I wanted to make sure I didn't make any aluminium dust in the air). The router would have been cooler, but with what I had to take off, this was the quicker way.
From here I needed to open up a bigger hole in the middle, so I can change router bits with it in the table. Later I will make a template and router a lip 3mm deep and make some inserts out of some 3mm aluminium plate (for different size openings). For this, I went to my Waldown 3M drill press (a nice sturdy drill press for a belt drive), I was going to need it. Using a 76mm hole cutter, I gradually cut a hole through the 10mm, the key with this was good clamping, lubrication, taking it slow, and clearing out the hole, and checking for any heat.
Tomorrow, I will need to drill and tap 4 holes on the outer edge, to put some grub screws in (this will enable me to lift the plate up to the height of the table, and level).
Things to do:
I am going to flip the orientation of how the table is usually used by 90 degrees. These spindle moulders usually have 2 groves which run front to back that the split fences slide in. I want a mitre slot for my router table, so by using the table from the side, I will have a perfect mitre slot.
The fence;
It's pretty hard to go past a good spindle moulder fence for a router table
The fence this spindle moulder came with, is not original to the machine, it is off a SCM spindle moulder. There are some things I will need to do, to make this fence work for me though. Firstly I need to mount it 90 degrees to how it should be (as I've said above). To do this, and not modify the Stenner in any way, I am going to use some holes that someone has already drilled into the top (I'm not happy someone drilled so many holes, but at least it means it wasn't me).
This fence is a split fence arrangement, so each fence can be micro adjusted independently. My aim will be to mount this fence with the ability to micro adjust the entire fence, but more on that later.
Cheers,
Camo
I had two dilemmas, firstly I needed to upgrade my router table, it's done a lot of work, and has seen better days. My second dilemma was that I had purchased a Stenner MAE spindle moulder at the end of 2012: http://ift.tt/1JCFD45 and although it only cost me $150 and has the same motor and control box as my Stenner ABM Patternmakers saw http://ift.tt/1JCFFcf (so it was worth that for backup parts), I had also at the time managed to get a Wadkin EQ Spindle moulder in a 4 speed (the Stenner is only 2 speed) http://ift.tt/1JCFD47 and it is getting very hard to justify 2 spindle moulders in my workshop (this year is about consolidating, although I think I said that last year :B).
This will be my 3rd router table, so I've got a fair idea of what I want and don't want it to be, my main priorities are:
* Flat table top
* Stable and accurate fence
* Able to handle long/ heavy stock
* Able to perform accurate and repeatable cuts
In the end the answer for me was obvious and solved 2 dilemmas at once. The perfect router table for me, is a spindle moulder with a router fitted.
I debated if it was the right thing to post this or not, my concern being that I may encourage someone to go out and grab a perfectly functioning and worth restoring spindle moulder and scrap it to make a router table, but I have seen enough spindle moulders that have been run into the ground, and end up being scrapped, to say if you consider this approach, please make sure you choose your candidate appropriately.
Now for me, I eventually see a time when 2 spindle moulders (one for tenoning and one for profiling) will occur and also the Stenner MAE in my opinion deserves to be kept complete, so I have removed the spindle and motor, to make room for the router, but I will be making a area inside the cabinet to store this equipment so nothing gets lost.
This isn't going to be a start to finish post, I need the router table soon for a project, so I am going to focus on getting it to a working state first, then I will likely tweak things as I go.
I started, as with most older machines, removing some surface rust. The process I prefer for speed, is an angle grinder with the copper wire (well copper appearance) wheels. The key with this is safety, these wire wheels can do some serious damage to skin if they kick into your stomach, so you have to respect the tool, I find the important thing is to focus on how it will grab at the edges, and orientate the grinder so it wants to climb on the table not jump off the edge:
By the way, those marks on the table are existing (some idiot has touched this top in a few places with the wrong tool, but the work area is good). I then followed this up with a green scourer and WD40 for lubricant, to get this (it's not shinny, remember I am going for get it operational, not make it pretty)
I had visions of using the existing components for router lift, and eventually I will do that, but to get it up and running, I am using my Triton router, so I have lift adjustment built in, and it has the above table setup, so KISS is my approach, and I just need a plate to mount the router to.
I had a piece of 10mm aluminium plate laying around (doesn't everyone :rolleyes:, if not, a scrap metal yard is probably a good spot to look). Spindle moulders generally have a large hole in the table top and 2 rings, so I am removing the rings which gives me just over a 240mm hole with a recessed lip of about 14mm for the aluminium plate to go in.
Here was todays progress. I took the aluminium plate, and marked and drilled holes for mounting the router. I then bolted the router to the plate, and inserted a "V" bit in the router, lowered it onto the plate and turned it by hand to mark the centre. I wanted to have the router centred in the plate. Using this centre mark, I then drew a circle the size of the opening in the spindle moulder.
With my scroll saw http://ift.tt/1JCFFsz and an appropriate blade, I cut it out close to the line.
From this point, I had considered making a template and routing to the final finish (aluminium can be cut using a router bit, with care and shallow cuts), but I was pretty close anyway, so I decided to just drill a hole in the centre of the plate, put a bolt through it, and mount it and a file on the edge of my work table. In no time I had a circle that fit the hole, and finished it with some sandpaper soaked in WD40 (I wanted to make sure I didn't make any aluminium dust in the air). The router would have been cooler, but with what I had to take off, this was the quicker way.
From here I needed to open up a bigger hole in the middle, so I can change router bits with it in the table. Later I will make a template and router a lip 3mm deep and make some inserts out of some 3mm aluminium plate (for different size openings). For this, I went to my Waldown 3M drill press (a nice sturdy drill press for a belt drive), I was going to need it. Using a 76mm hole cutter, I gradually cut a hole through the 10mm, the key with this was good clamping, lubrication, taking it slow, and clearing out the hole, and checking for any heat.
Tomorrow, I will need to drill and tap 4 holes on the outer edge, to put some grub screws in (this will enable me to lift the plate up to the height of the table, and level).
Things to do:
I am going to flip the orientation of how the table is usually used by 90 degrees. These spindle moulders usually have 2 groves which run front to back that the split fences slide in. I want a mitre slot for my router table, so by using the table from the side, I will have a perfect mitre slot.
The fence;
It's pretty hard to go past a good spindle moulder fence for a router table
The fence this spindle moulder came with, is not original to the machine, it is off a SCM spindle moulder. There are some things I will need to do, to make this fence work for me though. Firstly I need to mount it 90 degrees to how it should be (as I've said above). To do this, and not modify the Stenner in any way, I am going to use some holes that someone has already drilled into the top (I'm not happy someone drilled so many holes, but at least it means it wasn't me).
This fence is a split fence arrangement, so each fence can be micro adjusted independently. My aim will be to mount this fence with the ability to micro adjust the entire fence, but more on that later.
Cheers,
Camo
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