Apartment Router Table / Table Saw #2: Insert, Rails, and Fence

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We left off last time and I had a hole in my table with a blank insert, getting me back to a functional dining room table.

Step 1: Install some T track. I originally thought I would just make a long fence and clamp it to the edge of the table. It would be a pain in the neck, but I didn’t think it would get heavy use. Instead I saw a lot of videos and commercial fixtures that use T track, and it looked amazing. I would be able to use hold-down clamps, using a fence would be easier. Basically, this was going to improve all parts of my life. Install was really easy even without a real hack saw. Just a bit of filing make the end look good.

The insert is pretty straightforward. I cut out a piece of wood, marked the center, used my router base to mark the holes, and that was it. Also, I learned my lesson this time and used sandpaper to round the corners instead of a chisel. There wasn’t a lot to show from the process, but the table with the hole makes for a great clamping surface!

The last piece is the fence. I started with a piece of plywood about 30” long and 9.25” wide. I drilled a 4.5” hole 0.75” off center so I’d have the opening for the bit already in place. Then I ripped the board through the center of the hole. I also routed a 0.5” slot in the wider board. In retrospect, there were a few more holes I should have put in. I glued the boards together and glued in some gussets. I know things seem to be going better than in part one; but don’t worry, this is where things went wrong…

When I started gluing the fence together, I found out how warped my wood was. My fix was the make a flat spot on a table saw, then make a planer with my router.

You can get an idea of how warped the wood was in this picture.

Here is the planer jig I made. It worked reasonably well. I still went back with my hand plane and a sanding block to clean up the surface, but it’s pretty straight now. One problem I’m having is that I don’t really trust my long straightedge. It’s the one shown in the T track picture. I looked up steel straight edges and they’re really expensive… I’m not sure what to do about that yet.

I’ll get more pictures of the fence and upload them shortly.

Source: LumberJocks.com

Apartment Router Table / Table Saw #2: Insert, Rails, and Fence