Woodworkers treat their router table with respect. And there is a good reason for this, as such designs can improve productivity and workflow efficiency. Now it's not a problem to find suitable models tables for hand router, however, they are obscenely expensive. But making a milling machine with your own hands, without spending a lot of money on a branded table or buying a cheap Chinese equivalent and throwing money down the drain, is within the power of every business person. This requires an electric motor of suitable power, a guide structure and a table.
Purpose of the milling table
Working with a manual milling cutter involves performing operations to move the machine along a rigidly fixed surface of the workpiece being processed. This is not always convenient. And therefore, they often do the opposite: the router is permanently attached, and the workpiece moves. In this case, they are already talking about a design called a “milling table”, and not just about a “hand router” tool.
Milling tables quite often make it possible to achieve results that were previously only available to professional furniture workshops that had milling machines. With their help, cutting shaped holes, cutting grooves, making joints, processing and profiling edges, as well as cutting shaped holes is done accurately, easily and safely.
The big advantage of this design is that using a milling table for a manual router you can process various materials such as wood, chipboard, MDF, plastic, etc., in wooden parts make slots and grooves, connect parts on tongues and tenons, create decorative profiles and chamfer.
Milling table In addition, it can easily be used as a woodworking machine. All you need to do is secure the tool on a workbench or in an electric drill stand. It is not at all surprising that a large number of companies rushed to satisfy the indomitable appetite of woodworkers, producing a fairly wide range of milling tables, as well as accessories for them. Homemade milling tables, however, are sometimes not inferior to branded ones in terms of their own characteristics.
Milling table design
You can use the surface of a workbench to install a hand router, or you can make a separate table. The table has a rigid structure and is well stable, because the milling machine causes quite strong vibration during operation. You should also take into account that the router is attached to the bottom of the tabletop, and it is important that nothing interferes with it. Therefore, there are no additional elements in this part.
The mounting plate is used to attach the router to the table; it is made of durable and high-quality materials. For this purpose, textolite is used, a metal sheet or plywood. Usually exist on the sole itself threaded connections, for reliable fastening of plastic masonry.
A recess for the plate is present on top of the tabletop, so that the latter is recessed flush. The plate is attached to the countertop with self-tapping screws that have a countersunk head. To attach the sole, a hole is drilled, and the plate hole is duplicated in the tabletop. The router is attached to the table using countersunk screws. If there are no holes in the sole for attaching the plate, they can be drilled independently, and clamps can also be used.
There is a button attached to the table, which is used to conveniently turn on the router; it is also possible to install an emergency mushroom button for your safety. For more comfortable work and fixing larger workpieces, the table for a manual router can be equipped with upper clamping devices. Also, for ease of measurement, it is customary to attach a ruler.
Beginning of work
It is best to start the process of making a structure for a manual router by determining the location of the future table in the workshop. First of all, you should have a clear idea of what kind of milling table you need: a side extension of the saw table (aggregate), tabletop (portable) or separate (stationary).
If you have to work using a milling table only occasionally, or outside the workshop, you need to think about a portable option; it can be hung on the wall or removed to save space. If there is enough space, then maximum convenience will be provided by a free-standing milling table; it can be placed on wheels and then placed where it is convenient. A portable or free-standing router table can be set up to perform an operation and left for a while without interfering with other tools, devices and machines.
Possible as simple device build a low structure that can be placed on a regular table. You can take a sheet of chipboard and attach a guide to it. According to the drawings of the table for a manual router, it may be an ordinary piece of board that is not very thick. Next you need to secure it to the bolted connections.
To do this you need to take two clamps. Next you need to make a hole for the cutter. That's all. If a milling machine is your main tool, then you need to make a solid and convenient milling table, because you will have to spend a lot of time at it.
Bed and table top
The bed of any milling table is a stationary part, that is, it is a frame on supports that has a table top on top. What the frame is made of is not significant: welded steel structure, MDF, chipboard, wood. The main and main task is to ensure its stability and rigidity during operation. Also, the dimensions of the bed are not critical, and should be selected depending on the dimensions of the parts being processed.
To prevent the machine operator from tripping over parts of the structure, the lower part of the frame needs to be deepened (like the plinth of furniture) by 100-200 millimeters relative to the front overhang of the tabletop being used. For processing door overlays and the ends of facade blanks for the frame homemade table for a manual router, we can recommend the following dimensions in millimeters: height - 900, depth - 500, width - 1500.
An important parameter, perhaps, is the height; it should be in the range of 850-900 millimeters, since this height is optimal for working while standing. It is quite good when the bed has adjustable supports; with the help of such supports you can compensate for uneven floors, and also, if necessary, change the height of the table.
Inexpensive and good option countertops for a DIY router table is a regular kitchen countertop on based on chipboard 26 or 36 millimeters thick, which is covered with wear-resistant plastic. The workpiece glides well on the surface of hard plastic and is very convenient standard depth kitchen countertops are 600 mm long in use, and chipboard dampens vibrations quite well. For a countertop, in extreme cases, they are suitable MDF boards or laminated chipboard (chipboard) from 16 millimeters.
Table mounting plate
Due to the rather large thickness of the kitchen countertop (at least 26 millimeters), and in order to maintain the entire amplitude of the cutter's reach, the design of the router provides for the use of a mounting plate near the place where the base of the router is attached to the table. This part, despite its small thickness, is characterized by quite high strength.
The plate is often made of metal, but fiberglass (textolite) is still more convenient in processing and is not inferior in strength. The PCB mounting plate is a rectangular piece 4-8 millimeters thick, with a side of 150-300 millimeters, in which a hole is made in the center with the same diameter as the hole in the base of the router.
The base of the router usually has standard threaded holes that are intended for attaching a plastic cover. By means of them, they are attached to the mounting plate of the router. If suddenly there are no holes, you need to make these holes yourself, or secure the router in another way, for example, using metal clamps. To attach the plate to the tabletop, you need to drill four holes closer to the corners of the plate.
Milling table assembly
First of all, a tabletop is temporarily attached to the finished frame, as shown in the video about tables for a manual router. The mounting plate is placed on a pre-calibrated place on the tabletop, and its exact location is marked with a pencil along the contour. Using a hand router with a small cutter diameter of 6-10 millimeters, a seat is selected in the tabletop for the mounting plate, such that it lies flush, that is, ideally with the top surface of the tabletop.
We must also not forget that the seat of our plate will not have right corners, but rounded ones, which means that we will need to use a file to round the corners with the same radius of the textolite mounting plate. After the mounting plate has been attached, you need to use a router with a straight cutter thicker than the tabletop to make through milling of a hole in the tabletop according to the shape of the given router sole.
This operation does not require special precision. But you need to be prepared for additional material sampling from the bottom of the tabletop, for example, for a dust collector casing and various other devices.
Now everything remains to be connected together. We start the router from below, screwing it to the plate, and then use self-tapping screws to fasten the plate to the tabletop. We make sure that the caps of the fastening elements are recessed securely and that they should not cling to the workpiece when sliding it along the tabletop. Finally, we screw the tabletop to the frame.
Upper clamp
For additional safety and convenience, you can equip the structure, according to the drawings of the table for a manual router, with an upper clamping device made on the basis of a roller. This is especially necessary when working with large workpieces, for example, such as door trims. The design of the clamp is very simple.
A ball bearing of suitable dimensions, for example, can serve as a roller. The bearing is mounted in the holding device; it can be rigidly fixed from the surface of the tabletop at the required distance. This will ensure that the workpiece is constantly pressed tightly against the tabletop when passing under the roller of the workpiece.
Drive for a homemade machine
If you are planning to design a simple homemade milling machine, you should pay attention to the electric drive. An important factor is its power. For a machine with shallow sampling of wood pieces, a motor with a power of 500 watts may even be suitable. Still, such a machine will often stall, so it will not justify either the time or the money saved on the purchase of a low-power engine.
Thanks to observations, it is clear that the best option is a motor with a power of 1100 W or more. A 1-2 kilowatt motor will allow you to process wood as usual, as well as use any type of cutter. Electric motors, both stationary and drives, are suitable here hand power tools, such as hand cutters, drill, grinder.
Another important factor is turnover. The higher the number of revolutions, the more uniform and cleaner the cut will be. If the engine is designed for a regular household network of 220 volts, then there will be no problems with the connection. But now it’s three-phase asynchronous motor you need to connect according to a special scheme - star-delta, which guarantees the maximum possible output in this situation, as well as a smooth start. If you connect a three-phase electric motor to a single-phase network, the efficiency will be lost in the amount of 30 - 50%.
Security questions
After making a table for a manual router, you need to say in conclusion about the main thing, that is, about safety. We strongly recommend making a protective screen for the cutter similar to the samples for industrial milling tables. It is also necessary to equip the machine with the so-called “fungus”, that is, an emergency stop button, placing this button in an easily accessible place, and also to prevent accidental pressing of the start button.
After this, it is recommended to highlight working area, since around the cutter is the most dangerous place. It makes sense to think about an automatic or manual device for lowering and raising the router if you change the cutter reach height quite frequently. The design of a homemade milling machine can be improved over a long period of time, depending on the tasks being solved and the designer’s imagination.
Professional woodworkers treat their router table with great respect. And not by chance. After all, a convenient and properly arranged workbench is the key to high productivity and increased efficiency of the work process. On sale you can find models of tables for every taste, but often their cost is so high that not every craftsman can afford such a purchase.
However, everyone can make a suitable milling table on their own, adjusting it to their personal needs and habits. And it is not necessary to buy expensive branded products or their Chinese analogues. With a little work, you will not only save a lot, but most importantly, in the end you will get your own table, working at which you will be able to produce exactly the carpentry that you require faster and with much better quality.
The manufacturer cannot predict the needs of each potential buyer and builds basic capabilities into its products. You may simply never need many of them, and some that you need may not be included in the design of the table.
For self-made A milling table will not require anything fancy or too expensive. All you need is an electric motor, a guide structure and the table itself, a stable frame on which the equipment will be mounted and additional accessories. And, of course, your own drawing of a milling table.
Why do you need a milling machine and what is its purpose?
The principle of working with a hand-held milling tool is that the milling cutter moves along the surface of a securely fixed workpiece that needs to be processed in a certain way. The problem is that this is often not very convenient. Therefore, they resort to a trick: they attach the router itself and move the part. The resulting design is called a “milling table”.
With the help of milling tables you can special labor make shaped holes, cut grooves, securely connect parts, for example, drawer walls, etc., perform edge profiling and many other operations that are only available in specialized carpentry workshops that have milling machines.
Using milling tables for a manual router, you get the opportunity to process not only wooden products, but also chipboard, plastic, MDF, make joints on tenons and tongues, make grooves and splines, chamfer and decorate profiles.
In addition, milling tables can be used as woodworking machines. To do this, a tool is fixed in the drill stand or on a workbench - and the machine is ready. Therefore, many companies began to produce milling tables in a wide range with a lot of additional accessories for them. However, a competently made table for a router with your own hands is in no way inferior to branded ones, and sometimes even surpasses them.
How do milling tables work?
To work with a hand router on a table, you can use a regular workbench or build a special table. This table is distinguished by a rigid design with good stability. This is necessary given the strong vibrations caused by the operating router. Since the tool is attached from below, there should be nothing under the tabletop that interferes with the work. Only the router itself for the milling table and, if necessary, a lift device that provides precise and smooth adjustment of the lift of the cutter.
The router is attached to the table using a mounting plate. The material for it must be of high quality and durable. It is best to use textolite, metal or plywood. The plastic trim mounts on the router base usually have threaded connections that can be used to secure the router to the router table top. On the surface of the future table, you should select a groove for the mounting plate so that the base of the router is flush. The plate must be secured with self-tapping screws with countersunk heads so that they do not interfere with the future movement of the workpieces being processed.
The router itself is also attached to the table using countersunk screws, attaching it to the mounting plate. If there are no such holes in the base of the tool, you must drill them yourself. As an alternative, it is possible to use clamping devices if there is no desire to drill into the base of the router.
On the milling table, be sure to install a button to turn the router on and off. It is also highly advisable to equip the table with an emergency mushroom button for the safety of the person working at it. To ensure reliable fastening of the workpieces, clamping devices are installed. It is convenient to use a milling rotary table. To measure, a ruler is usually built into the surface of the table.
Types of milling tables
When starting to make a milling table, you should first of all decide on a place for it in your workshop. It depends on what features you plan to use. It may be a lateral extension sawing machine, that is, an aggregate table.
If you only plan to work on the router table occasionally and use it outside the workshop, build a portable table. It can always be removed or hung on the wall, thereby saving space.
If there is enough space in the workshop, then a stationary table for a milling machine will be most convenient. It can be equipped with wheels and moved as needed.
Both portable and stationary desks can be stowed away for periods of time, but still remain ready for specific tasks at all times. To do this, they are configured in advance.
Simple table design
If you want a device of a simple design, you can make it small height, then securing it on an ordinary table. To do this, take a sheet of chipboard and simple board, which should be fixed on the sheet as a guide. The board should be thin and fastened with bolts.
After this you need to make a hole for the cutter. In a simple version, you can leave it at that - the resulting design will allow you to perform simple milling operations. However, if you want to make a milling table for more thorough work, you will have to spend a little more time and effort.
Manufacturing of the bed
For any milling machine, the bed is its frame, onto which the tabletop is attached on top. The base can be made of any material, the main thing is that it is strong and stable. The size of the bed is selected individually, based on the dimensions of the parts that are planned to be processed on the machine.
When making a machine, it is advisable to make its lower part in such a way that the person standing in front of it does not rest his feet on the frame. To do this, the lowest part of the frame is deepened (like ordinary furniture) by about 10-20 centimeters.
If you plan to process door trims, then it would be appropriate to make a table 85-90 cm high, 50-55 cm deep and 150 cm wide.
For convenience when working while standing, the height of the table is taken to be about 85-90 cm. In this case, it is advisable to use adjustable supports in the table design, which allow you to level milling tables for a manual router in the presence of uneven floors or, if necessary, change the height.
Table top for a homemade table
Since the workpieces slide well on plastic, a good option will use a kitchen panel made of chipboard 26-26 cm thick as a tabletop for a milling table. Its depth of 60 cm will also be convenient for use, and chipboard material will perfectly dampen the vibrations produced by the router during operation.
As a last resort, when making milling machine tables, you can use laminated chipboards or MDF with a thickness of 1.6 cm.
Mounting plate
Because kitchen countertop It is quite thick; to maintain the amplitude of the cutter's reach, the router should be attached to the table using a mounting plate. Despite its small thickness, it is highly durable and will reliably hold the tool without losing the working stroke of the cutter.
Using a mounting plate made of textolite (fiberglass), you should cut out a rectangular blank 5-8 mm thick and sides from 15 to 30 cm. In the center of the plate, cut a hole corresponding to the hole in the base of the milling tool. The plate is attached to the surface of the table, and a router is installed on it.
Assembling the table for the router
After the frame is made, the tabletop is temporarily attached to it. A mounting plate is installed on a previously prepared place and its outline is traced with a pencil. Then, using a hand router with a cutter with a diameter of 5-9 mm, you should select a seat for it in the tabletop. The plate should fit flush into it and without distortion.
The corners of the seat must be rounded with a file. The same operation must be carried out with the mounting plate - process its corners with the same radius as in the seat.
After this, you should carry out through milling of the tabletop along the contours of the router sole. This does not require special precision, but you will probably still need to select additional material from the bottom of the tabletop for a dust collector and some other additional devices.
All that remains is to connect all the parts together. Having started the router from below, we fix it on the mounting plate, then we fasten the plate to the tabletop. We finally screw the tabletop to the frame.
We arrange the upper pressure
As additional measure For safety and convenience, the milling table is equipped with an upper clamp - a roller-based device made according to the drawings. This is especially true when working with door trims, as well as when making dimensional parts. The design of the upper clamp is simple.
A ball bearing of suitable size will perform the task of the roller. The bearing must be rigidly fixed at a certain distance from the tabletop so that it provides reliable clamping of the workpiece from above.
Milling machine drive
If your choice is to manufacture simple machine, pay attention to the electric motor for it. Power is the main factor of choice. If the tree sampling is planned to be shallow, then a power of 500 W will be enough for you. To ensure that the machine does not stop constantly and meets your expectations, choose a motor with a power of 1100 W or more. Such a drive will allow you not only to safely process any wood, but also to use various cutters.
A homemade milling table can be improved indefinitely, depending on your requirements and desires. But the most important thing is not to forget about safety and be sure to equip your machine with the means to ensure it.
The masters of the past produced decorative treatment wood by hand. We still admire their creations to this day. But it took years to learn fine woodworking, and not every apprentice was able to create a masterpiece that earned him the title of master. And raise money for tools and accessories for higher craftsmanship. What is still relevant today: sets of shaped planes, pieces of iron for them and cutters for manual finishing of the product will cost more than a good manual wood milling machine. Which will also shorten the learning process and increase labor productivity significantly. If you make a milling table for it with your own hands, then the quality of the products will become much more stable. True, the functionality of the router will be reduced (the number of types of work operations), but the remaining sections will not be so difficult to finish using the same router without a table or even manually, without the risk of “screwing up” the entire workpiece. This material will be about the essential aspects of making a milling table yourself.
Note: a masterpiece from the start technical term, denoting trial work that an apprentice applying for the title of master must do on his own. Since in the old workshops the corporate spirit and nepotism dominated everything and everyone, in order for a new apprentice to make his way into a master, he had to do something truly outstanding, even exceptional. This is where the use of the word “masterpiece” came from for a creation created during a creative surge.
Table or machine?
However, hand routers are not cheap tools. There seems to be no fundamental difference in the design of it and the milling head of a vertical milling machine. A motor suitable in power and speed for a homemade milling machine may be waiting in the closet for some use. So what is better to do for milling work on wood: the entire machine from scrap materials, or buy a manual router and a table for it?
Note: factory-made tables for hand-held milling machines are sold in the same way as drill stands that turn them into drilling or lathe machines.
It's about vibrations. The vibration of a machine with a workpiece is the worst enemy of cutting materials. In milling operations, the influence of vibration on the quality of processing is especially strong. If a drill or cutter (except for a chisel in a slotting machine) bites into the workpiece once and then moves through the material more or less smoothly, then the cutter hits the workpiece at least twice on each revolution. Shaped cutters with curved in 3 planes cutting edges reduce this drawback, but do not eliminate it completely - a cutter that does not hit the workpiece will not cut anything from it.
A homemade milling machine with a motor made from junk generally shakes as best it can. Vibration dampening measures available in the home workshop provide a quality of work more suitable for simple carpentry work. In manual wood milling machines, vibration damping is already provided structurally. Installing the router into the table further reduces the “shaking”, and the entire unit becomes suitable for fairly delicate carpentry work, incl. over the front parts of furniture, decorative parts and other important parts. So there is still a fundamental difference between a homemade milling machine and a table for an existing manual milling machine.
How does a milling table work?
The main differences between a milling table with a finished machine and homemade machine for the same purpose are:
- The table is made according to the design of a vertical milling machine with a bottom drive, while a homemade machine can be both vertical and horizontal. However, the latter does not provide any tangible advantages over the vertical one at home.
- The milling table can be easily equipped with a lift - a device for smoothly and possibly quickly adjusting the protrusion of the cutter above the work table.
- The workpiece stop system of a milling table can be improved compared to a home-made machine to improve the accuracy and cleanliness of processing.
- The table-mounted milling machine is reversibly modified (see below) so that it can be removed for manual work.
How a simple milling table for woodworking works is shown in Fig. Cabinet (bed) - any sufficiently strong and stable design, because The main vibration damping is carried out, except with the router itself, by the base plate. Therefore, the cabinet in this case is not actually a bed, because is simply a supporting structure.
On a simple table it is difficult to achieve high-quality processing of workpieces with a large width-to-height ratio. A completely flat board on an equally flat table suddenly, for no apparent reason, moves jerkily, the cut turns out to be uneven, or even the workpiece is bitten by the cutter. The reason is longitudinal, i.e. horizontally propagating elastic waves in the workpiece material. The comb vertical stop (see below) does not have time to absorb them, and antinodes (foci) of vibrations appear on the workpiece, spoiling the whole thing.
The horizontal stop is designed for such a situation, see next. rice. It is always performed with a comb, because is primarily a vibration absorber. For the same purpose, a second vertical comb stop is added.
In Fig. a table with 2-sided stops is shown, designed to feed the workpiece back and forth, see below. For a homemade table for ordinary carpentry work, it is better to make one-sided stops (see below): they are technologically simpler and can be made from ordinary hard, fine-grained wood (oak, beech, walnut). In any case, the most critical structural components of a homemade milling table are:
- Support (work table) and installation (mounting) plates;
- Stops – comb and blind (simple);
- Milling machine lift.
Plates
The base and mounting plates of a milling table are structurally identical to those of the same machine. An example of the design of a base plate for a milling table made of 2 layers of 19 mm plywood is shown in the figure:
Its main disadvantage is its high cost: birch plywood (bakelite is even better) of grade no lower than Ib. Meanwhile, having spent a little more time and labor on gluing a multilayer plywood “pie”, it, and even better quality, can be made, as for a milling machine, from cheap 4-mm construction (grade II) or packaging (non-grade) plywood. The required wear resistance and strength are ensured by impregnating the sheet with a water-polymer emulsion before cutting (a full-fledged substitute is the construction primer EKO Grunt), and vibration-absorbing properties by layers of PVA glue. Dried assembly (reinforced) PVA produces a viscous elastic film that perfectly damps vibrations, but even without that, the height space in which the elastic wave can gain strength is reduced by five.
Note: plywood is glued together from veneer sheets with cheap casein or similar synthetic glue, which has vibration-damping properties only to a small extent (its layer is hard and brittle). Plywood glued with PVA would be completely unprofitable.
The design of an installation unit with increased vibration damping for a milling table is shown in Fig. and exactly the same as for a milling machine ().
And the procedure for making the base plate is the same: a sheet of plywood is impregnated 2-3 times on each side, then cut out (immediately with cutouts for the router). It is better to make a car window round or with rounded corners. The bag is glued according to the glue instructions and dried for at least 2 days under dispersed pressure for approx. 100 kg/sq. m slabs; a very good load - stacks of books and/or magazine files.
Plate for the router and its modification
The installation (mounting) plate of the router is made of fiber-laminated vibration-absorbing thermosetting plastic: textolite, fiberglass. Massive thermoplastic materials - hardboard, etc. - are somewhat worse at absorbing vibration. Thermoplastic plastic may warp when heated during operation and the machine will lose accuracy. Massive (ebonite, bakelite) or layered thermosetting plastics (getinax) are unsuitable - they very soon delaminate and crack due to vibrations and heating.
How the machine is modified for installation in a milling table is shown in the figure:
The lock of the standard sliding work table (shown by the arrow on the left in the figure) is released (pressed out). The standard table is then removed and placed on compression springs (in the center) with a total force of approx. 1.5 car weight. The base of the standard table (shown by the arrow in the center) is removed, and a mounting plate is attached in its place (on the right in the figure). Restoring the machine for manual use is done in the reverse order.
Stops
Since a homemade milling table is capable of providing better accuracy and cleanliness of processing than the same machine, it is advisable to modify the stop system for it. Stops, as in the machine or in Fig. above with picture simple table, are suitable for the manufacture of non-facade (decorative) parts, because The straight L-shaped blind stop still strongly transmits vibrations back into the workpiece and makes it difficult to feed it (a workpiece made from ordinary industrial wood can jam).
Drawings of oblique comb and blind vertical stops for a homemade wood milling table are shown in Fig. Structurally, the comb stop for a table is somewhat different from that for a machine (all teeth are the same), because The whole unit doesn't shake as much anymore. Maple is one of the best vibration absorbers, but seasoned, without defects, knots, twists and cross-layers, commercial maple wood is an expensive and scarce material. It can be completely replaced by oak, beech, hornbeam, and walnut.
Note: An even better vibration damper is elm wood. But defect-free mature commercial elm is practically not available for general sale, because All of it goes into lasts for sewing expensive leather shoes and important machine parts.
The comb and blind stops are installed in pairs (the blind stop is the first along the workpiece), see the inset in the center in Fig. They are fixed with a locking block (stopper), highlighted in red in Fig. on right. However, placing a comb with a capercaillie before the cutter along the course of the workpiece when feeding it, as shown there, is still wrong: the main “shaking” occurs behind the cutter. But installing 2 pairs of comb-grouse, before and after the cutter, is not prohibited and is useful for processing accuracy.
Back and forth emphasis
Blanks from homogeneous materials High Quality(MDF, postforming for kitchen countertops, selected thin-grained wood) are often milled using the back-and-forth method: the part is pushed onto the cutter and immediately, without turning off the router, pulled back. The combination of up and down milling in one pass (see the article on the milling machine) gives the cleanest surface.
Note: parts milled back and forth are quite suitable for veneering and lamination.
However, it is impossible to place a pair of oblique combs turned in opposite directions for milling back and forth: the workpiece will jam on the incoming ridge. For back-and-forth milling, the workpiece is supported by pairs of vertical and horizontal straight combs (see figure above): their ridges (and grooves between them) are perpendicular work surface, and the working parts of the combs are trapezoidal in plan with bevels of 60 degrees from the perpendicular (30 degrees from the sole of the comb). Unfortunately, the choice of materials for making straight 2-sided combs yourself is limited: defect-free, seasoned commercial maple, elm, teak.
Note: On sale there are straight combs for wood routers, cast from polypropylene. I don’t know how they work, I haven’t tried them.
Elevator
The most simple designs elevators for a wood milling table - hard cam (pos. A in the figure) and wedge (pos. B).
Their common advantage is the ability to make the base plate folding for easy access to the router. But the overall huge drawback is instability; the machine slides down due to vibration. In fact, after 1.5-2 m of cutting, the elevator has to be reinstalled. A cam elevator, in addition, in terms of ease of use, is not much better than a homemade milling machine elevator that is adjustable with washers and rubber.
The optimal design of the milling machine elevator in the table is screw, see next. rice. If the lower flange nut is additionally secured with a locknut (or a self-tightening flange nut is installed), the cutter extension is held firmly. And it can be truly adjusted, literally while the workpiece is being processed.
Precision mini table
For artistic woodworking and/or facade carpentry, an indispensable thing is a milling and copying machine. It is possible to make it yourself, but it is quite difficult, and purchasing a factory made one only makes sense if there is a stable flow of orders for work of this type and solid skills in performing them.
However, shaped grooves in the front parts of furniture, milled in a straight line, can give an excellent aesthetic effect. Direct milling is widely used in the manufacture of furniture and decorative wood products in any style, see fig. It is carried out independently using low-power manual wood milling machines of high precision (on the right in the figure); installing a manual mini router in a table improves the quality of work and productivity in the same way as a “large” one.
Drawings of a mini wood milling table for a domestic manual milling machine are given below. rice. His distinctive features– cam side clamp of the workpiece and a vertical comb with wide teeth. The solution for working with high-quality materials is quite justified: small fine combs themselves “act” a little on the workpiece, which is minimized in this design.
What about the hood?
Milling wood produces many times more sawdust, shavings and wood dust than sawing operations. Dust spoils the precision of processing on the table and the health of its operator just like a dusty machine. Therefore, a milling table also requires a dust collector, a dust extractor and a dust collector; their design is the same for both the table and the machine, see respectively. article.
Do-it-yourself milling table for a manual router
One of the main assistants of a carpenter is a wood router. This hand tool is indispensable when wooden blank necessary:
- cut a groove;
- make a groove;
- make a tenon connection;
- process edges, etc.
However, when performing some carpentry work, it is not always convenient to use this tool due to the fact that you need to simultaneously hold the workpiece and operate the router. Therefore, many craftsmen resort to tricks by making a milling table for a hand router. With the help of a table, which is a reliable addition to a milling tool, you can end up with wooden elements that are in no way inferior in quality and precision to carpentry products made in professional furniture workshops on milling machines.
A homemade table for a manual router significantly increases the productivity of the tool and facilitates the work of processing wooden products. It is not difficult to make such equipment, and, in addition, unlike a standard milling table produced by various manufacturers, this table will have the dimensions, design and options chosen directly by the craftsman who makes it.
To perform any engineering work, and equipment manufacturing is one of these, it is necessary to draw up a sketch of the future machine. On it you need to indicate your vision of the project indicating the actual dimensions. Based on the sketch, you can easily select materials for the manufacture of the future structure, their quantity, determine the construction budget and stock up on the tools necessary for processing machine parts.
Option 1. Instructions for making a table for a manual router
Materials for making a milling table
To build a milling table you will need:
- 4 square bars;
- chipboard and plywood scraps, the dimensions of which are determined when constructing the table drawing;
- hardware (nuts, bolts, screws, hinges, etc.);
- jack;
- metallic profile;
- six-millimeter steel plate;
- aluminum guides;
- movable carriage-support (guide from the saw);
- manual frezer.
Drawing of a homemade milling table (option 1)
In any case, before you start making any such table, the drawing must be completed indicating all dimensions and determining the location of the working elements relative to each other.
Step by step assembly
Let us consider in detail each step in the manufacture and fastening of each element of a homemade milling table.
1st step. To make a stationary base for the table, you will need bars and chipboard cuttings, from which we twist the legs and further strengthen the rigidity with the help of horizontal connecting panels made of plywood. In the right side part we cut a hole for the start button, which will be connected to the hand router.
2nd step. The table top is made of chipboard. We make it liftable together with a router, for which we install hinges and make an additional support base from 15 mm plywood.
3rd step. To move the workpiece smoothly along the table, for example, to cut a groove in it, a moving carriage-stop is used. We cut a groove in the tabletop for the guides of the movable stop and install a metal profile into it. You can use a guide from an old saw as a stop carriage.
4th step. Longitudinal stop We also make it from chipboard and make it movable to adjust the gaps around the cutter. To ensure mobility, we cut perpendicular grooves in the upper part of the stop and fasten the stop to the tabletop with clamps. We cut a small groove in the middle to suck out chips and other milling waste.
5th step. From thin plywood we make a box with a hole for connecting a vacuum cleaner hose, which will remove dust and shavings formed during the milling process. We fasten the box behind the perpendicular stop.
6th step. We take a six-millimeter steel plate and screw it to the tabletop flush with the surface. During the fastening process, we make sure that its edges do not protrude above the tabletop, otherwise the parts being processed will cling to them. A manual router will be attached to the plate from below.
7th step. We attach the router by the aluminum base to the bottom of the plate using bolts, but do not forget to pre-drill holes for the bolts in the base. Attaching the hand tool to a removable plate rather than directly to the table saves routing depth and allows for easy cutter changes.
8th step. We are building a router lift. To do this, we use a car jack, which allows us to change the height of the cutter with maximum accuracy.
9th step. We remove the handles from the router and instead screw in aluminum guides, which we connect to the jack mechanism.
Design of a homemade milling table for a manual router
Before you start making a milling table, you need to accurately determine its design features. This article provides instructions on how to make a simple router table. For other first assembly options, see details below.
We check the reliability of fastening of all elements - and the milling table is ready with your own hands!
We offer several more models of wood milling machines made by yourself for your taste.
Option 2. Another milling table and other assembly features
We offer a table design for a router with a detailed analysis of its components.
Materials and tools.
In order to make a table for a manual router with your own hands, you will need the following materials:
- metal corner or pipe (for the frame);
- aluminum guide;
- axles for attaching the router;
- putty, primer and paint for metal;
- self-tapping screws; furniture bolts 6 x 60 mm;
- Hexagonal adjusting bolts with nuts – 4 pcs. ;
- Finnish moisture-resistant laminated plywood, 18 mm thick (you can use another material);
- boards or plywood scraps (for making a rip fence).
The following tools are also required:
- welding machine (for metal frame table);
- drill and drill bits;
- screwdriver;
- jigsaw;
- milling cutter;
- spatula, brushes, rags.
Basic drawings
Design features of the milling table
An existing workbench can be adapted for a milling machine. But it is more expedient, to eliminate the influence of strong vibration during operation of the cutter, to make a separate structure that ensures the stability of the table.
The main loads during equipment operation are transferred to the base. Therefore, the frame must be reliable and stable. The bed is understood as a fixed base on which the router is located. It takes all the loads and is a structure in the form of a table with a fixed lid. It can be made from a metal pipe, angle, channel, wood, chipboard.
It is necessary to take into account that the router itself is attached to the tabletop from below, which means that there needs to be empty space there.
The router is attached to the table through a high-strength and rigid plate for installation work. It is preferable to make it from metal, textolite or tongue and groove board.
The base of the router has threaded mounting holes for mounting. If there are no threaded holes, threading is done independently. If the task is impossible, secure the milling device using special clamps.
Start the work by using a milling cutter to select the shape and thickness of the mounting plate. To make it easier, straight corners on the mounting plate must be rounded with a file. A recess in the table top ensures that the plate is positioned flush with the table top.
Make a hole in the center of the plate for the tool to exit, drill holes for attaching the plate to the table. The next step is to drill holes for connection milling device, keep in mind that the fasteners must be countersunk.
How to make a work surface and base
Making the base of the future milling table begins with the frame. For ease of work, the table cover should protrude 100-200 mm from the front part. Special attention When designing the frame of the bed, pay attention to the installation height of the working surface. This size is decisive for the convenience of working at the machine. According to ergonomic requirements, it should be 850-900 mm, depending on the person’s height. For convenient operation of the future milling machine, you can install height adjusters at the bottom of the support. This will allow, if necessary, to change the height of the table; if the floor is uneven, it will help to align the tabletop.
A Soviet-era kitchen countertop will be useful as a working surface for the future machine. Most often it is made of 36 mm chipboard sheet covered with plastic. The wood-based material will reduce the vibrations that occur during the milling process, and the plastic coating will ensure excellent movement along the surface of the workpiece. If you don’t have an old countertop, use MDF or laminated chipboard with a thickness of at least 16 mm.
Choose a place for the future milling machine in your workshop; the dimensions and type of future design depend on this. This may be an aggregate machine located on the side circular saw, desktop version, or maybe a free-standing stationary machine.
If the use of a milling machine is not regular, reduced to one-time work from time to time, it is enough to make a small compact table.
You can make a milling machine yourself. It is a design that fits on a standard table. To work you will need a chipboard and two boards. Fasten two boards parallel to a sheet of chipboard. Attach one of them to the tabletop with bolts; it will serve as a guide and as a stop. Use the second one as a limiting stop. Cut a hole in the table top to accommodate the router. Attach the router to the table top using clamps. The compact milling machine is ready.
If your workshop has a lot free space, then make a full-fledged stationary milling machine. It will be more convenient to work on it than on the desktop version
Option 3. Cheap homemade router table
The sketch is ready. Materials have been purchased. The tool, laid out in its place in the workshop, is waiting for the moment to serve its owner. The master is also serious and is not going to grab everything at once. He will sort everything out and do everything step by step.
Start by making the frame of the future machine. You can use the following method for making a frame. profile pipe Using a grinder, cut the 25×25 to size, then weld the blanks intended for the frame on which the working surface will be located. Weld a pipe on one side along which it will subsequently move rip fence. Weld 4 supports to the frame.
To fix the table cover, frame the perimeter of the frame with a corner, then it will sit in the recess.
Use the second method of making a frame. It implies additional supports for the working surface. Weld stops for milling equipment in the middle of the table. The size between them should correspond to a convenient mounting of the router.
For structural stability, connect the lower supports with jumpers at a height of 200 mm from the floor.
Paint the resulting structure. Why prepare surfaces: clean metal pipes and degrease with solvent, then prime. If there is a need to putty surfaces, apply a special putty mixture and apply primer. After complete drying, paint with PF-115 enamel.
Cut the working surface to the internal size of the frame, install it tightly into the corners. Then drill holes in the upper frame for fastening the table cover. Mark the tabletop itself, drill and securely connect it to the frame using furniture bolts. Table dimensions 850×600×900.
Step back 200-250 mm from the edge and cut a T-shaped guide along the length of the working surface.
Trim half of the milling axes. This will make it possible to almost double the distance from the sole to the guide axis, which in turn will expand the range of capabilities of the tool.
Remove the sole from the milling equipment, mark holes in the middle of the working surface of the table for its fastening and drill them. Drill a hole in the middle of the table cover for the device. On both sides of it, drill holes for attaching the clamps of the router axes.
On the underside of the tabletop, make a hole for the base of the router.
On both sides of the hole drilled through the hole, make grooves for installing the router axes. The size of the groove and the axis must match.
Along the edges of the grooves, use a Faustner drill (picture above) to drill holes for the hexagon adjustment bolts.
Cut two pieces of pipe to fit the width of the large groove and drill holes in the center for the permanent bolts. They will serve as clamps for the axes of the milling device. Screw the nuts onto the bolts.
Install hexagon bolts and nuts on both sides of the axles to adjust the plane of the milling equipment.
Now make a rip fence. Take a small piece of plywood and cut a groove in it so that it can move along the pipe that was previously welded for this purpose. Using a jigsaw, cut three strips of identical size, where its length is equal to the sum of the length of the table and the width of the guide pipe, and four plates for them in the form of stiffeners.
On strip No. 1, make a semicircular hole to remove wood waste. It should coincide with the slot in the working surface of the table. In strip #2, cut a square hole in the same location.
Cut strip No. 3 of plywood into equal parts. Attach one to the back of the square hole strip with bolts or guides. The plywood halves should move in opposite directions. Install an aluminum guide along the upper edge of this strip.
Fasten plates No. 1 and No. 2 together with the sides with half holes. Fasten two stiffening ribs along the edge of the resulting hole and two on the sides at a distance of 70-100 mm from the edge.
Cut a square of plywood to the size of the distance between the ribs, cut a hole in it the diameter of the vacuum cleaner hose. Attach the square to the stiffeners.
Secure the rip fence with clamps. This is done to make it easier to move the stop. If it is intended only for a milling machine, then secure it with brackets with grooves for movement.
Weld a bolt to a 6 mm thick metal strip. Make the clamps from wood with two grooves for two bolts.
Install the milling equipment: insert the cut axles into the side holes of the device, put nuts on them and secure the device with pipe clamps.
Turn the table over and use the hex key to lift up the router.
To make it easier to lift the router, it is advisable to install a lift based on a jack.
Option 4. Milling machine based on a desk
A milling machine based on a desk is considered an economical and convenient solution. The list of photo drawings contains a table with specifications of parts by size and recommended material.
Part sizes and materials
How to make a mounting plate
Due to the thickness of the table cover, in order to maximize the output of the cutting tool, it is necessary to take a smaller thickness of the mounting plate. It follows from this that, with a small thickness, it should have sufficient strength.
The plate can be metal or textolite. These materials best meet the requirements of strength and rigidity. Optimal thickness the plates should be 6 mm. They make it rectangular shape, a hole is drilled in the middle of the part with a diameter corresponding to the hole on the base of the router. To increase the range of use of the tool, rings are used different diameters. There are holes in the plate for connecting to the router and attaching it to the tabletop.
The holes in the plate must match the location and size of the holes on the base of the router. To accurately mark the plate, you need to draw a sketch with dimensions or secure it on the table using clamps.
The nuances of assembling a milling table with your own hands
When assembling the milling device, secure a metal ruler at the ends of the width of the table top; this will make it possible to set the parallel fence to the correct size and strictly parallel.
On back side make samples of the table cover for subsequent installation of the dust collector casing, additional equipment. The drawings and photos provided will help you correctly manufacture all components.
To make it easier to turn on and safely turn off your DIY milling machine, install a mushroom-shaped start button and a stop button on the tabletop.
Option 5. Small benchtop router table
A small tabletop milling table and a detailed analysis of its manufacture are shown in the photo.
How to make a top clamp
To process large parts and create safe working conditions on the machine, the so-called top clamp is used. Its production is based on the use of a roller. Before constructing this device, develop a drawing of it.
The roller can be a ball bearing. Its installation is carried out on special device, making it possible to fix the workpiece at any distance from the working surface.
Milling machine drive power
As a drive for a milling machine, it is most advisable to use an electric motor with a power of 1.1-2 kW and a speed of 3000 per minute. When using a low-power electric motor, it will not be possible to use any cutter; the machine will not have enough power. If the speed is too low, a poor-quality cut will be obtained.
You have familiarized yourself with several options for solving the issue; how to get a milling table. Which one you like is your choice. We will be glad if we were able to help you
http://o-builder.ru
Using a router table, you can perform professional woodworking. Joints, end profiling, door and window frames, skirting boards, photo and painting frames are made neatly and conveniently on the table. A factory-made table can cost a pretty penny if its quality is dubious. Why not make it yourself? Moreover, the design is not at all complicated; further drawings will be analyzed in detail.
Main parts of the milling table
There are many options for milling tables. As a rule, craftsmen create unique drawings to suit their needs. But the basic design is the same regardless of the size of the machine. Here is a table 90 x 48 x 30 cm, the table top and supports are made of plywood No. 27, the legs of the workbench are welded from angle steel.
The main elements of a table for a manual router, the quality and design of which will determine the ease of use and functionality.
Table type
First you need to decide on the type of future machine:
- stationary;
- portable;
- aggregate.
If you plan to work on location, a drawing of a small portable structure will do. For constant work in the workshop, a reliable and powerful stationary table will be convenient. It can be installed on wheels and moved around the room. And for a small workshop, the modular option is good; it is an extension of the tabletop of the sawing machine or its rotary version.
Cover material
The most practical tabletops are made of chipboard covered with thin plastic or MDF with a melamine layer. This material is very easy to cut with a jigsaw, and it will last a long time.
Pressed countertops are not suitable for working in damp rooms or outdoors! To prevent them from swelling, all edges will have to be carefully processed and sealed.
Homemade countertops made from plastic sheets are very good. They are smooth, even, and easy to process. This machine can be used in any conditions.
Metal countertops are more difficult to make and are heavy. A aluminum sheets it is necessary to additionally clad - cover with a layer that prevents contamination of the parts.
Groove for stop
Typically, a milling table is used for processing longitudinal edges. To be able to process the transverse ends, when creating a homemade machine, you need to provide a movable stop that moves in the groove. The built-in groove is also used for attaching clamping devices.
Fixing the router
There are two options for attaching a manual router to the table:
- directly to the bottom surface of the tabletop;
- to the removable mounting platform.
When doing this, they often use the first method, as it is simpler. But the mounting plate equipment has several advantages in operation:
- frees up to 1 cm of the processing depth of the part;
- The router is easier to remove to replace cutters.
Therefore, we recommend that you tinker a little longer and equip the mounting plate. It must be flush with the surface of the countertop, otherwise the workpiece will touch the protrusions. Even more convenience is provided by a lift for the cutter, the design of which will be discussed in detail below.
Longitudinal stop
It serves as a guide for the part, so it must be level. You can make a stop with a T-slot into which clamping devices and other devices are inserted to make work easier.
Homemade table
The most primitive drawing of a homemade table for a router is an MDF table top, in which a hole is made for the router to pass through and a guide ruler is attached - an evenly planed board. This tabletop can be placed between two workbenches or installed on its own legs. Its advantages are the simplest and quickly manufactured design. Such a device is unlikely to allow you to carry out serious woodworking. Let's consider more functional options, including a rotary one.
Small router table
A tabletop model for a hand router, which you can make yourself in a few evenings. The design is light and mobile, fits on a shelf, takes up little space, and its drawings are simple.
- The working surface and side racks are made of thick laminated plywood No. 15. The size of the table top is 40 x 60 cm, the height without the corner stop is 35 cm, the height of the stop is 10 cm. Three grooves are selected in the surface of the work table for installing rails. Various auxiliary devices are installed here and moved along the tabletop.
- To make the structure stable, the legs are made of chipboard or MDF No. 22. The legs are placed with a slight indentation, leaving a little space for attaching templates and clamps using clamps.
- To cover the mechanism, a front panel made of plywood or chipboard is installed below.
- The side stop has grooves along which it moves. Stops in in the right place using bolts and wing nuts. The emphasis can be dismantled and any convenient device can be installed in the free space.
- A pipe is connected to the stop to remove chips that are released in abundance during operation. The chip drains of the router and the table are connected through plastic corrugations from the sewer siphons by a splitter for the water supply. A hose from a household vacuum cleaner is attached to a clamp. It turns out very efficient system removal of chips, they practically do not fly around the room.
- Since the machine is designed for a manual milling machine, a special on/off switch is not required.
- The stop consists of two parts, which are moved closer or further depending on the diameter of the working body. A wing nut is provided to secure the sash. The good thing about the proposed model is that the tool can be easily removed from the frame to replace the cutters.
- The mounting platform for the router is made of textolite or plexiglass. Pre-dismantled plastic platform from the router kit. The recesses for the mounting area are selected with a router, and the hole is cut with a jigsaw. When the hole is ready, the plexiglass is adjusted to its size and shape. It should fit tightly and without protrusions into the window.
You can make several mounting platforms same size with holes for different cutter diameters.
This option is convenient for small hand tools. If a stationary table is being made for a large router, insert rings for different cutter diameters are attached to one mounting platform.
To ensure that the workpiece moves smoothly, motion stoppers are installed on the side stop. Clamps are also attached to the side stop, which hold the part near the cutter during operation. Additional convenience is provided by the slide, along which the workpiece moves at a right angle. And to make the work safe, pushers are manufactured.
The table is ready for use, its drawback is the lack of adjustment of the processing depth. This is done manually by pressing on the tool. It is impossible to “get” to the desired depth the first time. Therefore, we recommend equipping the table with a lift.
You need to make a hole in the frame into which an adjusting bolt with a wing nut is inserted. The depth of milling is smoothly changed by twisting the lamb.
Some craftsmen adapt them to fit old car jacks. The device is attached under the router; a hole is made in the side wall to bring the jack handle out. The jack handle can be bent to the right angle, when rotating, the router smoothly moves up and down in 2 mm increments.
Another model of a homemade milling table for a router in the video:
