# Drilling a Blank Insert Plate



## GaryBirk (Dec 22, 2009)

I need some advice on how to correctly mark and align a blank router table insert plate so that the router will be mounted dead center.

I have a Bench Dog router table attached to the right side of my table saw. The installation went quite well. All appears to be flat and true.

I have a Hitachi M12V2 router. Bench Dog said I have to use the blank router table insert plate to mount this router.

My question is how do you set/mark/align the blank insert plate for drilling to insure the router will be mounted properly?

No pun intended, but I am really drawing a blank here.

GaryB


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Gary

This is one job that you must take your time and do right, you have just one shot at it 

You 1st. need to make a disk out of plastic or some 1/4" MDF, put it on bolt, than you need to take the base plate off the router and take one of the screws to ACE hardware and get 4 Cone point set screw or the norm ones and grind them to a sharp Point,with your drill, once you have the screws put them in the base backwards so the point is sticking out of the base, than chuck up the disk on a stick and put the disk in the hole (it must be the right size) once the disk is in place plunge the router down and with a hammer Tap the base of the router down and it will mark the right spot to drill the hole out, than take a 1/16" drill bit and drill the holes out, once you have all 4 holes drilled out flip the plate and drill the holes out to the right size for the screws to mount the router and counter sink all 4 holes, now mount the router in place..

Put the disk on a stick in a safe place it will come in handy down the road..

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GaryBirk said:


> I need some advice on how to correctly mark and align a blank router table insert plate so that the router will be mounted dead center.
> 
> I have a Bench Dog router table attached to the right side of my table saw. The installation went quite well. All appears to be flat and true.
> 
> ...


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## GaryBirk (Dec 22, 2009)

bobj3 said:


> Hi Gary
> 
> This is one job that you must take your time and do right, you have just one shot at it
> 
> ...


Thank you very much for the idea. Sounds like a great plan. I will get working on the disk today!


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Gary, if you want to make life easy you can order a Rousseau kit for $5 from Woodcraft. The kit includes a 1/4" alignment pin, transfer screws and a metal center disk. There are different kits available to fit all routers so be sure to check which size screws your router uses.


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## GaryBirk (Dec 22, 2009)

Many thanks to BobJ and Mike for the help. I followed Bob's directions and it worked like a charm. Mike I would have purchased the alignment kit if I had known about it. It took a couple of tries with the 5mm screws before I got them ground to a point without messing up the threads. This is truly what fourms are all about, sharing knowledge. Thanks again for the great advice!
Gary B


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