When I sold my old table saw station both routers and lifts went with it. I’ve been without a router table for about two months now and honestly I haven’t missed it too much. The time without it has given me the opportunity to think about if I really need a dedicated router table. Putting another lift in my table saw wing is definitely out of the question. For me it was a big inconvenience to go from “table saw mode” to “router table mode.” It does have it’s advantages for those with a small work area but for me I didn’t want to go that route again. Instead I will be building a wall mounted router table.
Obviously I need to build the lift before the table so I went with the design that has worked for me in the past. It’s John Heisz’s homemade router lift design from ibuildit.ca. You can purchase a set of plans by CLICKING HERE. It’s well worth the price.
I’m going with a compact, full featured, wall mounted table design. It will hang on the wall at waist height via a french cleat when needed. And because of it’s light weight I will be able to pick it up and hang it high on the wall when not in use. This allows me to save floor space as I wont have a dedicated footprint taking up space in the shop when it’s not in use. I plan to use it on the small wall between my hallway and the “kitchen.” Because this is a temporary “mount it and use it” tool I am able to use it in an area that would otherwise be out of the question for a dedicated tool footprint.
The table top and fence will be small. I seem to only use a router table for edge work and never use it for dados so I don’t need a lot of table depth. There will also be a 4″ dust collector port on the bottom for use in the shop. I haven’t made up my mind on weather or not I want to add supports to use it on a set of sawhorses or not. We’ll see.
In the meantime you can check out the video above showing the router lift being built. It’s a paid plan so I obviously couldn’t go into detail with the design. Also, below are a few concept images for the table that I made a few weeks ago. I don’t have any sizes worked out yet but I’m trying to stay small and compact with this one. Stay tuned…
Very well designed. The bearing might run smoother if the slot top & bottom were over-sized then lined with plastic laminate or that self stick plastic on a roll that is used to help wood drawers slide on wood runners. Or maybe hardwood insert into the plywood form? A slot in hardwood could be polished smooth, even waxed. Beveled hardwood runners might help the unit slide up & down smoother. Just thoughts, and I REALLY want your evaluation of the suggestions. Like I mentioned in my first letter, I am such a novice at building & designing for real, lots of theoretical book learning over the years, but not much time for actual DOING until now. I am building a nice wood shop both for myself and for my nephew when I am gone. So , once again, thank you, Jay.