My home made router table attachment for my table saw.
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Building the table

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for more.

Allignment and better access for attachment bolts

Well I was going to work on the fence attachment today, but I ran into something that I felt I had to address immediately.
The router table attachment was a tiny bit high when compared to the top of the table saw. To fix this I had to remove
the router table and remove the steel edge piece to drill larger holes for the attachment bolts. This would give me a bit
more play and allow me to adjust how the two tables meet.
I also had a devil of a time putting in the bolts that held them together. I was only able to get 1/8th turn at a time. So
while it was apart, I also routed the bolt access clearance holes a bit bigger. The goal was to be able to use a socket,
swivel and ratchet rather than an open-end wrench.
The images below show this being done as images of drilling holes were just a bit too boring, (no pun intended).

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Building the fence

I did some tinkering with a foot switch, prompted by some ideas posted in Router Fourms .com and would have
posted some pictures here. But it's cobbled together right now and not so very photogenic. So I'll continue on with
my fence adaption to the table saw fence for now.

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024
To make my fence, I'm working with what I have on-hand. That being some 1x12 salvaged
shelving, free stuff. The shelving stock was used in a electrical distributor that went under
and the wood shelving was offered under a program called "Free-cycle". I cut my pieces to
the approximate length and put 45-degree cuts on the ends. I took a piece of coated 1/8"
Masonite, left over from when I did the ceiling in my porch, cut it to provide a smooth surface
to the fence. This I glued, with standard wood glue, and clamped overnight. The next day I
trimmed the ends to 45 degrees, figured out where I wanted the sliding removable center
portion, and cut the 45-degree cuts for that. I fastened the piece closest to the table saw fence
to four pieces of 2x4 stock, trimmed to fit, with two screws in each. I then positioned the fence
face on it and attached it with two screws toward the center and two more screws on each end.

The vacuum attachment

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Last night the wife's car was in the garage and I could not pull my saw/router table out to work on it, so I worked on
the fence by itself. I found my 1/8" Plexiglas and cut it to size with my other Freud router. I drilled holes in it
and marked off a cutout for the hose adapter, a part from an old upright vacuum cleaner! This part had a brush attached
to it, but it was easy to remove. The part is made of a softer, more malleable plastic. I routed its hole out freehand
with my other Freud. I drilled two holes in it and used some longer 8/32 Phillips screws, nuts and washers to attach it
to the Plexiglas. I then mounted the Plexiglas, with some 10/32 sheet metal screws and more washers, to the fence.
Today I had the chance to test it. I plugged in the Shopvac into a ceiling outlet that the fluorescent lights are plugged
into. When I turned it on, the fluorescent lamps blinked, but it was OK.
As for the test with the router cutting; well it was quite impressive to see all them little chips go to never-never-land
in the Shopvac!
A second test with both the router and the Shopvac plugged into the same circuit, now a 20 amp, worked fine.
I'm well pleased!

My own idea of a foot switch and a safety light!

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030

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A lot of people use what is commonly called a "Dead Man Switch", (foot switch), on their router tables. I took
this one step further by adding a Safety Lamp to mine. The idea is that I might accidentally step on the foot
switch while changing bits, so the main power switch controls power to the "Safety Lamp" and foot-switch/relay.
When it's off, it's off. The added advantage of this design is by reversing the plugs in the outlet, the foot
switch is out of the circuit and the Main Power Switch now controls power to the router.
The text in the larger images pretty much tells it all except for what I'll now mention.

The outlet has the tab removed on the brass screw side to isolate the top and bottom.

The Main Power Switch with the removable toggle was designed for thicker metal. I had to make an
additional "washer" for it out of aluminum. It's secured to the plate by two diagonal screws.

While mine has only one lamp right now, I will shortly add another, just in case one burns out.

041

Plate leveling

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043

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045

Before this, I leveled my router plate with some small washers of various thicknesses. It worked, but I was not really
satisfied with the results. The left side was ever so close, but still a piece would catch upon leaving the plate and
riding up onto the Formica top. I thought of smoothing that edge, it would stop the workpiece from catching, but the
resulting rout would show a slight jump and that wouldn't work.
It is essential to have everything level. So I attacked the problem with first searching my junk bins. I found two pieces
of 1/4" aluminum sheet stock that was trimmed to 1.5" wide by 6 inckes long. If I cut these in half that would give me the
four pieces I needed for the corners.After cutting them, I used one to mark-up and drill test holes in. I forgot about the
lip I made into the table top and placed the screw holes that the screws would go into the lip. Mistake, because the lip is
a lot less srtong than the full thickness of the table. I redrilled the screw holes and used this piece to line-up and drill
holes in the other four pieces. In mounting I had to remove some of the lip to allow the 1/4-20 stainless leveling bolts to
contact the bottom of the plate. All in all it worked good and functions as anticipated.

Fence Adjuster

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047

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049

Here's my fence adjuster! I've been corrected in that I should not call it a macro-adjuster or a micro-adjuster.
Even though it takes 20 turns of the T-handle to move the fence at the bit by 1/2 inch. So let's see....
If 20 turns = 1/2" then 10 turns = 1/4" and 5 turns = 1/8". 2 and a half turns = 1/16" One and 3/4 turns will be
about 1/32" of movement of the fence at the bit. That sounds close enough for me! I'm not machining any metal parts!
Anyhow, to the pictures.
The first is a concept sketch I did up to help me think of what I wanted to do and maybe get an opinion or two.
The second is the actual part I fabracated to make the adjuster.
The third is that part installed on the end of my home made fence.
Finally, the fourth picture is how it looks overall.
And it works pretty well too!

Table Support Rods

050

051

052

053

054

055

056

Well, I was going to cut up some pieces of wood to start practicing routing and then a problem that I knew about reared its head!
The weight of the router started to drag the table down at it's outer edge. This showed up when I placed a long board on the table
saw. The way I decided to fix this problem was with two support bars between the body of the table saw and the piece of angle iron
underneath the router table attachment. These are some photos of that process.

Am I done yet?

Building the table
001	002	003	004
005	006	007	008
009	010	011	012
013	014	015	Scroll down for more.
Allignment and better access for attachment bolts
Well I was going to work on the fence attachment today, but I ran into something that I felt I had to address immediately. The router table attachment was a tiny bit high when compared to the top of the table saw. To fix this I had to remove the router table and remove the steel edge piece to drill larger holes for the attachment bolts. This would give me a bit more play and allow me to adjust how the two tables meet. I also had a devil of a time putting in the bolts that held them together. I was only able to get 1/8th turn at a time. So while it was apart, I also routed the bolt access clearance holes a bit bigger. The goal was to be able to use a socket, swivel and ratchet rather than an open-end wrench. The images below show this being done as images of drilling holes were just a bit too boring, (no pun intended).
016	017	018	019
Building the fence
I did some tinkering with a foot switch, prompted by some ideas posted in Router Fourms .com and would have posted some pictures here. But it's cobbled together right now and not so very photogenic. So I'll continue on with my fence adaption to the table saw fence for now.
020	021	022	023
024	To make my fence, I'm working with what I have on-hand. That being some 1x12 salvaged shelving, free stuff. The shelving stock was used in a electrical distributor that went under and the wood shelving was offered under a program called "Free-cycle". I cut my pieces to the approximate length and put 45-degree cuts on the ends. I took a piece of coated 1/8" Masonite, left over from when I did the ceiling in my porch, cut it to provide a smooth surface to the fence. This I glued, with standard wood glue, and clamped overnight. The next day I trimmed the ends to 45 degrees, figured out where I wanted the sliding removable center portion, and cut the 45-degree cuts for that. I fastened the piece closest to the table saw fence to four pieces of 2x4 stock, trimmed to fit, with two screws in each. I then positioned the fence face on it and attached it with two screws toward the center and two more screws on each end.
The vacuum attachment
025	026	027	028
Last night the wife's car was in the garage and I could not pull my saw/router table out to work on it, so I worked on the fence by itself. I found my 1/8" Plexiglas and cut it to size with my other Freud router. I drilled holes in it and marked off a cutout for the hose adapter, a part from an old upright vacuum cleaner! This part had a brush attached to it, but it was easy to remove. The part is made of a softer, more malleable plastic. I routed its hole out freehand with my other Freud. I drilled two holes in it and used some longer 8/32 Phillips screws, nuts and washers to attach it to the Plexiglas. I then mounted the Plexiglas, with some 10/32 sheet metal screws and more washers, to the fence. Today I had the chance to test it. I plugged in the Shopvac into a ceiling outlet that the fluorescent lights are plugged into. When I turned it on, the fluorescent lamps blinked, but it was OK. As for the test with the router cutting; well it was quite impressive to see all them little chips go to never-never-land in the Shopvac! A second test with both the router and the Shopvac plugged into the same circuit, now a 20 amp, worked fine. I'm well pleased!
My own idea of a foot switch and a safety light!
029	030	031	032
033	034	035	036
037	038	039	040
A lot of people use what is commonly called a "Dead Man Switch", (foot switch), on their router tables. I took this one step further by adding a Safety Lamp to mine. The idea is that I might accidentally step on the foot switch while changing bits, so the main power switch controls power to the "Safety Lamp" and foot-switch/relay. When it's off, it's off. The added advantage of this design is by reversing the plugs in the outlet, the foot switch is out of the circuit and the Main Power Switch now controls power to the router. The text in the larger images pretty much tells it all except for what I'll now mention. The outlet has the tab removed on the brass screw side to isolate the top and bottom. The Main Power Switch with the removable toggle was designed for thicker metal. I had to make an additional "washer" for it out of aluminum. It's secured to the plate by two diagonal screws. While mine has only one lamp right now, I will shortly add another, just in case one burns out.	041
Plate leveling
042	043	044	045
Before this, I leveled my router plate with some small washers of various thicknesses. It worked, but I was not really satisfied with the results. The left side was ever so close, but still a piece would catch upon leaving the plate and riding up onto the Formica top. I thought of smoothing that edge, it would stop the workpiece from catching, but the resulting rout would show a slight jump and that wouldn't work. It is essential to have everything level. So I attacked the problem with first searching my junk bins. I found two pieces of 1/4" aluminum sheet stock that was trimmed to 1.5" wide by 6 inckes long. If I cut these in half that would give me the four pieces I needed for the corners.After cutting them, I used one to mark-up and drill test holes in. I forgot about the lip I made into the table top and placed the screw holes that the screws would go into the lip. Mistake, because the lip is a lot less srtong than the full thickness of the table. I redrilled the screw holes and used this piece to line-up and drill holes in the other four pieces. In mounting I had to remove some of the lip to allow the 1/4-20 stainless leveling bolts to contact the bottom of the plate. All in all it worked good and functions as anticipated.
Fence Adjuster
046	047	048	049
Here's my fence adjuster! I've been corrected in that I should not call it a macro-adjuster or a micro-adjuster. Even though it takes 20 turns of the T-handle to move the fence at the bit by 1/2 inch. So let's see.... If 20 turns = 1/2" then 10 turns = 1/4" and 5 turns = 1/8". 2 and a half turns = 1/16" One and 3/4 turns will be about 1/32" of movement of the fence at the bit. That sounds close enough for me! I'm not machining any metal parts! Anyhow, to the pictures. The first is a concept sketch I did up to help me think of what I wanted to do and maybe get an opinion or two. The second is the actual part I fabracated to make the adjuster. The third is that part installed on the end of my home made fence. Finally, the fourth picture is how it looks overall. And it works pretty well too!
Table Support Rods
050	051	052	053
054	055	056
Well, I was going to cut up some pieces of wood to start practicing routing and then a problem that I knew about reared its head! The weight of the router started to drag the table down at it's outer edge. This showed up when I placed a long board on the table saw. The way I decided to fix this problem was with two support bars between the body of the table saw and the piece of angle iron underneath the router table attachment. These are some photos of that process.
Am I done yet?

I can be reached at: at ourpage.com.