Fitting a router lift to a saw outfeed table

[9fingers]

For several years I've has a separate router table equipped with a Woodpecker Unilift. It has been fine until I needed to increase the size of the nearby saw outfeed table and space was just too tight.

The obvious answer was to inset the router in the outfeed table. Here is the table



X marks the spot for the centre of the router shaft. It is 370mm in from the front and 550mm to the left of the table saw. The router fence and saw fence will not get in each others way and is near enough to the front edge for comfortable working and in most cases the saw fence will not even need to be moved.

This is the template for the cutout for the through hole in the table.



First snag to be over come is that I've no clamps deep enough to secure the jig to the table. However there will also need to to be two grooves cut for the mechanism to secure the fence denoted by the two black lines.



I can screw into this zone as it will be cut away later.

Jig duly screwed down in four places and not going anywhere



For the first rough cut I used some thin spacer strips against the jig to cut a smaller aperture to start with.



As I sneak up on final size, the spacers are replaced with a steel rule around 0.75 mm thick.

Just as a check I put a witness marks in each corner to confirm the size of the cutout.



So far so good so I made a first pass just a few mm deep. X stayed nice and central.



It took a further three passes to plunge through the 40mm worktop. Then I gradually reduced the spacers to get final size with a light final cut.

The router plate sits on a 1/2" rebate with 3/4" radius (it's an American router plate hence the imperial dimensions) so I fitted a suitable bearing guided rebate cutter. I always like to take a fine cut on the final pass. To do this I wind a few turns of insulation tape round the bearing for the first cut and remove it for the final one.

The router plate has 8 levelling screws and I've found in the past that these gradually dig in to the rebate and especially with cr4p chipboard, this needs local reinforcement. I set in no 10 csk screws in the appropriate places to give a hard surface for the levelling screws to bear on.



Here is the router lift set in the table ready for levelling - after removing the jig.



Part 2 will be the fence holding slots.

Bob

 

[Peter Sefton]

That looks great Bob, I have been making MDF templates for the tool shop this week. For customers to use when dropping in standard American router plates in to home made router tables.
Look forward to part two the fence.

 

[9fingers]

Thanks Peter,

Your comment led me to look at your webpage for the template and it took me a while to interpret the picture and I think that it is upside down?

I then recalled that you had taken over the Woodpecker range from Roger Pheby(sp?) but I did not see any of the lifts on the website - are you reselling their lifts?

My fence is already made but I hope the new fixing to the table and the slot arrangement might prove interesting. I've actually routed the table slots but I still have to machine the parts - hopefully tomorrow.

Assuming everything works to plan, I can then write it up.

Bob

 

[Peter Sefton]

The image of the template only went on the website today, I will see if we can rotate it (may be it's a Dropbox issue )
We do supply the Incra Mast-R-Lift II and are expecting our largest Woodpecker delivery this week. We are working up our stock holding of these products but a lot of the American router lifts aren't designed to hold european routers. If we can resolve the router fixing issue we will stock them, we do get them in for customers as specials when requested.

We tend to mainly sell the Router Raizer which fits most standard routers.

I was having a good chat with Roger last week, it was our 1st anniversary of taking over Wood Workers Workshop he was just checking how we were looking after his baby!

Thanks for taking your time to take a look at the website.

Cheers Peter

 

[Woodbloke]

I did something very similar a couple of years ago but I installed the router lift into the rhs table of my saw. I used the UJK Technology Router Elevator from Axminster…no problems with fitting any European router - Rob

 

[Rod]

I use the RouterRaizer that I bought from Rodger a few yrs ago.
It works really well with my DW 625 and a much cheaper alternative than a Unilift.
Woodpecker stuff is great too - I use their plate, rings and top.

Rod

 

[9fingers]

The router I use in the table is a Flex which was the European badge for Porter Cable and so being an American design, fits the Woodpecker a treat. I did a private import with free carriage in someones luggage back when there were more than 2 USD to the pound which eased the financial pain a bit.
It is a beautifully engineered bit of kit and I've added a DRO. It is a pleasure to use.

Bob

 

[9fingers]

Ok here is part two.

To make the clamping slots, another jig was made along the lines of the other one.



This time there was no where I could hide screw holes so I started with a large enough piece of OSB that would reach to the edge of the table and I could clamp it firmly.

First a test cut for the first level. The slot has three levels to allow clearance for the clamp parts.



Here is to final three level slot. I've hatched the intermediate level to help it show up.



The top level is for a pair of 30 x 5mm steel bars arranged so the top is flush with the table.



and drilled, countersunk and screwed into the table with no 10 screws



Here's a section through the slot. The black areas are the two steel bars and the blue piece and the bolt are part of the clamp.



The blue "nut" is a bit like a tee nut but the ends are shaped so that when rotated byt 60 degrees can be lifted out of the slot.


Here are a couple of picture of the nut and stud in the slot in the two positions

Free to lift out:-


and rotated to lock in:-


The nut is attached to the underside of the fence base. Again two shots

In the lift out position, where loosening the bolt rotates the nut against the stop:-


and where it comes to rest as the bolt is tightened.


The method of use is to rotate the studs anti clockwise which will align the nuts against the stops. The fence can be lowered onto the two table slots. the simple act of rotating the studs clockwise will turn the nuts so they grip the two metal bars in each slot.

Another turn or so will clamp the fence tightly. The key to this clamp method is that it only pulls the fence down onto the bars and the fixing screws (into relatively weak chip board) are mainly in shear so unlikely to pull out.

The fence was made several years ago and just used F clamps to secure it. This was originally a temparary measure but proved quite satisfactory with a standalone table. However in this location, simple clamps cant be used.

Back of the fence with 100mm dust collection port.



The securing studs are temporary until I can get a couple of M10 knobs of the right length.

The front is pretty standard with two sliding sections, locked from the back that can be opened and closed according to the cutter size.






Thanks for reading

Bob

 

[Peter Sefton]

I use the RouterRaizer that I bought from Rodger a few yrs ago.
It works really well with my DW 625 and a much cheaper alternative than a Unilift.
Woodpecker stuff is great too - I use their plate, rings and top.

Rod

Rod I have two Router Raizers in my school workshop one on the Incra table fixed to my DW625 through and Incra magna lock plate with clean sweep rings.

The other is on my home made router table fixed to my old Elu 177E with no plate at all. Both work well and get a fair amount of use.

 

[Peter Sefton]

The router I use in the table is a Flex which was the European badge for Porter Cable and so being an American design, fits the Woodpecker a treat. I did a private import with free carriage in someones luggage back when there were more than 2 USD to the pound which eased the financial pain a bit.
It is a beautifully engineered bit of kit and I've added a DRO. It is a pleasure to use.

Bob

I had a chat to Garry this morning and we have chosen to go with the Incra version of the Woodpecker lift. The American guys all work very closely together and swap parts. Garry has got one of these for himself along with a 3 HP Porter Cable router. We may be able to supply these and Garry is planning to have a good play with his before we move forward. How have your dealt with the US/UK power issues Bob. Are you using a 110 transformer?
The kit is fantastic quality I may go for the same set up and replace my old home made jobby.

I forgot all about the upside down photo today maybe tomorrow!

Cheers Peter

 

[9fingers]

Hi Peter,
The flex branded router is 230v made for the European market so no issues there.




I do use 110v transformer for my thicknesser which is a ex site one.
With my interest nay obsession with inverters I'm fully conversant with using different voltages and number of phases with my standard domestic supply to the workshop.

Bob

 

[Peter Sefton]

Thanks Bob I am not sure if the Flex brand is still going? If so it may be an option for us.
I like the look of your router table and fence.
I posted the images of the Woodpecker using the Dropbox method mentioned the other day. Are the photos looking OK to you or are they making the page jump as the image uploads? It looks fine from my end.
Thanks Peter

 

[9fingers]

Thanks Bob I am not sure if the Flex brand is still going? If so it may be an option for us.
I like the look of your router table and fence.
I posted the images of the Woodpecker using the Dropbox method mentioned the other day. Are the photos looking OK to you or are they making the page jump as the image uploads? It looks fine from my end.
Thanks Peter

I think you may be correct. Flex are still making some specialist tools (but I can't remember what - concrete cutting maybe?) but they seem to have dropped the link between themselves and PC.
I think If I ever had problems with the Flex that I could not mend, I would either try PC as they may well make a 220v version for the higher power mains supply in the US, or scrap it.
I bought the Flex from Just abrasives a good few years ago.

Yes having dropbox pictures is making the loading of this thread jerky. I expect you are seeing no problems as the photos are stored in your cache.

The progress is such that I can see the messages come up "waiting for dropbox" in the status bar.


Cheers

Bob

 

[9fingers]

Final picture for the sake of completeness ( fence is on back to front to show the knobs)



The bodged pieces of M10 studding now replaced by nice star knobs from "sellerbible" on ebay - another of my favourite Hong Kong suppliers ( took 8 days) Just over a fiver for 5 pieces including postage!!

Job's a good-un!

Bob