# My Router Table Cabinet Is Finally Done



## BearLeeAlive (Mar 22, 2010)

I have been trying to get a cabinet built for my Bench Dog cast iron router table, lift and fence for a couple months now. I have been using a couple sawhorses for the last while. Anyhow, it is pretty much done, and I have given it a good go, and must say I am pleased with the results. In fact, my wife is pissed that I am building nice cabinetry for the shop, when she wants all kinds of stuff for in the house. :big_boss:

After looking at hundreds of different builds, I found that not much could beat what Norm Abrams from the New Yankee Workshop designed. I never used his plans, but built my own throwing in a few improvements of my own.

I used birch ply for the cabinet, baltic birch for the bit trays and drawer boxes, yellow birch for the fronts, and trimmed it all with walnut. All plywood joints are rabbeted or dadoed. I gave it 2 coats of a satin polyurethane to help protect it from all the abuses a shop gives.

This is a real heavy unit, and I have not even loaded the drawers up yet, nor do I have all my bits in it yet. What I did was mount two 3" heavy duty casters underneath on the rear, and put two rubber feet under the front for good traction. I just pull the 2 top drawers out and it is real easy to lift and move about.

To hold the bits I just bought some bit holders from Lee Valley and screwed them to the bit trays. LINK

For the switch I opted to install one with a big stop paddle, you just never know when you made need it.

It is interesting in the first pic how the door shows so much darker than the drawer fronts. It really isn't and must be that it is the only piece of solid birch with vertical grain, and the light from the flash is playing off it different.










The tray fronts are held to the trays by rabbeting the front to accept the 1/2" BB. A few brad nails were put in for a temporary hold, and then it was clamped square until it dried. This will be plenty strong.

I used a drawer bit for all the joints on the drawers, including the 1/2" ply bottom as well. I just glued them up and held them with clamps. Nothing will break these joints apart.

Full extension slides were used on the bottom drawers. The larger drawer will easily fit my Dewalt 618 kit with all 3 bases and accessories.

In hind sight, I may have way too much space for bits, and should have made a couple of the side trays as drawers. There is a 3" drawer on the top of each side, which is handy for all the bits not being used.There are then two 4" drawer trays, and on 5" on each side. One of the smaller lower drawers will hold feather board and other jigs. Still have not allocated anything to the other bottom drawer yet.










This photo shows how the cord comes in from the rear into the switch, and then I just used a cord end to plug the router into. The router is a Porter Cable 3 1/4 HP motor, which is dedicated to the table.










This shows how I connected the two dust ports. My dust collector hooks up to it with a 4" hose. The dust collection works great, nary a particle left floating in the air. The only thing that does happen, is little piles started forming in the back corners. I may put a couple slope pieces in at an angle back to the port to help eliminate this. Norm had done something like this. Even though there is a 1/16" gap around the door, I added a few holes so that the air flow would be across the bottom when the dust collector is on, not try to draw through the top too much. I do need to shorten the top hose just a wee bit now.










With the dust collection hoses removed, there is nothing protruding past the rear of the cabinet. The hose stores inside beside the router out of the way. The dust port and cord holder are both in the recessed area.










Thanks for looking, fire away if you have any questions.


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## jlord (Nov 16, 2009)

Very nice Jim !!!
I see why your wife wants the quality in the house. Tell her it was a practice run for the inside.


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## Dr.Zook (Sep 10, 2004)

Excellent work Jim. It looks to nice to work on.


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## Jack Wilson (Mar 14, 2010)

Hello Jim,

VERY nice job, it looks beautiful! Nice selection of complimenting woods!


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## Cochese (Jan 12, 2010)

Fantastic Jim. Could you take a pic of how you have the drawers in the cabinet itself? It would go a long way to helping me get mine done.

Thanks.


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## BearLeeAlive (Mar 22, 2010)

Thanks everyone.

James, that is pretty much what I tell my wife. I need to build the shop cabinetry in order to be able to do the stuff she would like. 
First I have to do a cabinet for under my cabinet saw table, and a nice solid wood work bench to work on. 

Chris, I assume you are referring to the top drawer and bit tray. I can get a shot in a little bit here.


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## Cochese (Jan 12, 2010)

Thanks. It looks like you did a dado in the cabinet, right? Did you double layer it, add in inserts?


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Jim

Very nice job and very clean,well done 

=======


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## gal turner (Mar 3, 2010)

hooray..good shop cabinetry is entirely useful & great to work on. Better start designing for inside the house!!!


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## hilltopper46 (Feb 27, 2010)

WOW! That is nice. Very well thought out and beautifully executed.


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## BearLeeAlive (Mar 22, 2010)

Thanks again everyone.

Chris, I attached 1/2" think pieces of birch to form the guides. I could have just as easily used the BB ply, but I had some scraps of birch to use up.


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## CanuckGal (Nov 26, 2008)

That's not a router cabinet! That's FURNITURE! Way too nice for the shop. That is one nicely done job.


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

Nice! I think I would put that in the living room, it looks like a piece of *quality* furniture!


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## Cochese (Jan 12, 2010)

BearLeeAlive said:


> Thanks again everyone.
> 
> Chris, I attached 1/2" think pieces of birch to form the guides. I could have just as easily used the BB ply, but I had some scraps of birch to use up.


So they are scraps glued to the ply? Thanks.


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## xplorx4 (Dec 1, 2008)

Exceptional in both plan and execution! Your use of contrasting wood colors and finish combine to make a truly outstanding final cabinet. Well done, very well done indeed. I am challenged to "step it up" when making anything! Thank you for the great photo display!!


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## Damir 66 (Dec 18, 2009)

Very nice and clean job.This cabinet is only for looking, not for routering.


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## BearLeeAlive (Mar 22, 2010)

Cocheseuga said:


> So they are scraps glued to the ply? Thanks.


Yes, that is correct.



DAMIR66 said:


> Very nice and clean job.This cabinet is only for looking, not for routering.


It already has been used, I just vacuumed it up for the shots. The plan is that it will get lots of use.


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## Chuck-grmi (May 18, 2010)

That is a real nice router cabinet.

A couple more cabinet builds, a new bench...and a new work table..and then you will be almost ready to take a peek at your wife's list.







.

The more practice I do on my stuff will make your stuff more perfect is what I tell my wife...Doesn't work! So I am open to help on a different line


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## BearLeeAlive (Mar 22, 2010)

Chuck, it sounds like you are using the same reasoning as me, and yeah.......it ain't cutting the mustard around here either. :lol:


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## jw2170 (Jan 24, 2008)

See Harry,

Now that's what I call a cabinet..

James


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

outstanding effort Jim.....choice of materials and execution worked out extremely well> I would have thought that the cast top might have given it a 'cold' look, but not at all. the plumbing and wiring is clean and well placed. I really like the power cord wrap in the back, outta sight/outta mind...I did mine with all drawers and converted to bit drawers as needed for the exact reasons you mentioned. Not seeing the casters is a really nice touch.

gonna have to send ya a "furniture makers guild" certificate...*L* nicely done!!!


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## Cochese (Jan 12, 2010)

Jim, one more question for you. I see that you list 3, 4, and 5" drawers. Are those of the faces, or the height of the storage in them?

Also, how long is your longest bit? I'm trying to determine the height of my drawers.


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## BearLeeAlive (Mar 22, 2010)

TwoSkies57 said:


> outstanding effort Jim.....choice of materials and execution worked out extremely well> I would have thought that the cast top might have given it a 'cold' look, but not at all. the plumbing and wiring is clean and well placed. I really like the power cord wrap in the back, outta sight/outta mind...I did mine with all drawers and converted to bit drawers as needed for the exact reasons you mentioned. Not seeing the casters is a really nice touch.
> 
> gonna have to send ya a "furniture makers guild" certificate...*L* nicely done!!!


Thanks Bill. I too had wondered about the look of the cast iron against the cabinetry, but did not worry too much as it is just a shop cabinet. I liked how the industrial look of the top contrasts with the cabinet, once I saw it together.



Cocheseuga said:


> Jim, one more question for you. I see that you list 3, 4, and 5" drawers. Are those of the faces, or the height of the storage in them?
> 
> Also, how long is your longest bit? I'm trying to determine the height of my drawers.


Chris, that is the sizes of the fronts, so I do lose 1/2" due to the thickness of the tray. I have only one bit that is 4" and will need to go in the 5" tray. There are a couple others that I may end up with too. The 3" front is for the drawers only, which gives me a 2 1/2" deep drawer, and that is more than deep enough for small things like wrenches and guides.


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## ebill (Jan 17, 2009)

BearLeeAlive said:


> ........ In hind sight, I may have way too much space for bits,


- no such thing. You just have pre-planned storage for bits you haven't bought yet. 

- <swoon> a walnut cord reel ..... my router table is currently undergoing counseling for inadequacy issues. 

- beautiful job ! And, I agree, that's not shop cabinetry, that's furniture. 

- ebill


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Jim, excellent job on the table. Once again I am setting the record straight: Norm adapted the design for his table from a plan in Fine Woodworking Magazine. In fact a Canadian was mass producing the table 6 months before Norm built his. Here is a link to his site:
Best router table

The reason I feel this is important to share is I contacted the NYW and they claimed that Joe stole the idea from them when in fact Norm just worked off the same plan they did... after the fact. I just don't like people lying to me.


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## beer maker (Jul 20, 2010)

Very nice. I love the recessed dust collection ports to reduce space. Great idea.
It's almost to good looking to get dirty.

Mike


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## BearLeeAlive (Mar 22, 2010)

Thanks for the kind comments. 



Mike said:


> Jim, excellent job on the table. Once again I am setting the record straight: Norm adapted the design for his table from a plan in Fine Woodworking Magazine. In fact a Canadian was mass producing the table 6 months before Norm built his. Here is a link to his site:
> Best router table
> 
> The reason I feel this is important to share is I contacted the NYW and they claimed that Joe stole the idea from them when in fact Norm just worked off the same plan they did... after the fact. I just don't like people lying to me.


Interesting fact Mike, I never knew that.


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## schanc (Jul 14, 2010)

WOW that is beautiful! see woodworking IS an art.


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## BearLeeAlive (Mar 22, 2010)

Thanks Steve.


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## joeysjunk (Aug 5, 2010)

Nice work. I am just finishing up my table...can't wait!


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## Shopmania (Aug 19, 2010)

That is absolutely gorgeous!! I want to build something like that for my shop, I'm using a cheapie skil table for now. Love all the storage, and the finish is great! What type of lift do you have in there? I know you've got a pretty penny invested there!


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## BearLeeAlive (Mar 22, 2010)

Tim, so sorry for the late reply, I had not checked this thread in ages. The lift is a Bench Dog lift, one that is meant to work with the cast top.


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## Capecarver (Dec 26, 2010)

Hi Jim.
That is a well thought out and wonderfully executed project!

I have pretty much the same hardware as yours (in fact, I think _exactly_ the same), and I hope to get started on the cabinet over the next couple of weeks.

You've given me a lot of food for thought.
Thanks for sharing this!


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## robersonjr (Dec 5, 2009)

Very beautiful work Jim, something you can really be proud of.


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## jeeper (Jan 9, 2011)

That is absolutly gorgeous!! Being I am still a beginner with wood working. I can only dream of making my cabinet close to yours.. Very nice. I dont even know if I could use it being that nice. Great Job!!!!


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