Router Table Hack for Easy Set Up
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- čas přidán 12. 11. 2020
- Setting up a router table fence can be a little frustrating at times... it requires making test cuts before each pass until you get to your desired cut, so I thought of a better way!
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You can also use stops behind your fence in the tracks that run perpendicular (front to back). Set your fence's final position (confirm with a test cut), then clamp a block or track fixture on each side behind the fence. You can then move the fence forward to take a small bite with each pass. As you move the fence to take a deeper cut, you will eventually hit your stops and be in the final position. I prefer this method b/c I don't need an extra jig/fixture and moving my fence is just a couple turns on 2 knobs. Either way works well! keep up the great content.
Also a good idea. There’s always more than one way to get the same results
Also my idea too and it would only need smaller spacers, but larger spacers are still needed for the vertical depth of cut.
Tamar's idea is not totally new for the fence, but I've never heard of doing this for the vertical depth. Good idea Tamar!
I'm glad you mentioned that super idea my friend!
Great explanations. I appreciate that you not only showed the method that works for your equipment, but also solutions for how to adapt the jig to other equipment that your viewers might have in their shops. Well done!
Glad you liked it!
Just found your channel, this video inspired me to watch all of your others. The idea of milling the material step by step to improve the accuracy and durability of the tools is great!
Glad you liked it!
Always so much to like in your videos; project ideas, alternative techniques, imagination, energy, and fun! I'm still getting my workshop started, glacial progress due to limited free time. You provide a wealth of inspiration, thank you.
Awesome to hear. Glad you liked it!
You’re brilliant! I love watching you think out loud and come up with lots of ideas!!!
I always like seeing the wonky jigs you come up with its kind of the same but this time we get to see it on camera and it was really cool
Hahah! Yeah. Lots of thinking out loud on this one. A snippet into my brain 😂
Please keep going with your videos you should be proud don’t ever give up.I’m 68 and really enjoy watching what you do even when you show your mistakes it shows real woodworking.
Thanks!
I always love your thought processes to solve problems. I work for a joinery company here in Australia and have to do similar problem solving so I appreciate how you think around things. Keep up the awesome work, and I look forward to your next project.
Glad you like it. It’s always fun to come up with solutions
Sorry, no speak english.
Merci beaucoup pour vos vidéos, malgré la barrière de la langue, j'ai appris de nouvelles choses avec vous.
Bonne continuation
Indonesia is present, you can only listen. I am amazed by your professionalism in the woodworking field. And the tools you have make me have to dream ... success for you
I just bought one of these recently from rockler! i got the one like this except its missing all of those rails thankyou for sharing because I am going to have to watch this again when I arrives in the mail next week.
Ingenious! You clearly have a restless mind and no fear. Love your problem-solving approach. Best aye!
Haha yeah. It never stops
I can't say enough, thank you for all of your great videos. Always super helpful and inspiring.
Awesome to hear. Thanks!
The spacers are great idea as long as you are working with smaller bits. I use my router table for a lot of larger profile bits for crown mounding and I move my fence 1/32” or smaller at a time.
It's awesome you're suggesting different solutions for people with different fence setups. Great video!
Glad you liked it!
Awesome idea! I agree with Madhouse, I love your thought process!
Glad to hear!
Great video. I'll have to remember this. The router table is one of my favorite tools. You can do so much at it.
Honestly, watching your mind work is so fun; you really do have such an engineering mind! Thanks for all that you teach those of us who watch you.
So awesome to hear. Glad you like how my crazy mind works 😂
Thanks for the idea's, just got my first router table, definitely good tips for work flow, cheers!
As always another excellent video for router table. Compliments!
I particularly love and admire your approach to problem-solving---you always have multiple ways for one problem.
It’s always fun to think of multiple Solutions!
Just received the latest issue of Fine Woodworking. Congratulations on getting your 'video' published in the magazine.
Thanks!!
Another excellent video by Tamar. Try searching for "fence clamp" on your favorite woodworking site!
Thanks!
Hi Tamar, another awesome video... You’re mind never stop!!!! I just have a hand router and I still don’t know how to use it properly 🤦🏻♂️... Your videos are such a joy to watch.. And it because of you’re beautiful personality and killer attitude... Thanks- it makes my days better!!!!
So glad you like it!
Brilliant! Adding another shop project from Tamar! Thank you Tamar!
Glad you like it!
Always enjoy your process.
Awesome to hear
Another great video! I will have to make one of these for my router table. I would think that you could also use fence clamps to hold the auxiliary fence and inserts in place and you would only need to drill two holes in the melamine piece for them to slip into. I have a set for sacrificial fences on my table saw but as long as you have a flat back to the router fence they would work there as well.
Yeah! Totally!
I like it! It really solves a set of problems that occur on a regular basis in my shop. Keep the ideas and solutions coming.
Awesome to hear!
I have a 20 some year old Porter Cable router table, Yes I know I am old. I never liked the fence set up on it. This gives me some great ideas to "fix the fence" in more ways than one. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome to hear! Good luck with that!
Love the attention to detail on your videos! I almost pulled the trigger on a router this week... maybe I should have after all!
Glad to hear! Routers are the best ha
Thank you for sharing your great ideas.
Glad you like them ☺️
you are so full of good ideas. simple, effective and beautifully made
Thanks! Glad you like it!
Great idea - loving the way your mind works - delightful ~ thank you for sharing 🤗
Glad you like it. Thanks!
Thank you, as a beginner with a router table that was very helpful.
This is a fantastic idea! My router table sketches me out probably because I take too deep of cuts and it jumps sometimes. So I will have to try this out!
Haha yeah. You can’t take off too much!
Thank you for this great innovative idea. Thanks also for the video editing work so we can learn and enjoy! Peace and safety to you always.
So glad you liked it. Thanks!
You come up with some very clever solutions to real woodworking problems. Well done.
Glad you like them! ☺️
Clever jig and clever solution to both clamping setups. Rockler makes a set of over the top fence clamps that I use for clamping sacrificial fences on my table saw fence, but the Microjig solution is another excellent choice.
Thanks!
This is a great idea. I think it would work really well for making box and dovetail joints.
Glad you like it. For sure!
Nice work here Tamar...I really like the Matchfit Clamp idea, thank you.
Thanks!
Excellent idea. Thank you.
Glad you like it!
Great problem solving. You're still the clearest and informative "instructor" on CZcams.
I wish my woodwork teacher in 1993 was this enthusiastic, creative and truly inspirational as this lady.
So awesome to hear! Glad you like it
And the most attractive!
What type of router table abs router do you use. It looks really good
Another great instructional vid, this one including realtime problem solving!
Thumbs up and thanks for posting!
Glad you liked watching me figure it out in the fly!
you are a very creative craftsman. i really enjoy watching your process.
So awesome to Hear! ☺️
Love the video. Watching you problem solve gets my creative gears turning, and thats exactly what makes your channel so great.👍 BTW I'm halfway through making your crosscut sled with katz stop block. Thanks for making videos!
So awesome to hear! Thanks so much!
Awesome. Your content just gets better & better.
Thanks so much! ☺️
I love how as you were filming you came up with an even better idea than the one you were explaining, and instead of cutting that out and just presenting the better idea, you left it in the not-so-good idea. Shows the reality behind woodworking instead of these other guys who just always present flawless perfect pieces on their “first try”.
Glad you liked it. Yeah. This video wasn’t a tutorial. It was just a snippet into my mind as a figure stuff out. Ha
Nice hack, spacer blocks would work nicely verses the adjustable square. The block can straddle the gap and take out the guess work too.
Really enjoy all your jig designs, especially hearing your thought process! As I was watching this incremental fence approach I was thinking that it would be great if the same people who created your electric router lift also had an electric fence that you could program to move a specified distance. Probably only worth it to someone who does a lot of batch work, but would be cool! And maybe they already have such a thing. In addition to your process, I also like seeing the various items you bring into the jig making, like the Woodcraft jig hardware kit, didn't even know that existed! Thank you!
That would be super cool! I have never seen anything like that
It is great how you think through these things.
Always fun to figure out
Pat Warner had a similar but simpler solution. Thank you for your idea
Thanks for the great tip.
Really fantastic work, Tamar! 😃
That's a really great jig! I'm definitely going to make one as soon as I have a router table! 😃
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Thanks! Router tables are the best!
Cool idea. What I normally do is set the fence to final depth, then clamp blocks behind the fence as a stop. Then move the fence to cut a little at a time until I reach the stops. Your way is a bit longer to setup but ultimately faster and more repeatable. Your way also allows you to work up to the bit depth as well. Nice!
Always more than one way to do it! Whatever works!
I like this approach. One thing that might make removing the spacers easier would be to make them about an inch taller, then cut the tops so that each piece has two ears, with each ear being about an inch wide. The front piece would have an ear maybe one inch out from the center on either side. The second spacer would have it's ears two inches out from either side. Third spacer would be three inches out, etc. Then you can loosen the screws, lift the spacer out from the top, and retighten.
Brilliant, great video. Love your instruction.
Thanks! Awesome to hear!
Great solution! Thanks for another great video.
Thanks so much!
Brilliant! Thank you for sharing.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great idea .You could move the spacer the back so you don't need to close the bolts so much.
If you move the spacer to the back you just release the bolt a bit and close it back to the same total width (the spacer is on the back).
This is a great idea... I was thinking defo need to do this ... then remembers i need to build my router table first :D
Hahaha yes. Priorities. 😂
I like it! Accurate, safe passes while working faster. I'm headed to the shop. BTW, I made a version of your table design with a round and rectangular top. Big hit. Your templates were awesome.
Awesome to hear! So glad you liked them!
Great video!
Thanks!
Ginormous bits! LOL! Well, I am lucky to have a neighbor with a 5HP Shaper. Feed it all you want..it just keeps routing/shaping/moulding. Love your work and steps showing how you made that fence!
Hah! Lucky you!
Just found your channel - so many great ideas and helpful advice - thanks!
Awesome to hear!
You will enjoy watching all her videos through the whole winter.
It took only 1m35s for me to subscribe. You go girl! ... I like your enthusiasm, possitivity, also the fact that you are a woman in this field and seems to me you very well know "your stuff" and most importantly, you know how "to sell it".
Best wishes to all decent people from Prague, Czech republic!
👊😁
☺️
Spot on!!! Bob
Nice work Tamar. It is refreshing to watch your videos these days. Perfect weekend entertainment. I feel an urge to do joinery work now :) Cheers
Awesome to hear! Thanks!
Great idea, I will be using this one!
Glad to hear!
Great tips! Thank you ma’am.
Glad you liked it!
Very good idea ... Thank you.
Glad you liked it
Awesome video!! Just got my router table/lift all setup. Going to be making these. Your videos are great keep up the good work!
Awesome! Router table lifts are the best! Ha
Great idea! 👍🏻
Thanks!
"Thank you very much for your videos, in spite of not speaking the same language, I learn a great deal from you...Keep up the good work" Sophie Letudais(translated.) Totally agree(as usual,) bonne journee...rr Normandy, France...
Awesome to hear!
This is a great Idea for quick adjustment of the router fence while profiling work pieces. There is two things that I would have done differently. They are, adding tabs to the top of the shims to keep them sitting on the table top. So there is no chance of chips getting behind the fence possibly causing an issue with distortion. The other is to use different thickness plexiglass for the shims to have more control of the depth taken with each pass. I have a Grizzly Router table and that Is how I have solved the problem for my router table.
You can also use different thicknesses with magnets that attach to fence screws.
Great ideas, your vidros are the best!
Awesome to hear! Thanks!
Your first statement holds true. Use a stacked dado set in a table saw to do a rabbet that large. I can use a setup block and move the router fence quicker for any profile bit than adding all that mess to the router fence. I have one pivot point on my router fence not 2. Some Einstein came up with the idea of making both sides of the fence move. Reducing the working surface of the router fence by half has both safety and process constraints. Always run a test cut. Ever worked on a dozen matched veneer panels costing 30 K? I have been a woodworker since 1976, worked in commercial shops and my own shop during those years. Everyone has their way of dealing with a problem or process in a shop. Suggest you check out Bill Hylton's book "Wood Working with the Router": Been revised several times. Bill has been the expert for the past 30 years on all things router related. Also Bill's "Router Magic" released in 1996.
Another great hack, Tamar. I think I might try this, but will probably add offset “tabs” at the top of the spacers, sort of like file card dividers, to make it even easier to remove each spacer.
Glad you like it!
Great video. I actually have that exact same router lift (I'm lazy and like the precision lift function), but my main takeway from this vid was the WD40 Dry Lube Spray. I was using paste wax on the router plate, which doesn't work that well. I made a custom table for the lift ... Will get a can of it and see how it works.
Awesome. Hopefully it works out for you!
Always learning
Never stop learning!
I love this for the application you demonstrated; moving the fence can be tricky since router fences rack and there's usually two knobs to loosen and re-tighten. The application for the bit height seems like more trouble than it's worth, though, at least if you have a nice router lift (like I know you do!). Raising a bit is usually very straightforward, and if you just put a pencil line on your workpiece for the finished height, you really only have to measure the last pass. The preliminary passes can just be eyeballed. I feel like getting out the crank handle (for me, I have the Rockler) for each adjustment isn't any more difficult than having to, e.g., undo the Matchfit clamps, remove a shim board, replace the clamps, etc. Just my $0.02.
I totally hear that. I just knew the comments for how to do it the other way were going to come. Ha. I won’t be using it for that. But thought someone might find it helpful. My old router I had to manually raise and lower it. To get it exact was very frustrating. So might have been helpful with that set up.
Tamar, I really enjoy your videos. You almost always have a beneficial topic or an approach that I can take into my own shop. On this topic, I would propose an alternate solution that could be less complicated. My approach to routing out small bites until the final pass is to clamp stop blocks behind the fence. I set the depth of cut that I want for the final cut, clamp stop blocks, then move the fence forward. With each pass, I gradually approach the stop blocks. If you can easily reach the back side of your router table, it appears you could utilize the T-track in your table and slide stops in from the back. Just a thought. Keep up the great videos.
A lot of people have mentioned that. I definitely like that idea!
that’s a fantastic idea. i would probably do it with spring-loaded knobs to save the bother but if you’re looking for a way to attach to a t-track without any extra clamps, the way we usually do it here for the students (whether router table or bandsaw/tablesaw fence) is to build a secondary fence (perhaps 1/2” mdf) that’s a few inches higher than the stock fence then put bolts through that into the t-track, use short enough bolts to be recessed into the fence and tightened with a wrench. now you have a tall fence you can screw a jig like your spacer fence to the same way as you did to the stock fence. sometimes to make the whole thing even more solid, it’s easier just to build the thing as an n-shaped fence that sits over the entire existing fence but that usually takes a little too much effort for me, i must admit! thanks again for such a great demonstration.
Sounds cool! Thanks for sharing!
Much respect and some jealousy of your talent. There's always many ways to do anything so just another thought. I have a track system that adapts to my router (EZ smart) so my idea comes from that attachment. They use adjustable stops that limit travel. I would think you could use the same idea on the back side of your fence. Zeroing out the bit would then allow you to gauge the stops on the rear edge of the fence support to the added stop in your track that holds the fence in place.
Always more than one way! Sounds like a cool system
this is pure genius. what a great idea. can't wait to get into my workshop and try this out :-) thanks for sharing, Tamar :-)
Awesome! Glad you liked it!
Had a thought on this:
What if you slipped springs over the bolts on the back? You stack up all your shims and tighten it down. To remove a shim, you pull a little on that outermost fence (maybe this needs a hole/finger pull?) to create a little slack, and pull out a shim. The spring tension takes up the slack created. Since your workpiece is pushing into the fence, and the bolt holes themselves stop the whole fence assembly from sliding horizontally, the spring only needs to enact a modest amount of pulling force (ie., you don't need those bolts to be cranked down). It would eliminate the need to loosen both bolts, remove shim, tighten both bolts, make a pass, loosen both bolts, etc....
That’s a great idea!
Great idea to take advantage of your existing fence in that fashion. You also have a slot running along the top of your fence. Would it have been more efficient to put track bolts through the top of your temporary fence? You might end up with things protruding from the fence face but it should be high enough for most purposes. You can also just shorten the bolts you use to attach them so that they are exactly the right length.
This was easy enough. But if that works for you. Great
Regarding spraying machine surfaces that contact parts that will later be painted or assembled with adhesives... in general, material with silicates and PTFE can foul surfaces causing adhesion problems. Silicates are very difficult to remove from any surface. Once contaminated, bench tops etc. must be replaced as removing silicate residue is very difficult.
Good Tips Thanks
Glad you liked it!
If you add a spacers just to the outfeed fence you can use the router table as a jointer. Line the front edge of the blade with the edge of the outfeed fence.
I actually have a whole video on just that 😉
Belle démonstration,je n'ai pas tout compris mais belle video quand même à bientôt salut Jeannot 🛠😉
Hi Tamar, your contents are very informative, enjoyable to watch, and one of the best source of learning. As a wood worker I am learning so much from you. I want to ask you a question though. Once I was watching your video related to router table and I saw that you had foot pedal connected with your router. I want to ask what is the advantage of that and is it only used to control the speed or does it totally control the on and off of router plus the the speed variation? Please let me know as I want to have one with my router table. Thanks and waiting for your reply. Best for your future woodworking journey.
I have seen the basics of this used by third world guys on a bandsaw. They set the cutting width by putting blocks between the blade and the fence. The last video I saw, there was one guy dedicated to setting the blocks and he was amazing in his speed and accuracy.
Great job on this, Tamar.
Ha thanks’
Love this!
Glad to hear!
thank you Tara
My router table overhangs on my table saw. I use an Incra LS positioned that I can swap between using on the table saw fence or using on the router fence. It is precise, quick to set up, and repeatable. It is harder to use on a narrow dedicated router table such as yours. I also use a Wixley height gage on my router lift, again, quick and easy to precisely adjust the height.
Thanks for sharing.
Those look great
Tamar enjoy your channel - great idea thanks!
Glad to hear! Thanks!
Genius! Thanks!
Glad you liked it ☺️
Very clever.
Thanks ☺️
Great idea’s!!!!
Thanks!
Great video, Tamar. Thanks. One more suggestion - if your bit doesn't have a bearing, you could make the melamine fence a zero clearance fence. Take care.
Bill
That’s a good idea!