All the router bases either round or mostly circular with one straight edge, would have a plastic subbase, fixed to router with 3 or 4 screws. When we plan to trim the edges of table tops, cabinets etc, half the base would not have support, that poses, risk of not able to focus on the cut, as great skill and hand control is needed to guide the trim bit, either cloakwise and anti-cloakwise, depending upon the job, becomes little tricky. and also while routing a rabeted pocket for mounting tools, clamps etc, the small router base of around 5" to 6" diameter is inadequate.
There is a need for making our sub base, which would give us greater control on such tasks, which is larger and also quickly allow us to clamp it homebuilt subbase to our workbench, so that we would have a router table, in a jiffy.
Keeping in mind this, i was exploring various materials and evaluating it and one day while in the kitchen, i noticed the strong Nylon cutting board which is around 10mm thick and 400x250mm in dimension. I thought, why not I use a Nylon cutting board, which is quite strong and had a non slippery matt surface. So, in the evening i went to a neighbourhood shop who sells kitchenware and brought a Nylon cutting board, after due examination to check for dimension & flatness and got one and removed the small plastic subbase of my Hitachi Fixed Base Router and mounted the router after marking and drilling the screw positions and countersinking for screw heads, after carefully marking the dead centre for the mounting and cut a 30mm round hold in the centre with my Drill Press with a Forstner Drill bit. I choose 30mm for the hold size, as i have full range of Bronze guide bushes of various dimensions which can be fixed in the hole with a locking threaded nut of the set.
Here are the two photographs of the final mounted Router. Total cost: a princely sum of Rs.300 for the Nylon cutting board. I have retained the contoured handle of the cutting board, so that, i can comfortable lift the router mounted on the board and also hold it while doing edge trimming etc.
ONE MORE BONUS, WHEN I BUILD MY ROUTER TABLE, THIS CUTTING BOARD MOUNTED ROUTER WOULD BE JUST INSERTED INTO THE TOP OF ROUTER TABLE, WITH APPROPRIATE CUT OUT AND REBATING FOR MAKING THE CUTTING BOARD, SIT FLUSH WITH TABLE TOP.
Genius is the only word that comes to my mind.
ReplyDeleteI also do some off hand DIY wood working and have made some crude side tables and a dining table so far, other than photo frames and few smaller items.
May I know the model of your router??
Rgds: Vijay
Hi Vjayji,
ReplyDeleteThanks for you kind words. I am happy that you are also into woodworking as a hobby, i personally feel, this is the best hobby, to remain creative and on completion of each project the Ecstasy, you feel, is mind blowing. My router is Hitachi fixed based model No.M12-SC, which has got 8 & 12 MM collets and i also have a plunge router with 6 & 8 mm collets. I did this cutting board mounting for trimming my table saw top edges, to make them perfectly parallel.I am in the process of making my own router table, with that HItachi router and plunge router i would be using for hand held routing. I am based in Bangalore, if you are also here or visit my city, it would be pleasure meeting up with you. Have a nice day.