# Portable Router Table



## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I put this thread in the Router Table sub forum but it could almost as easily go into the Portable Routing one. My son hasn't owned a router yet although he is familiar with using mine as far as cutting holes out of speaker boxes go. I recently inherited an old Craftsman that had barely been used and that I didn't need from my father-in-law. My son also doesn't have a router table or the room for one but I thought that if he had one he might learn to use it, but that isn't a for sure thing. So if I made him a router table there would be no point in spending much on it or making it sophisticated. And it had to take up very little room as he only has a small shed in his back yard to store things in.

We often see on the forum new members who need a router table but have no room for a cabinet style, more or less stationary type table and are looking for space saver ideas so I did this project with that in mind. The construction method is simple and the finished table only takes up a space about 7-8" thick when folded. This table would also make a good jobsite table too for a contractor.

The basic idea revolved around using folding table legs. As I said, there was no point in spending much on the table as I don't know if or how much he'll use it. Here is a list of the materials. The top is from a dining table that was headed for the dump. The frame under it is built from old 5/8" T&G fir plywood that was under my hot tub for about 7-8 years. The legs also belonged to the in-laws. I have no idea what they had planned for them. The cleats are from pieces of 2x4 laying around and taking up room. The plexiglass also came from the in-laws. Once again, no idea why. Lots of screws. No nails, no biscuits, no dowels, no mortise and tenon. Just cleats and screws.

The section of table top was still nice and flat so I laid it down on a flat work surface and assembled the support frame on top of it. The frames is 4" wide strips of the fir T&G. The joints are held together with cross-drilled cleats and screws into each member as the photo below shows. 2 screws one way, 2 the other with some glue on each side of the cleat for good measure. This is a very strong joint and has a number of different applications. The cleats are drilled with 3/16" holes so that the screws don't bridge across the gap between the cleats and the frame members but it's a good idea to clamp them in place before you start driving screws. If you have a brad nailer then gluing, clamping, and nailing is faster and cheaper but this project was done on the assumption that you don't have one. By the way, a ratcheting screw driver is a good investment for this as it is the easiest way to drive screws in tight places. They are only about $10-12.

There is a longer cleat on the outside of each end of the frame, under the table edges. This helps attach the frame to the top and provides an edge to clamp the fence to. There are cross members on the frame very close to the insert plate opening to support that part of the table. The rest of the frame is also cleated and cross screwed from frame to top. I was going to glue the frame to the top but I changed my mind at the last minute. There are more than enough screws holding one to the other and the frame could be used under another top if needed. Since all the force on a router table is down and sideways it won't make a difference structurally.

The fence is very basic. It gets clamped to the table top. The area behind where the bit will be is boxed in and a hole drilled in the back for a small shop vac. It is also a 4" strip of the fir plywood.

When making the insert plate I thought that it would be good if it could be made more versatile. So I decided to mount the router offset to one end so that it could also be used as an offset base when hand held routing. The handle in the photo is off an old drill. The hole was threaded with a standard plug tap. The insert fits both directions in the table recess. That gives 4 possible routing orientations because you can stand on either side of the table to use it.

Folding table legs can fold up while you are using them so I drilled a small hole through the overlap on both set of legs so that the hooks on a bungee cord could pin them into the open position and prevent that from happening. The legs mounted to 2x4s added to the bottom of the frame. This is primarily because I forgot to plan properly but it also raised the table to about 34 1/2" high which is about the minimum comfortable working height for my son as he is close to 6'. Like Pat Warner says, "Even monkeys fall from trees sometimes". 
I had planned to fill the opening with a panel when the router isn't need, then it could double for a work table but I ran out of time so that will have to wait. The photos show some of the details of the build and the finished table in the back of my son's truck headed for it's new home.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

A few pictures didn't load on the first try. The cleat joining system, the bungee cord safety system, and the folded legs.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Good job Charles. that is more elaborate than the first one I had.LOL.

Herb


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Herb Stoops said:


> Good job Charles. that is more elaborate than the first one I had.LOL.
> 
> Herb


X2 . My first one was a hole in my table saw extension with a pc690 bolted underneith .
Charles your pictures demonstrate how easy one can be created from materials that would have otherwise been discarded , nice work


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## mbar57 (Apr 20, 2015)

Well done Charles, your son will be able to learn a great deal with that.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Thanks guys. Besides giving my son a table that might help get him interested in woodworking I wanted to show that 
1. it isn't that hard to build a working table and 
2. that it doesn't have to cost much. I have about $5 tied up in that one. Mostly because of all the screws.

It seems that most newcomers have a hard time believing that it can be that cheap and that easy to get a working table. Most of us older woodworkers know that from experience because as was said we had to throw something together in a hurry so we could get going.


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## TwoSkies57 (Feb 23, 2009)

Excellent job Charles... a fine job of demonstrating how a functional table can be made relatively easily and with common materials.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Thanks Bill.


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## ksidwy (Jul 13, 2013)

As usual simple ideas end up in great solutions! congrats Charles!
Sid


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## BernieW (Sep 12, 2006)

Great project Charles. I like it and got some good idea's.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Thanks Bernie and Sid. My favorite inspiration in this build was offsetting the router on the homemade plate so that it could be used as an offset base. I think my son will probably get more use out of that than he will the table.


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## reverendmitch (Oct 3, 2015)

Thanks for directing me to this post, Charles. Definitely got me thinking...


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## GusGustin (Sep 9, 2018)

That's pretty cool ..


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Gus I see you have been looking at tables that don't require much space so I'll let you know about another option. It's in the archives somewhere, I'm just not sure where to look for it. One or two other members who were challenged for space made a table out of a piece of panel board and a Workmate. They opened the Workmate up when needed and the router would fit between the two sides of it. They put cleats on the underside of the panel board so that they contacted all four sides of the Workmate when it was fully opened up. That keeps the panel from sliding around. You don't need a thick panel for this, you could just mount a router to the bottom of it but as you can see from this thread that there are advantages to having it on a removable plate. When the router isn't needed the panel comes off and stores against a wall and so will the workmate if you don't need it for some other job.


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## JOAT (Apr 9, 2010)

Looks tons nicer than mine, and mine works well for me, so he should have no problems with that one. I think I have a max of about $2 in mine, that's for the bolts in it.


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## GusGustin (Sep 9, 2018)

Thanks Chuck! I just got some great ideas after reading this thread! I have access to some of those folding tables with the legs you're using .. I see this table in my future !
I put up a post of stuff I'm looking for this morning on a sale page I run with 30-40K members in it. Hopefully I will get something out of there.
Looking to set up my garage - in my granny unit - as a wood shop. Just got rid of my two kayacks - have one left, so I have some room in there.

At 66 - this looks like it will be some fun for me and the grand kids - and - something that will keep them remembering Papa for years to come.

Thanks for the info - and - I did look at that workmate table. That got me thinking again! Man that hurts. This thinking is hard work. So .. I'll be using an old kitchen roll around butcher block I kept - and - that's gonna make a dandy little table for ... something .. It's got drawers in it, too, but, I 'll have to rebuild those.

Thanks again!


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