# Router Table, Is It The Best Thing Ever? - By Xxdollarbillxx



## XxDollarBillxX (Apr 28, 2011)

Hey Guys,
So Ive to date made about 13 Slingshots, Of which 11 are boardcuts. Ive purchased a bandsaw and that made life great... for a while. so now im stepping it up to a new level. The Router table.

I built a router table in a few hours, its a 45cm cube box frame and a MDF top. i purchased a 1250W Ryobi 1/2" router and mounted that to the underside of a MDF top. The small dowel piece (in the second pic) Sticking up is a Starting rod. I rest the job against it to avoid initial kick of the router bit when it first bites into the wood.










The Bit i have purchsed is a CMT Tungsten Carbide 1/2" flush trim but 38.1mm long.

I create a template from a picture glued to a piece of balsa wood. Cutting,sanding and shaping balsa is so easy and makes the initial template a breeze to make. I Then double sided tape that template to a piece of 5mm MDF and do a rough cut on the bandsaw to remove most of the material. Once its run through the router bit it leaves a perfect template of the original balsa template.

I use an mdf template for the main template when cutting the spotted gum timber as it is very dense and when the blade touches the wood for the first time it kicks like a mule. Balsa wound crush under this pressure, However. I could make the initial template straight from the mdf but i found that sandings and shaping MDF is pretty annoying as well.










As you can see from the above pic the frame is an exact replica of the template and REQUIRES NO SANDING.

I have a second router table that i use for the rounding of the edges with a rounding bit. and BAM..... One Slingshot frame done.

Things i have learned.

1. the Drill bit that protrudes from the table needs to be 90deg to the main top of the table to ensure a perfect cut.
2. Cutting by bandsaw and trying to get the edges this perpendicular and perfect takes hours. even then it may still have a rounded surface. The router bit leaves a PERFECT finish that i cannot compare to anything else i have seen.
3. Once the MDF template is made it takes only minutes to make a second.... third and onwards. and when the template wears... you can make a new temple from an old template or an old frame blank that has been run though the table with the template before.. Each blank once routed becomes a new template
4. 1250W of router is soooooo much more than the 900W i was using before.
5. leave as little timber as possible on the blank before routing on the router table.

I make make a vid if enough people want to see it to demonstrate the steps involved and show how easy and fun making frames can really be.

anyway check out the pics and let me know what you think









BTW, id like to thank Hrawk for the advice he has given and Bill Hayes for the design in the shared design forums. The design here is a modified bill hayes design. i will add the thumb indent at a later time. this was just a test run.

made. this within 20 mins after the template was ready.


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## Aras (Apr 2, 2011)

Wow... i wish I had one... The one I have is not for such little curves and stuff... How much did you pay for the whole table construction?


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## XxDollarBillxX (Apr 28, 2011)

1x3inch pine was $12. Mdf was $10. Ryobi router was $129. Flush trim bit was $40

Total is under $200. If you have a router already. its less than $65 and the majority of that is the bit.


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## Hrawk (Oct 25, 2010)

Bravo! A champion effort that!

To answer your question, is it the best thing ever ? When it comes to making board cuts, YES!


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## All Buns Glazing (Apr 22, 2012)

My Makita router in the shed is giddy with excitement.


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## Sean (Nov 17, 2011)

Really cool setup! One of the tools in a long list I've never played around with before but it looks to be just super for what
you've set it up to do.


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## XxDollarBillxX (Apr 28, 2011)

Thanks guys. I will post more pics when i get a chance of stuff i make on it.


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## Knoll (Nov 10, 2011)

For those who may be interested, here's great router table design. Best feature is "flip top" table surface. Makes changing bits and adjusting router height sooooo much easier.




YouTube has tens of table designs. Some very basic and others more elaborate.


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## XxDollarBillxX (Apr 28, 2011)

a great design and thanks for sharing knoll. Not really appropriate for my router but it has certainly given me some ideas.


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## treefork (Feb 1, 2010)

Nicely done!


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## harson (Oct 21, 2011)

cool m8 ,just what iv,e always wanted


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## Deltaboy1984 (Jun 14, 2011)

A good router will do a lots of things for you. We used them for years in the building trades and Cabnet work.


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## miamaelia (Mar 15, 2021)

Looking to purchase the best router table. Let me know if you have one you would like to sell.


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## Adam-R (Oct 4, 2021)

My router and router table I bought for a project years ago might be getting some use with this new hobby


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## CzechOne (Dec 30, 2021)

I just set up a miniature version using a generic Rotary Tool/Dremel Plunge Router attachment. The first slingshot I make with it is DGUI's opfs. What's cool about this setup is I can switch out a router bit with sanding drums. I'm using two different sanding drum sizes... 1/2 x 1/2 and 1/4 x 1/2 drums...along with different sized sanding grits.

The 'system' is portable, compact, lightweight and is super easy to take apart and store. The router attachment connects to my workbench with two wood screws. The long plank is placed onto the outside router attachment rods to provide stability and support. I drilled a hanger hole in the plank, so when I detach the unit from the workbench the entire assembly stores away neatly on a wall in my workshop.

My Wen rotary tool only cost me $13.00 at the time I bought it a couple years ago, and the plunge router attachment I bought recently for around $24.00...









WEN 101-Piece Rotary Tool Kit with Variable Speed 2307 - The Home Depot


Polish, buff, sand, cut, grind, smooth, shape, engrave and drill with the variable-speed rotary tool from WEN. Powered by a 1-Amp motor that kicks out 8000-30,000 RPM, this multifaceted handheld device



www.homedepot.com













Dremel Plunge Router Rotary Tool Attachment 335-01 - The Home Depot


Turn your corded Dremel rotary tool into a mini plunge router - and cut perfect decorative edges, straight slots or rout freehand. Plunge feature lets you start your cut in the middle of your workpiece.



www.homedepot.com


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## Reed Lukens (Aug 16, 2020)

I have that system also. It's nice for small projects and I do use it more often then my larger routers for shaping. I have both, the corded and cordless version, so my old corded version pretty much sits on the shelf these days because a small cordless router is really hard to beat 🤠


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## Sneaky (Oct 1, 2019)

Do you guys have a list of recommended router bits for slingshot making? I can start a new thread if that makes more sense. I have a small router and table but I’ll admit I got overwhelmed by bit options and have never taken the time to really figure it out...


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## bonniax (Dec 2, 2020)

Sneaky said:


> Do you guys have a list of recommended router bits for slingshot making? I can start a new thread if that makes more sense. I have a small router and table but I’ll admit I got overwhelmed by bit options and have never taken the time to really figure it out...


flush trim and roundover are the only set of bits that I use in making slingshot


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