I tried to focus this past weekend on building some shelves for the things I was unboxing so I would at least have a place to put everything where I could see it so I could better plan additional shelving/storage as well as my tools and materials needs. But I did stop to build a router table top. Just the top for now, at the risk of getting ahead of myself. I haven't decided yet if the router table will take its own floor space, or a bench-top design that I will clamp to my workbench (which I still don't have) when I need to use it. Although, the more I've thought about it, I think a bench-top design will make the best use of the limited space I have.
I took a lot of inspiration from Kevin Brady and his router table he built using a Shopsmith drum sander/shaper fence which he documented here. I used the top off of an instructional multi-media cart. It is MDF with a Formica top on it.
Instead of t-nuts, I re-used the self-tapping screw-in threaded inserts that were already on the underside of the top (for mounting it to the steel cabinet it was used with). But I did drill a through hole and screw them in from the underside like Kevin did.
I messed up a little when I was routing the rabbet for the router plate. There are a couple of jagged, uneven edges, and the corners are a different radius, but the router plate still sits tight and flush with the top. I did not add a miter gauge slot. I can clamp featherboards to the table and can push stock through with a square block behind it and/or push blocks/sticks.
I made a few test cuts with the table top sitting on a trash can. Dust collection is going to be an issue I'll have to work out, but other than that, it works great. The Shopsmith fence gives a lot of flexibility. Future improvements will be larger fence faces, bolts with knobs on them to make moving/removing the fence easier, and of course dust collection.
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