Building Router Table Tops article

Building the top of your table is probably the most time consuming part of the process. Most
people decide on using a laminate on top of a substrate. There are several schools of
thought on the substrate material, but the most favorite seems to be MDF (medium density
fiberboard) We will use that for this discussion.

Choose which laminate according to your preference. You can find reasonably priced
laminate at your Home Depot or Lowe's stores. The price is generally from $40 to $50 a
sheet. (4 x 8)
Cut the MDF to your desired size. Make sure you have enough work area for the type of
projects you want to make.
I believe in a thick layer of MDF, this keeps the top very stable. There is an article on this
site if you choose to have a thinner thickness along with its pros and cons. I choose ¾” MDF
because of its availibilty and then I glue the two together. Choose a high quality contact
cement or glue, and then glue together two layers of MDF for a total of 1 ½” thick.
Glue the laminate onto the MDF with a good quality contact cement. When you cut the
laminate, you don’t have to have it exact, let the laminate hang over the edge of the MDF.
When the cement is dry trim the excess laminate off the top with a flush trim bit. The trim bit
allows you to get an exact fit and will give you professional results. I also like to use a long
trim bit to square up the sides of the MDF to itself.

Cutting the insert

This next section involves cutting the hole for the insert. There are several ways to do this
and no one way is best. You can buy ready made templates that will help you to cut out the
hole for the insert so it’s a perfect fit. You will need a porter cable style bushing for your
router and a straight bit designed for template cutting. If you buy our deluxe insert or acrylic
inserts, the stand templates offered in catalogs will work.

The goal here is to make the router insert plate flush to the table. However there is a school
of thought that should be explored. In some climates there can be movement in the
substrate which would cause your router insert to no longer be flush at certain times of the
year. In this case you would want to cut the insert slightly deeper than flush. To bring the
insert back to flush you would use an insert leveler. Installing these are discussed at the
bottom of the article.

This section is a copy of the directions on our site. If you prefer to view it directly from the
site you can click here.

Installing router plates

Ok, you got the insert, now you want to make it fit into your project. There is a couple of
things to keep in mind. First, if its not perfect, its ok, I will show you how to make any
adjustments. Second you basically are going to make a template to be able to use your
router to make a cutout to fit the insert into. Thirdly make sure your router table is at least 1"
thick for stability. These directions guide you through making your own template, which is
basically a box made from scrap wood.

You will need: a router with a straight bit, pencil, straightedge and some double sided tape.

1. Take the router plate insert and place it on your router table where you want it to go.
Draw a line around it. This line is what you will use to line up your bit.

2. Look at your router, is the base round? Porter Cable routers have a flat edge on one
side. If you have a PC then use the flat edge side for your routering. If your routers base is
round pick a spot, take a piece of masking tape and put it on the top side and draw a line on
it. Your doing this so that when you line your router up on your template you get the same
spacing all the way around.

3. Place your router on the top and line up the outside edge of the straight bit so that it
touches the line (at the reference mark you just made) Make sure the bit is on the inside of
the reference line you drew. Now make a reference line where your edge of your router
meets the table top.

4. You can measure this distance and this is the distance from the outside of the routers
base to the bit. Lets say its 2 inches. You would then draw a 2 " box around the tracing of
the router plate insert.

5. Make a template. Use some scrap MDF or something similar to make a box around your
reference line. It really looks like a picture frame and basically that is all it is, a cheap, funny
looking picture frame. This box will guide your router around to cut out the insert hole. Cut
the lengths and widths until they are the right size. Line up the MDF with the reference lines
and put a piece of tape over the top of it. Make sure you get it just right. When you like it,
glue on some small scrap pieces of wood to hold the butt joint together.

6. Take your double sided tape and tape your picture frame (jig) to the table so that the
lines are lined up. Make a dry run with your router to make sure the bit stays on the inside of
the line.

7. When your ready to rout, make sure you have the reference mark on your router
touching the outside of your jig. OPTION: I highly recommend making a test rout on some
junk wood before you make your first cut. You never know what mistake you made and it
would be a shame to ruin the good table top.

8. Rout a shallow groove around the inside of your jig. Take a look at it and make any
adjustments you might need. Then adjust your router so that the depth of the cut is slightly
deeper (1/100th is a suggestion) than the thickness of the router plate insert. Continue
routing the profile to the desired depth.

9. Cut out the inside with a jig saw.

Attaching Trim to your router table

We are known for our hardwood trims on our custom tables. You can attach them easily
yourself with a few good techniques. By far the easiest way to have hardwood flush to the
top is by using a Flush Trim router bit. I recommend a larger bit that has at least a 1” cutting
service.

· Cut the wood trim to size on the widths first Make sure you cut the wood trim to
the exact size. If you make a mistake and the trim ends up sticking out of the table a
bit too long, you can always trim the whole edge on the tablesaw. When gluing to the
table top get it as close to flush as you can.

· Attach the lengths in the same manor.

· When the glue is dried, attach a flush trim router bit to your router and turn the
table on its side. I like to put a piece of painters taple along the edge of the laminate
where it meets the wood to protect the laminate and protect it from chipping.

· Take the flush trim router bit and have the profile bearing ride along the laminate
side of the table. This will clean up the edge and give you a flush finish. It will also
help you with any fine sanding you might have to do.

· When done remove the tape and admire your work

Installing levelers

Installing the router insert plate leveler is very easy. Again this is from our website which you
can view here.

You will need a drill, 3/8" bit, a 6mm hex or allen wrench and a 7/16" open end wrench.

1. First make a pencil mark in each corner of the insert hole where you want the threaded
insert to go. I highly recommend the corners, make sure an leave a little room for the lip of
the insert.

2. Drill a 3/8" hole all the way through the table. Make sure you use a piece of scrap wood
on the back side to eliminate blowout from drilling.

3. Take your 6mm hex drive or allen wrench and insert the threaded insert into the hole until
its flush. You can dimple the MDF just a bit for a flush fit.

4. Take a 1/4" bolt and thread on a nut then a washer. Screw this assembly onto the back
side of the table top (bottom)

5. When the screw comes up through the insert flush stop here and do the other 3 holes.
Insert the router plate and take a 7/16" wrench and screw the bolt up till the insert is flush
with the table. Repeat all four holes. Then tighten the nut to the bottom of the table. Make
sure you washer contacts the table bottom snuggly.

Building Router Table Tops