How to Build a Router Table Build with Bit Storage

Video Statistics and Information

Video
Captions Word Cloud
Reddit Comments
Captions
- Hey, I'm Matt. Today I wanna show you how to build this router table that's mobile, has tons of storage, and is just flat out awesome. Let me show you how I did it. First thing you wanna do is cut out the top that you're gonna be using, because you're gonna glue two pieces of MDF together. You want this glue to have time to dry. I use a ton of this glue and I'm using Titebond III for this. I decided to put down some paper to protect the work bench, because I figured it would drip off the sides like that. (upbeat music) I coated the entire surface, then laid the other piece up there. And then I'll weighted it down with my weights or whatever you got. Just put a lot of weight on there, so that it compresses everything together. You see I got a lot of glue squeeze-out here and it's exactly what I wanted. I'm gonna let that dry for several hours. The build plans for this project, including all the cut lists, easy to follow step-by-step instructions linked in the description below. Next thing we do is take my circular saw with this awesome little fence square that Tate Tools sells. I'll drop a link in the description. You're able to use your (mumbling) square just to cut a straight line. And that's what I did breaking down this plywood into smaller pieces so I could get it on the table saw. Once I got the plywood into manageable sizes, I cut all the pieces I was gonna need for the cabinet. Then I realized that I was out of space here. I couldn't fit between the plywood and the garage door. So I moved the saw around to give me some more space and that's why I love that mobile based on that saw. I was able to finish the cuts on that side of the table. Then I broke out my Massca M2 pocket hole jig. It's pocket hole time. Make sure to set that bit for 3/4 inch stock. Set the Massca M2 jig at 3/4 of an inch and drill pocket holes. Pocket hole joinery is extremely strong, especially for cabinet work like this it'll work perfect and it'll last a very long time. Then I sanded it to 120 grit just to knock the rough edges off everything. Now it's time to start assembling the frame. Just put a little glue on each edge where it's gonna be assembled. It will stay right there, right? It'll be fine, it'll be fine. Oh. I used these clamps to help hold everything in place while I was able to drive the pocket screws and I'm using an inch and 1/4 pocket hole screws here. This is the bottom that you're seeing here. I'm just using the mallet to flush everything up, make sure everything is nice and flush. Tighten those clamps down, then you can drive the screws without anything moving on you. Once that done, I started working on the top. These are just braces that's gonna go on each edge of the top. That way it leaves the center open for your router to live. Next, I inserted the center shelf. And I used my uprights that will be used later as spacers. Same thing here, just a little bit of glue, slide it into place, use pocket hole screws to attach it. Going up. Then I unboxed this Bosch router, so I could make sure everything was gonna fit correctly. I'll drop a link to this router and all the tools and supplies used in this build in the description below. Next thing I did was cut the back out of 1/4 inch plywood. I cut it to fit. Then I just used glue on everywhere it was gonna be touching the back. Set it in place. And then I use 18 gauge brad nails to nail it in place. This gives a cabinet a lot of strength. And then I decided to put a center divider in on the bottom, because I didn't want two large drawers on the bottom, I wanted four equal sides, so that's what I did. Next, started cutting out the drawer pieces. And you just cut a lot of plywood here, because you're gonna need a lot of drawer pieces. Everybody always asks how I keep my shop so clean. Well, it's regularly cleaning it. I'm always vacuuming up the dust as I go. Then I cut the drawer pieces to length. I have a detailed video on how to build drawers linked in the description below. But here I'm gonna be setting my cut depth at 1/4 of an inch, and then also 1/4 inch away from the saw blade. Then I'll make these dados in there, move the fence over, make another dado until that 1/4 inch plywood fits in the bottom. Now I'm just using 1/4 inch plywood for the bottom of the drawers, then I sand everything to 120 grit. These are the slide-out trays. I'm just using glue and brad nails to attach them. The glue will be plenty strong for these trays. And for each end of the tray I use these little pieces with 30 degree dog ears on. And I had one that didn't go all the way, so I had to hammer it in. Now it's time to assemble all the drawers. So I've got about six hours in this build so far. This is how far I was able to get. I got four drawers built and I got the carcass built. And then I just used the planer to mill these down to the same thickness. Now set my table saw fence the exact distance away from the blade as a piece of the plywood. That way when I cut this piece it'll be the exact thickness of the plywood. We can put that on the plywood edge. Now, I just used glue and pin nails here. So having a pin nailer like this is perfect for this situation, because you can barely see those pin nails. And if I don't show them to you, you'd never see them. That just holds everything in place while the glue dries. I used face clamps to hold everything flush while I pin nailed it into place. And I just sanded everything to 120 grit. After sanding, I got this little handy dandy dude here. It accepts any hook and loop five inch disc. It fits perfectly on there. And then I just hand-sanded everything 220 grit. I'm gonna approach it a little different this time. On the workbench I used some Kreg drawer slide jigs. They work perfectly fine, I like them. But I see a lot of people doing this spacer method and I'm going with that, I think it will be faster. This video is brought to you by 731woodworks.com. Go check out our online store where we have full build plans for this project that includes the cut list and easy to follow step-by-step instructions on how to build it. Also available are the digital files for these insert trays if you have a CNC. And if you don't have a CNC, I'll have these physical trays available for you to purchase that'll fit inside this router table. On the top two slide-out trays I put the door slides on the same side. That way I would just have a tray with an open face towards me, like that. Timber. That's heavy. Heavy, heavy, heavy. Next time I installed the casters. I just cut a block of plywood and then glue and brad nailed it in place. Then I screwed the casters into that block. I put the two locking casters on the front. Then I used this old trick with the painter's tape to keep the plywood base from splintering, but this is gonna be the drawer faces. Then I just cut the drawer faces to size with the miter saw and then ripped them to the width on the table saw. Now it's time to work on the top. So I unstacked all these weights and then I started cutting it down to size. I want my tabletop to be 24 by 36 inches after the edge banding's on. And disaster strikes in 3, 2, 1. Oh no. Cut it too narrow. Dang it, who's gonna see that? Everybody. Dang it, shoot. Adapt and overcome, people. Next I secured the top on with screws from underneath. And then I worked on the edge banding around the top. Now, again, I'm just using walnut. This is 3/4 inch stock and I just attached with glue and brad nails. So in my haste to put this thing together I actually cut this too narrow and I don't wanna have to glue it back up on another piece. So what I did was just ripped this to the same thickness as that and then we're gonna put, I was gonna put this on the back anyway, but it's just not gonna have as much overhang. The plans will not have this, so you ain't gotta worry about that. I'm a big dummy and messed it up, so there we have it. Then I gave everything a light sand. Now for the power switch. I got this on Amazon, I'll link it in the description. I went ahead and mounted a block of walnut, so I could have a place to screw this too. I'll deal with the wires later. So the most challenging part and what I was most apprehensive about was actually mounting this plate. And I just centered it up, drew around it. I took a forstner bit and made some starter holes. And then I used the jigsaw to cut it out the inside. Be careful that you leave enough space. You're gonna route a recess on the outer edges, so that the router plate has somewhere to sit. I'm just making sure that it fits. I measure over an inch and 3/4, because that's the distance from my bit until the edge of my router. Use double stick tape and kind of made me a template. Then I used the router lift itself to set the depth of the bit. Then slow goes it. I used a block of wood to keep me from going too far, so that I didn't get too close to that edge, because I wanted to make sure and get that radius just right. I just took my time here. This actually took quite a bit of time and I just kept routing and routing and routing until I got most of the material gone. And I found a forstner bit that was the exact radius of my router lift. And so the piece that was left, I took the forstner bit and drilled down until I got to the same depth as of what the router had routed out. Then I took a chisel and straighten everything up, as well as sandpaper. This took quite a while, because I just kind of worked my way 'til it actually fit. Next thing to do was route the grooves for the T-track. I used my Kreg set up box here and set the depth at 3/8 of an inch. And then also use some sacrificial blocks on each side, so that it doesn't tear out your wood. Because if you don't, you'll get tear-out. That's what that block is there for, just like that. Once that was done, I made sure everything was gonna fit and then I cleaned up all the routing dust. Use a 1/8 inch roundover bit just to kind of knock the edge off of everything on the top. Then I used shellac on the top. This is supposed to seal this MDF and it actually worked extremely well. I put three coats of shellac and I sanded 120 grit between each coat. This dries really fast, less than an hour and then each coat is dry. I actually put shellac on everything, although I would live to regret this. So full disclosure, I put on that amber colored shellac. And while it worked phenomenal up here on the top, it sealed it, it's slick as owl snot. You hear me, it's just. The color come out amber and I hate it. I hate the way this looks. It looks like it belongs in 1980 something. So I'm gonna sand this back off as much as I can without trying to get into the veneer and try to take away some of that ugly. After the final coat was dry and sanded, I used a coat of Odie's Oil to really slick this thing up. Then I buffed it off with a clean rag. Cut the T-track with your miter saw. It's aluminum, it'll cut. I don't like it, but you can do it. Then I just took a sander and kind of rounded over the edges, so that I didn't cut myself on the ends. I used a little CA glue and screws to attach it to the table. Then I mounted my drawer pulls and inserted all the drawers and mounted the door. Then I mounted the router into the lift, put it in place, and used a little Outlaw English to make sure it's set just right. Then I routed those cables with some cable ties, drill a hole in the back for the power to come through. I got help. Help is here. Power on. I got this fence from tatetools.com. I think it runs about $100. I'll drop a link in the description. This is actually a really good fence for the money. You can actually have an offset fence on each side. It's got a bit guard, dust collection, the whole nine. Next it was time to organize the routers and everything into the router table. So I just use a forstner bit and drilled the hole, then stuck a rare earth magnet in there with CA glue. So now my adjustment wrench has a place to be vertical out of the way and it's quick and easy access. I've been very apprehensive about starting this project, because I was nervous and fear was stopping me from starting. And that's a big problem with a lot of people, myself included. But once I started, I just figured it out as I went and it come out fantastic. And I'm extremely proud and happy to have this in the shop now. So a couple of things that I would change if I had to do this again. Number one would be the shellac. While it sealed the MDF great. And this thing is, it's slick as owl snot. It is smooth, it doesn't catch. That's what I was worried about with the MDF, that it would be kind of rough, stuff wouldn't slide on it. I'm telling you it is slick. Now I did sand it to 800 grit sandpaper, so I could get it really smooth. I would try to probably figure out a better way to cut this insert out, so that it fits extremely perfect. It's really close, really close, but it's not perfect fit. Without a proper template it would be hard for me to get it perfect, so I'm happy with it. It'll fill up with sawdust and be just fine. I'm gonna add a four inch dust portal in the back when my dust collection gets here. Until then I'm just gonna cut a two inch hole, so that there, or 2 1/4, so the shop vac can fit in there. And a quick reminder, we've got build plans available for this project if you're interested, as well as several other projects on the online store, 731woodworks.com/store. And those organization trays, which makes this a fantastic router table, will be available for you either as a digital file or a physical product if you want to buy them and put them in your router table if you build this one. A huge shout out and thank you to Mr. Mark Puente, who owns Work in the Grain Hardwoods where I buy all my hardwood from. He donated the Kreg precision router lift, as well as the Bosch router to go inside this cabinet for me to build this router table for the channel. So thank you, Mark. I sanded everything but the back, it's still got that 1980s yellow to match the top. If you liked this video, click that box right there to check out this ultimate workbench build. It has a YouTube silver play button embedded in epoxy. I think you'll like it. It has a lot of storage, T-tracks, it's just an awesome workbench I use all the time. If you have to click that box you get that big old virtual fist pump. Also another one of my favorite videos right there.
Info
Channel: 731 Woodworks
Views: 220,990
Rating: undefined out of 5
Keywords: how to build a router table, diy router cabinet, diy router table build, router table cabinet with storage, diy router table top, mobile router table, make a router table, homemade router table, build your own router table, woodworking router table, woodworking project, rolling router table, diy router table, how to make a router table
Id: Re_YJ9qE9KA
Channel Id: undefined
Length: 19min 3sec (1143 seconds)
Published: Sun Oct 10 2021
Related Videos
Note
Please note that this website is currently a work in progress! Lots of interesting data and statistics to come.