Ok I'm getting materials together to build a router cabinet.  Got most of the plywood for it.  Got the t-track and miter track yesterday.  In looking at the miter track it looks like the top would have to be at least 1 inch thick.  Question is how thick does it really need to be  1 1/4 inch to  1 1/2 in thick?  Yea I'm pondering again

Thanks

Wayne E

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Wayne E

At least 6 inches with rebar and tension cables pre-loading it to take about 36 KiPs

The thing is most tables  end up bowing in time so the thicker you make it, the longer it'll last.  You might also consider formica  A high pressure laminate will make a nice  tough wear resistant surface.

One day I will make one from concrete using the same techniques used  to make counter tops and sinks etc..

My INCRA table is 1.25" but like cliff suggests bowing can be an issue if you leave a heavy router mounted in the table for long periods of time. I do recommend using MDF & Formica laminate  for the the top because of it's stability. 2ea  3/4" thick laminated together with contact cement then cover top and wrap edges with Formica then cut dadoes for miter track. 

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www.thepatriotwoodworker.com Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops

My came from MLCS and it is 1 3/8" thick MDF. I'm using an aluminum plate with no bowing at all. If you are concerned about bow just put a couple of strips front to back to beef it up.

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Ron Dudelston
Site Administrator

Above and Beyond WoodWorks

I'm with Mike - I made mine using 2 pieces of 3/4" GOOD MDF and then secured them together using contact cement.  I made them oversized and then cut to size afterword.  Not so much fretting over alignment of the two sheets that way.  You could also use Melamine which has the coating already bonded to it.  Just a thought.

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Fred
aka Pop's Shop
www.pops-shop.com
EX-21 (Presently on the floor. Using my 6-year old 788 ! ! ! ! !
'Soooooo many patterns - sooooo little time'

Two sheets of 3/4" MDF with a melamine surface. Total thickness 1.5 inches. Use MDF and you won't have to worry about bowing!

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops and Wounded Warriors Project

Well I didn't make my top, I purchased a cast iron top. Well it was actually a router table extension for my table saw, but it is now on a stand alone cabinet. But I don't think the cast iron will bow.

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John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

Cast iron is great. It'll allow the use of jigs and fences that use the MAG SWITCH. I have several jigs that use MAG SWITCH and they work very well. Your right you wont have any bowing.

John Moody said:

Well I didn't make my top, I purchased a cast iron top. Well it was actually a router table extension for my table saw, but it is now on a stand alone cabinet. But I don't think the cast iron will bow.

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John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

I think 1 1/2" is the more common thickness because most folks would sandwich 2 pieces of 3/4" MDF together to make it. But I have a shop built auxiliary top on my bandsaw that's only 3/4" thick and it has a miter track in it, so you can do it with thinner materials. I don't recommend that, but if you cabinet has a lattice type support under the top I ususpect you can get buy with a thinner top. I built mine over 12 years ago, when we didn't have MDF around me. I used 1/2 of a solid core door (highly recommended on the Wood forum at the time) and so it wound up being 1 3/8" thick. What peeved me was that the "solid core" turned out to be particleboard, which is what I was trying to avoid by buying the door! Anyway, it has severla support rails under it, and is still dead flat.

Excellent post Fred! Thanks for your insight and message. How ya been sir!

Fred W. Hargis, Jr said:

I think 1 1/2" is the more common thickness because most folks would sandwich 2 pieces of 3/4" MDF together to make it. But I have a shop built auxiliary top on my bandsaw that's only 3/4" thick and it has a miter track in it, so you can do it with thinner materials. I don't recommend that, but if you cabinet has a lattice type support under the top I ususpect you can get buy with a thinner top. I built mine over 12 years ago, when we didn't have MDF around me. I used 1/2 of a solid core door (highly recommended on the Wood forum at the time) and so it wound up being 1 3/8" thick. What peeved me was that the "solid core" turned out to be particleboard, which is what I was trying to avoid by buying the door! Anyway, it has severla support rails under it, and is still dead flat.

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker
Proud Supporter of Homes For Our Troops and Wounded Warriors Project

Mine is 1 1/8 thick. But no track in it. Never understood the track thing, anyway.

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

Never understood the track thing, anyway.

I use my slider instead of a track.  Comes in real handy expanding the sorts of things I can do exponentially.  Or, if  it's not right to say that it literally  expands the quantum, then it certainly makes things so much easier that I can stumble  upon  new ways to use it almost by second nature.

Thanks Cliff. Now, I really don't understand. :-)

Most of my table router work is referenced off the fence. That fence has t tracks, though. Does that count?

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

Gee how would you move the it around with 6 inches of concrete.  Sounds more like building a bunker and I'm doing good just moving 1/2 sheet of plywood.  I do understand what you mean about the bowing.  That was my main concern although the way I'm looking at building the cabinet just might help support it. 

Thanks

Wayne E

Cliff said:

At least 6 inches with rebar and tension cables pre-loading it to take about 36 KiPs

The thing is most tables  end up bowing in time so the thicker you make it, the longer it'll last.  You might also consider formica  A high pressure laminate will make a nice  tough wear resistant surface.

One day I will make one from concrete using the same techniques used  to make counter tops and sinks etc..

Cast iron top -- um.  That almost as bad as Cliff concrete bunker.  True it won't bow hardly at all if it thick enough.  But I'm more on the weak side.  Just don't like straining in lifting or moving things around.  That too much work for me.  Call me lazy in that department

Thanks

Wayne E

John Moody said:

Well I didn't make my top, I purchased a cast iron top. Well it was actually a router table extension for my table saw, but it is now on a stand alone cabinet. But I don't think the cast iron will bow.

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John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

The rest I'll reply here.  Most all recommend 2 pieces of  3/4 inch MDF to make at least 1 1/2 inch thick top.  Well I did check it out and gee that stuff is heavy.  I struggle with full sheet of 3/4 inch plywood but this stuff as a full sheet no way I handle it by my lonesome self. I may have oops on this but I got full sheet of 1/2 MDF.  I could handle this in the shop.  I'll cut 3 maybe 4 pieces to the size I need for the top and glue them together making it 1 1/2 inches or maybe 2 inches thick.  Gene as for having a miter track, I never hardly use the miter gauge,  but have been known to attach feather board to the track when I need that piece to be against the fence.  Hopefully I'll be building this thing during the holidays.  I taking 3 days off the week of Christmas and since 25th is holiday that gives me 10 days minus 3 days in Texas to see my mom and brother to build the router table.  I should be to build it in 7 days.  Maybe due the way things go around this household.  Wife already making honey do list for 2013.

Thanks

Wayne E

 

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Wayne E

You are right to be considering the weight, but the top will be only a part of it. I built a Norm-style cabinet, and after it was completed found it so heavy it couldn't be moved easily. I put a wheel barrow type base on it (casters on one side, and handles on the other) because when it was sitting I didn't want it to move, like some mobile bases/locking casters allow. Anyway, once the router was in there, along with the bits in the drawer and the crud I threw in the bottom drawers, it's so heavy I can barely move it with the handle/casters. I'd bet the thing weights 250-300# just sitting there.

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No Ref

Fred, 

I can sympathize with the weight thing. My planer and drum sander are both on that caster/handle arrangement. Unfortunately, the planer (new) is on a cart/stand built for a different planer and the new one seems to want to tip over backwards if I pull up on the handles too far. 

I built a shelf to hold two belt sanders and a big old grinder. Attached it to a wall with hinges so that it could be lowered out of the way. Now, I'm finding it's getting too heavy to raise and lower. Maybe if I'd clean off the saw dust first. Hmmmmm

As to feather boards on the router table, my table came with an aluminum piece spanning the table with two adjustable feather boards attached. It's a simple concept and can easily be made in the shop from 1/2" wood. Could either be clamped or, if you wanted to get fancy, a lip on each end with a tightening knob thru a "T" nut on one end. I suspect that clamping would be the best because it would allow for wider adjustment relative to the fence. That's precisely why I don't care for "T" track in the table. Things in the track are not often adjustable relative to the fence. The fence must be adjusted almost perfectly to the track. Makes it tricky when you have the fence adjusted just right, relative to the bit (as in jointing or edging). It's much simpler to adjust the movable feather board carriage to the fence. 

I'm all for simple. :-)

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

Gene, the track is for guiding a miter guide when doing end grain on cabinet door stiles, window munnions and frame corners with

locking joint of some type.

 

no need to have track at perfect parrrallel to fence as the piece can "float" with one side against miter guide and end grain is climb cut by router bit.

I understand about that use, Dragon. I just use a sled. I always isolate the bearing, when there is one. That puts the fence in play before and after the bit. If the fence is not in line with the T track, the work might (will?) contact the fence on one side and not the other. Could make for an uneven cut. Not a good thing.

As I said earlier, I'm all for simple. 

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton