Popular Post VizslaDad Posted November 15, 2020 Popular Post Report Share Posted November 15, 2020 Last week I finished my router table. Thanks to everyone who chimed in re: fixing the sloppy fit of my JessEm router lift in my General International/Excalibur cast iron table. Long story short, I took up the slop with some metal shim stock, but discovered my router plate is far from flat. It's useable in the near term for less sensitive operations but I will need to source a new plate to do anything with precision. I will likely buy a Woodtek plate and drill it for a Triton 3 1/4 hp router once I have enough pennies saved. This is the closest thing to actual furniture I have built in over almost two years and it felt good to get it done. The cast iron top used to be affixed to the end of my table saw in my old shop, but I never liked how I'd done that originally and it doesn't make sense spacewise in my current configuration. Plus I will be able to use the router table to support a basic outfeed table for my table saw that will get stowed to the side when I don't need it. I put a couple nails in the side to hang the fence for this reason. The cart is made from some leftover Menard's 12mm baltic birch ply, some ancient mystery 1/2" ply for the drawer front, and 2x material I salvaged from some mouse-urine soaked shelves the previous homeowner had slapped together in the basement I have since removed. Luckily milling removed mousey residues. The design itself is nothing special: loose tenons (dominos) to create and join frame and panel units, along with one drawer. The only thing I purchased to complete the project was a pair of Home Depot full extension drawer slides as the only ones I had on hand were too long. I finished the piece with some General Finishes whitewash topped with two coats of Helmsman spar varnish. I mainly wanted to see if multiple freeze-thaw cycles kept the whitewash stain from curing and it appears to be fine, though I am not in love with the unintentional "shabby chic" look. My spar varnish had a weird gray/black tint to it out of the can and I could not tell if that's because I dipped a foam brush into the can or the color was a result of my poor storage practices. All I know is it fared better than my leftover Varathane spar varnish which looked like paste wax when I opened the can. Pics: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronn W Posted November 16, 2020 Report Share Posted November 16, 2020 Nice table. Should serve you well for a long time. +1 on the large Triton router. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coop Posted November 16, 2020 Report Share Posted November 16, 2020 Very well done! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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