A state-of-the-art shop essential
The Next Wave RS1000 is the centerpiece of this table’s tech, and it works with fixtures like JessEm’s Stock Guides (top). Other tech includes an iVac auto blast gate and Bora mobile base.
My former router table was, shall we say, the lowest of low-tech. It was a rickety, stamped steel bench-top model with an underpowered motor and a sad fence. In designing a new one, I wanted everything that garage sale find lacked: storage for bits, collets, and wrenches; enclosed dust collection; mobility; simple bit height adjustment; plenty of power; and a reliable fence and miter gauge. With that wish-list in mind, I pulled together what I view as the state of the art in router tech and incorporated it all into one cabinet.
The cabinet itself is made of oak plywood with a solid oak face frame and topped with a custom, laminated tabletop (see Working with Plastic Laminate). Spacious drawers on full-length slides provide plenty of storage for hand-held routers and their accoutrement, while bits and other accessories reside in either the pair of shallow tray-drawers or in the shelves behind the acrylic-paneled front doors. Everything is assembled with a combination of tongue and groove joinery and pocket screws. The high-tech part comes in the form of Next Wave’s computer-controlled fence (see the Tool Review) and the power-sensing blast gate for the dust hose. The entire unit sits atop a mobile base that allows me to wheel it effortlessly around my shop. Is all this tech necessary for every woodworker? Maybe not, but I’d bet at least some of it is on your wish-list too. For all the gadgets and gizmos I included, see the Buyers Guide, below. Then get to making your own router table wish-list.
Create the case
Cut the plywood case parts to size and groove the side panels to receive the bottom panel. Also groove the left side panel and center panel to receive the horizontal divider. Then cut the mating tongues on the bottom and horizontal divider. Cut two 2-1/2 × 26” plywood strips to use as spacers at the top of the case as you glue the sides to the bottom. Then recut the spacers to become the top supports and install the center panel and horizontal divider.
Get into the groove. Set a 1⁄4” dado blade to saw halfway through your plywood case sides. After cutting the grooves for the bottom panel, repeat the process to mill grooves in the left side and center panels for the horizontal divider, running the top edges of the panels against the fence.
Cut the tongues. Increase the width of the dado blade to 5⁄8” and lower the cutting height about 1⁄32” or so to ensure the tongues aren’t too long. With a tall auxiliary fence in place, run the pieces vertically past the blade to cut the tongues. Start cutting them too thick, then bump the fence in to fine-tune the fit.
Install the divider and shelf. After recutting the spacers, install the shelf and center panel, using pocket screws to secure the center panel to the case bottom and to attach the top supports flush with the panels’ top and side edges.
Make face frame and back
Fasten the parts of the face frame together with pocket screws. Then bore pocket screw holes into the case to attach the face frame and back panel. Attach the back panel and face frame to the cabinet so that they are flush along the right side of the cabinet; the back panel’s opposite edge and the wide face frame stile will extend past the case’s left panel to form the sides of the router bit case.
Make the drawers and doors
Size and laminate two thicknesses of MDF face to face for each of the tray-drawers. Drill them with a series of 1/4 and 1/2” holes for bit storage. Mill stock for the drawer boxes, then set up a 1/4” dado blade to cut the grooves for the drawer bottoms and the corner joints. Make the locking corner joints with a series of three cuts as shown. Then size the drawer bottoms and glue up the drawers.
Mill the door rails and stiles to size. Cut the bridle joints at the table saw using a tenoning jig (see OnlineEXTRAS for a shopmade tenoning jig). After cutting the tenons, reduce their width to match the 1-1/2” depth of the mortise by running them on edge across a dado. Then cut a groove centered on the length of the rails and stiles to receive the acrylic panel. Cut the panels to size at the table saw and assemble the doors around their panels, putting glue on the tenons but leaving the panels to float.
Dado the drawer ends. Adjust the height of a 1⁄4”-wide dado blade to match the drawer side thickness and set a tall auxiliary fence precisely 1⁄4” from the blade. Hold the drawer end vertically with its inside face against the fence as you guide it through the cut with a notched push block.
Dado the drawer sides. Without moving the fence, reduce the blade height to 1⁄4”. Dado each end of the drawer sides, registering their ends against the fence and pushing them with the miter gauge.
Trim to form tongue. Replace the dado blade with a finish blade and trim the inner ends of each drawer end so the resulting tongue fits in the dadoes cut in the drawer side.
Draw up the drawers. Dry fit the drawers to make sure they go together right. Then apply glue to the joints, slide the bottom into its grooves, clamp, and check for square.
Mortise the stiles. With a 1⁄4”-wide dado blade raised to 11⁄2”, guide the stiles vertically past the blade while clamped to a tenoning jig. Cut both ends of each stile with the same face against the jig.
Cut the tenon shoulders. Cut the tenon shoulders on the ends of the rails using a miter gauge. Register the pieces against a standoff block clamped to the rip fence to position the cuts. Make the cheek cuts similar to how you cut the mortises.
Cut the grooves. After reducing the width of the tenons, mill a 1⁄8”-wide, 1⁄4”-deep groove centered on the inner edge of the rails and stiles. Adjust the fence slightly to widen the groove if needed to fit your acrylic panel.
Install the shelves, drawers and doors
Install the case bottom and case divider with pocket screws. Then drill a series of 1/4” and 1/2” holes in the bit shelves and pocket screw them in place on the wide side of the case. Hang the doors on the front and side of the cabinet. Install the drawer slides where shown below. With the drawers and bit trays in place, size and attach their faces. The bottom edge of the two lowest drawers sit flush with the face frame’s inner edge to give clearance to the mobile base. Screw the fronts onto the drawers, and use pocket screws to attach the fronts to the bit trays. Finally, add a coat of finish (I used General Finishes new Hard Wax Oil) and install hardware on the drawers and doors.
Drill for cup hinges. Bore 13⁄8”-dia. holes 1⁄2” deep into the doors to receive the European-style cup hinges, locating the holes according to the hinge instructions. Predrill for the mounting screws, then attach the hinges.
Hang the doors. Predrill then screw the hinges in place. The smallest door’s hinges mount to the face frame, while the two cabinet doors mount to the case (even though they use face frame hinges – see Buyers Guide below).
Install the drawer slides. Position the slides inside the case by cutting a scrap of plywood to use as a spacer. Start with the top drawer slides, then cut the spacer down for subsequent drawers.
Install the goodies
Make your own top by screwing together a double-thickness of MDF and laminating both faces and all four edges (see Working with Plastic Laminate). Then cut a hole through the top appropriate to your router lift mechanism or mounting plate. Flush the table’s back edge to the right side of the cabinet and leave 1-1/2” overhangs on the cabinet’s front and back. Drive screws up through the top supports to hold the top in place.
Install and level the router lift, then attach the fence unit as shown. Note, if you don’t want to splurge on the high-tech fence, there are plans for a shop-made one on our website, see Online Extras. Finally, drill for appropriate dust collection hardware and install a power strip to power the router, lift, blast gate, and any other high-tech accessories you’ve included from your wish-list.
Up top. Install corner plate levelers to support the router lift plate. The Next Wave unit I installed included a set of Kreg levelers (also available separately). Alternatively, you could simply rabbet around the opening and shim the plate as needed.
Good fences. Locate and attach the fence unit. The custom table top, about 8” deeper than many commercial router tables, makes full use of the Next Wave fence’s capacity while providing plenty of space for drawers beneath. It does, however, necessitate routing a couple of relief channels for bolts that stand proud of the unit’s bottom surface.
Collecting dust. Bore a 4”-dia. hole through the router cabinet’s back just above the horizontal divider. Install a blast gate to receive dust a collection hose – this iVac unit can be set up to open automatically when the router powers on.