The Router Table Book (A Fine Woodworking Book)

132 Pages·1994·52.85 MB·English

by  Ernie Conover

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The Router
Table Book

e o u e r
a e 0 0
ERN E CONOVER
Cover photo: Jeff Greef
Taunton
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for follow el1tllllsiasts
© 1994 by -1l1e Taunton Press, Inc.
All rights reserved.
10 9 H 7 6 5 4 3
Printed in the United States of America
A Fine Woodworking Book
Fine Woodworking is a trademark of The Taunton Press, Inc.,
registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The Taunton Press, 63 South Main Street, Box 5506, Newtown,
CT 06470-5506
e-mail: [email protected]
Distributed by Publishers Group West
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Conover, Ernie.
-Ihe router table book / Ernie Conover.
p. cm.
"A Fine Woodworking book"-Tp. verso.
Includes index.
ISBN 1-5615H-OH4-H
I. Routers (Tools). 2. Workshops-Equipment and
supplies. 3 . .Joinery. I. Title.
-IT203.5.C66 1994 94-24591
6H4'.OH3-<1c20 ClP
I dedicate this book to my wife, Susan, without whose help and encouragement I
woutJ never have written at all,

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Writing a technical book is a group effort! I extend special thanks to
the following especially long-suffering individuals for their invaluable
help: to Dave Keller and Matt Popik of Porter-Cable for engineering
oversight and to Dave Hout, Al Russo ofYermont American, Chris
Carlson of Bosch, Zach Etheridge of Highland Hardware, Dan and
Linda Walter of Eagle America, Brad Witt of Woodhaven, and Mark
Duginske f ortheir deep knowledge of the router industry.
I would like to recognize the following individuals for their help in
special areas: Rodger Gardner of Precision Metalsmiths (metallurgy
oversight), Wayne Green, Larry Knapp of Formica Corp, Mike Hoag of
the National Particleboard Association, Mark Schiefer of Delta, Mike
Dunbar, Steve Spoon of Wisconsin Knife Works, Rick Schmidt of
Porter-Cable, Terry Farmer of Carbide Alloys and Berry Blackburn of
Sprayway. I also wish to thank the many other people, too numerous
to list here, who offered their help and product information.
I would thank my editors, Helen Albert and Ruth Dobsevage, for
bringing organization and clarity to this work. Finally, thanks to my
wife and family for allowing me the time to do this book and for
reviewing the manuscript.
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
CHAPTER 1
Routers for Router Tables
2
Types of routers 2
Choosing a router 10
Router accessories 14
Installing and changing bits 17
Eye, ear and dust protection 18
CHAPTER 2
Router-Table Design
20
Building a router table 25
Fences 36
Miter slots and miter gauges 44
Safety guards and featherboards 50
Dust and chip extraction 53