As a carpenter I think it would be too small, but as a woodworking hobbyist I have long wanted a router table that would make my work easier and increase the capacity of my small woodworking shop.
See all my articles on how to make a homemade > router table < or shaper.
Attaching the portable router machine to a table is not very difficult, we remove the plastic cover from the base and use it as a template to make the holes in the table top. We look for some long screws of the diameter of those used in the cover we just removed, cut them to the size we need and make a recess for the screw heads in the top of the board. Now all that remains is to make a hole in the center for the router cutter to pass through and screw the router machine to the board (be careful with the screws, the first ones I used turned out to be very soft and broke when tightened, remaining inside the base of the plunge router). The problem is to regulate the height of the plunge router, so first of all I wanted to have a lifting system ready. Next would be to make him the fender that will serve as my guide, but that will also be another entry.
At first I was going to mount the router on a 1 cm thick board like the one I used for the table saw, but since I wanted to make a recess for some adjustable inserts for the router bits and I also had to cut the holes for the screw heads, I would only have a few millimeters of board left between the screw heads and the router base and the board would probably end up breaking under the screw heads. I ended up using 16mm plywood board that I bought in pre-cut pieces (I didn’t want to pay for a whole board that would be too expensive and I found it pre-cut to a size that fits my table well). To get the table to fit evenly I had to remove the white board from the table saw area and put another 16mm plywood board in place.
The recess for the inserts was made by hand. It seems complicated to do if you do not have practice, but cutting before all the contour with a cutter and approaching little by little to the cut we will see how the wood jumps, so we avoid overdoing it. Then a few touches of chisel and sandpaper to adjust the insert and that’s it.
Those of you who have attached a router of this type under the table will know that another problem with a DIY router table is that the router bit chuck does not reach the height of the table. And if the bur to be used does not have a sufficiently long handle, we may find that we cannot bring it to the desired height. After some tests, it turns out that some of my cutters are too tight, so I’m going to attach a cutter holder extension chuck that will also make it easier to change the cutter. As soon as they send it to me I will show it to you.
