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A router table significantly increases labor productivity and efficiency when working with a hand router. Purchase a serial model of such a table for your home milling machine often unprofitable. It is much more economical to make a table with your own hands. It will not take much time and will require very little financial investment. Any home craftsman can cope with this task if desired.

The question is how to make milling table do it yourself, many home craftsmen ask. This is understandable: equipment on which the milling cutter is fixed motionless and the workpiece moves on a work table specially equipped for this purpose is in many cases much more convenient to use. Often, when working with a manual router, the workpiece is fixed on a regular table, and all manipulations are carried out by the tool itself, which makes it impossible to maintain precision processing.

Using a table for a manual router when processing wood products, you can achieve results that can be obtained with professional milling machines. With the help of such a simple device, a whole list of technological operations is performed efficiently: cutting shaped holes and making various slots and grooves in the workpiece, manufacturing connecting elements, processing and profiling edges.

You can see the structure of a factory-made milling table in the video below. We will try to do no worse, and in some ways even better and, most importantly, cheaper.

A milling table will give you the opportunity to process not only wooden workpieces, but also products made from chipboard, MDF, plastic, etc. Using such a table, you can make grooves and splines, process elements of tongue-and-groove joints and tongue-and-groove joints, chamfer and create decorative profiles.

A milling table, the production of which does not require large financial expenditures, will allow you to equip your home workshop with a real woodworking machine. It is no coincidence that many manufacturing companies have started manufacturing milling tables and accessories for them, but you will have to pay a decent amount of money for such a device. A homemade table, if made in accordance with the drawings that we will analyze in this article, is in no way inferior in functionality to models produced in production conditions, and will cost much less.

Milling table drawings: option No. 1

Drawings of a milling table with a detailed analysis of the design of the main components and their dimensions.

Dimensions of parts Sectional table Double-layer table cover Cutout in the first layer of the table Marking the cutout of the second layer of the table Gluing both layers Cutting the cutout according to the markings of the second layer Drawing of the rip fence End plate of the stop Dust extraction pipe Safety shield made of plexiglass Comb clamp and locking block

Milling table design

If you wish, you can make a milling table from a regular workbench, but it is better to make a special design. This is explained by the fact that a machine with a cutter creates strong vibration during operation, so the table for it must be highly stable and reliable. It should also be taken into account that the milling device itself is attached to the bottom of the tabletop, so there must be enough free space under it.

To attach the router to the tabletop, a mounting plate is used, which must have high strength and rigidity. To make such a plate, you can use a metal sheet, textolite or durable plywood. The bases of most router models already have threaded holes; these are what are needed to connect such a device to the tabletop and mounting plate. If there are no such holes, you can drill them yourself and tap them, or use special clamps.

The mounting plate must be located on the same level as the tabletop; for this purpose, a selection of appropriate sizes is made in the latter. It is necessary to drill several holes in the plate, some of which are necessary for connecting it to the tabletop using self-tapping screws, and others for attaching it to the base of the router. The screws and self-tapping screws that you will use must have a countersunk head.

To enable your homemade milling machine more convenient, you can place a regular button on the tabletop, as well as a mushroom button, which will make your device even safer in operation. To improve your convenience home machine You can attach a long metal ruler to the table surface.

Before you start designing milling table for your workshop, you need to determine the place where it will be located, and also decide what type of milling equipment you want to make. So, you can make an aggregate-type machine (the table will be located on the side of the sawing equipment, serving as its extension), compact table machine, free-standing stationary equipment.

You can opt for compact benchtop equipment for working with wood and other materials if you access it irregularly or often use it outside your workshop. This installation takes up very little space, and if desired, it can be hung on the wall.

If the area of your workshop allows, then it is better to make a stationary milling machine, which is much more convenient to work on than on desktop equipment. To make such a device more mobile, it can be placed on wheels, with which you can easily change its location.

A simple homemade milling table. There are questions about the overall strength, but it’s cheap and cheerful.

A simple milling table can be made very quickly. To make a structure that can easily be placed on a regular desktop, you will need a sheet of chipboard on which the guide element is fixed. An ordinary board of small thickness, which is attached to the table top using bolted connections. If necessary, you can attach a second such board in parallel, which will serve as a limiting stop.

It is necessary to make a hole in a sheet of chipboard to accommodate a router, which will be fixed to the tabletop using two clamps. After this, your compact milling table with guide can be considered ready.

Manufacturing of bed and table top

The bed of a homemade milling installation must be highly stable and reliable, since it will bear the main loads. Structurally, it consists of a frame with supports on which the tabletop is fixed. As a material for the manufacture of the frame of the bed, you can use metal profiles connected by welding, chipboard, MDF, wood. It is advisable to first prepare simple drawing. It is necessary to indicate on it all structural elements and their dimensions, depending on the dimensions of the parts that are planned to be processed on such milling equipment.

The lower part of the bed from the front side must be deepened by 100–200 mm so that nothing interferes with the feet of the milling machine operator. If you are going to process linings for doors and the ends of facades for them on your homemade machine, then the dimensions of the frame can be as follows: 900x500x1500 (height, depth, width).

One of the significant characteristics of the bed for a homemade milling machine is its height, on which the ease of working on such equipment depends. According to ergonomic requirements, the most suitable height for equipment used while standing is 850–900 mm. It is advisable to make the lower parts of the frame supports adjustable. This will make it possible not only to compensate for uneven floors, but also, if necessary, to change the height of the milling table.

You can make an inexpensive but very reliable work surface for a homemade milling device from the top of an old kitchen table. Such countertops are usually made of chipboard sheets 26 or 36 mm thick, coated with wear-resistant plastic. Their surface ensures good sliding of the workpiece, and the chipboard base perfectly dampens vibrations that occur during operation of the equipment. If you make a desktop for a machine with your own hands, then MDF and chipboard (chipboard) boards with a thickness of 16 mm or more are suitable for these purposes.

Milling table drawings: option No. 2

Detailed drawings of a milling table with additional retractable drawers, which can be made from timber and plywood (or MDF). A list of parts with dimensions and recommended materials of manufacture is presented in the table.

Table of table parts and their sizes Frame Top corner frame Bottom corner of the frame Guide for sliding drawers Guide layout diagram Tabletop Stop drawing Large drawer Small drawer Front of small drawer Side panels table

How to make a mounting plate

Since the tabletop of a homemade milling machine is quite thick, the mounting plate for attaching the router must have minimum thickness. This will allow you to make maximum use of the reach cutting tool. It is clear that such a plate, with a minimum thickness, should have high strength and rigidity.

The plate can be made of metal or from a material that is not inferior to it in strength - textolite. The thickness of the textolite sheet should be in the range of 4–8 mm. According to a previously prepared drawing, a rectangular part is cut out of such a sheet, in the center of which a hole is made. The dimensions of the latter correspond to the diameter of the hole in the milling cutter sole.

The connection of the plate with the base of the router and the table itself, as mentioned above, is ensured by the holes made in it and the corresponding threaded holes in the base of the router. Holes for fixing the plate to the table surface are made in its four corners.

The dimensions and location of the holes for connecting the plate to the router must fully correspond to the holes located on the tool base. In order not to make a mistake when manufacturing a plate, you must first prepare a drawing of it, on which you must indicate the overall dimensions of this part, the diameters and the location of all holes on it. If desired, you can fix it on the table surface using clamp brackets.

A video with a detailed story about the construction of a milling table, the functionality and convenience of which are very high, but the complexity of manufacturing is also very serious. For most craftsmen, such a table will be unnecessarily complex, but perhaps someone will learn useful ideas when creating your own equipment.

Milling table assembly

The milling table begins to be assembled by attaching the table top to the finished bed. The mounting plate is applied to the place on the tabletop where it should be placed according to the drawing, and its outline is traced with a pencil. This is necessary in order to select a recess for the plate along the marked contour, for which a manual milling cutter with a tool with a diameter of 6–10 mm is used. The size of this recess should be such that the plate fits into it at the same level as the surface of the tabletop.

It will not be possible to make a recess with right angles using a round cutter, so the corners on the plate itself must also be rounded using a file. After fixing it in the tabletop, it is necessary to make a hole in the mounting plate with dimensions corresponding to the diameter of the router base. It is done using a straight cutter, the thickness of which should be greater than that of the tabletop itself.

When the requirements for equipment are small and there is no desire to mess with homemade products, you can buy something similar to what is shown in the photo below.

To perform such an operation you do not need a drawing, since it does not require high precision. On the back side of the tabletop, it is also necessary to select a certain amount of material, since the dust collector casing and other devices will need to be placed at the bottom of the table. To quickly perform all the operations described above, you can rely on the drawings or photos posted in this article.

The final stage of assembling a homemade milling table is connecting all of it structural elements. First, the router is started from the bottom of the tabletop, its base is screwed to the mounting plate. Then the plate itself is attached to the upper surface of the tabletop using self-tapping screws with countersunk heads, which must be completely recessed into the prepared holes. Only after performing these operations is the tabletop itself securely fixed to the frame.

Milling table drawings: option No. 3

Compact benchtop router table and detailed analysis its creation in the photo below.

Computer model Appearance assembled Rear view Front view Mill raised, sashes moved apart Mill lowered, sashes moved Manual frezer A hose from a vacuum cleaner to remove dust and chips. Attachment of the router and removal of chips. Adjustment of the lift of the cutter. The cutter is raised by rotating the screw. Adjustment of the lift of the cutter. Adjustment of the extension of the cutter. Plexiglas platform before installing the router. The glass is precisely adjusted to the table top. The router is screwed to the support platform.

Making the top clamp

To make a homemade machine safer to use and to ensure the convenience of processing large workpieces on it, you can equip such equipment with an upper clamp. To create this device, made on the basis of a roller, it is necessary to prepare a drawing.

A ball bearing of a suitable size is often used as a roller for the pressing device. Such a roller is mounted on a holding device that allows it to be fixed at any distance from the tabletop. With the help of this simple universal device, the workpiece of any thickness will be securely fixed when moving along the surface of the work table.

In the video below, a man shows his homemade milling table, which he assembled right on the balcony of his own house.

Drive for a homemade milling machine

In order for a homemade milling machine to be highly productive and functional, it is necessary to equip it with an electric drive of sufficient power. If you plan to use your machine to process wood parts with shallow recesses, a 500 W electric motor will be sufficient for it. However, equipment with a low-power drive will often shut down, which will negate any savings from purchasing a weak electric motor.

The optimal choice for such machines are electric motors, the power of which starts from 1100 W. Such an electric motor with a power varying between 1–2 kW will allow you to use your homemade device like a real milling machine for processing wood products. In addition, you can use any type of cutter on this machine. To equip the machine drive, you can use electric motors that are installed on stationary equipment (for example, on drilling machines), as well as on hand tools (drills, grinders, hand routers).

You should pay attention not only to the power, but also to the speed of the electric motor. The higher this indicator, the better quality the cut will be. Electric motors, as is known, can be powered by electrical network with a voltage of 220 and 380 V. There will be no problems connecting the former, but three-phase asynchronous motors will have to be powered using a special star-delta circuit. Connecting according to this scheme will make it possible to use the electric motor at its maximum power and provide it with a smooth start. And if you directly connect such an electric motor to a 220 V network, you will lose 30–50% of its power.

Milling table drawings: option No. 4

Analysis of another design of a self-made milling table, supplemented by a video from the author.

The tabletop is folded down The elevator is organized using a jack Tabletop, top view Movable carriage-support Parallel stop with wings Box for connecting a vacuum cleaner (dust and chip removal) Steel plate for attaching the router Attaching the router sole to the plate Operating principle of the elevator

Safety when working on a homemade milling table

When making a homemade milling machine, you should ensure the safety of working on it. First of all, it is necessary to equip the working tool itself with a protective screen. How such screens are constructed is illustrated by photographs and drawings of professional equipment. A mandatory element of your homemade equipment should be an emergency stop button, the so-called mushroom. It should be placed in an easily accessible place, and the start button should be secured in a place where it will not be accidentally pressed.

Make sure that the processing area is well lit, as this is the most dangerous place of any equipment. If during work you need to frequently change the offset of the cutter, you should make a manual or automatic device lifting and lowering the tool (lift). Such a lift will allow you to use your homemade milling equipment more efficiently and make working on it comfortable and safe. Various designs such elevators can also be found on the Internet.

If desired and necessary, you can constantly upgrade your homemade equipment and turn it over time into a full-fledged coordinate machine with a rotary work table.

Craftsmen of the past carried out decorative wood processing by hand. We still admire their creations to this day. But it took years to learn fine woodworking, and not every apprentice was able to create a masterpiece that earned him the title of master. And raise money for tools and accessories for higher craftsmanship. What is still relevant today: sets of shaped planes, pieces of iron for them and cutters for manual finishing of the product will cost more than a good manual wood milling machine. Which will also shorten the learning process and increase labor productivity significantly. If you make a milling table for it with your own hands, then the quality of the products will become much more stable. True, the functionality of the router will be reduced (the number of types of work operations), but the remaining sections will not be so difficult to finish using the same router without a table or even manually, without the risk of “screwing up” the entire workpiece. About the essential points self-made the milling table will be this material.

Note: masterpiece was originally a technical term denoting a trial work that must be done independently by an apprentice claiming to be a master. Since in the old workshops the corporate spirit and nepotism dominated everything and everyone, in order for a new apprentice to make his way into a master, he had to do something truly outstanding, even exceptional. This is where the use of the word “masterpiece” came from for a creation created during a creative surge.

Table or machine?

However, hand routers are not cheap tools. There seems to be no fundamental difference in the design of it and the milling head of a vertical milling machine. A motor suitable in power and speed for a homemade milling machine may be waiting in the closet for some use. So what is better to do for milling work on wood: the entire machine from scrap materials, or buy a manual router and a table for it?

Note: factory-made tables for hand-held milling machines are sold in the same way as drill stands that turn them into drilling or lathe machines.

It's about vibrations. Trembling of a machine with a workpiece - worst enemy processing of materials by cutting. In milling work The influence of vibration on the quality of processing is especially strong. If a drill or cutter (except for a chisel in a slotting machine) bites into the workpiece once and then moves through the material more or less smoothly, then the cutter hits the workpiece at least twice on each revolution. Shaped cutters with cutting edges curved in 3 planes reduce this drawback, but do not eliminate it completely - a cutter that does not hit the workpiece will not cut anything from it.

A homemade milling machine with a motor made from junk generally shakes as best it can. Vibration dampening measures available in the home workshop provide a quality of work suitable for simpler applications. carpentry work. In manual wood milling machines, vibration damping is already provided structurally. Installing the router into the table further reduces the “shaking”, and the entire unit becomes suitable for fairly delicate carpentry work, incl. over the front parts of furniture, decorative parts and other important parts. So there is still a fundamental difference between a homemade milling machine and a table for an existing manual milling machine.

How does a milling table work?

The main differences between a milling table with a finished machine and a home-made machine for the same purpose are as follows:

The table is made according to design diagram a vertical milling machine with a bottom drive, while a homemade machine can be both vertical and horizontal. However, the latter does not provide any tangible advantages over the vertical one at home.
The milling table can be easily equipped with a lift - a device for smoothly and possibly quickly adjusting the protrusion of the cutter above the work table.
The workpiece stop system of a milling table can be improved compared to a home-made machine to improve the accuracy and cleanliness of processing.
The table-mounted milling machine is reversibly modified (see below) so that it can be removed for manual work.

How a simple milling table for woodworking works is shown in Fig. Cabinet (bed) - any sufficiently strong and stable design, because The main vibration damping is carried out, except with the router itself, by the base plate. Therefore, the cabinet in this case is not actually a bed, because is simply a supporting structure.

On a simple table it is difficult to achieve high-quality processing of workpieces with a large width-to-height ratio. A completely flat board on an equally flat table suddenly, for no apparent reason, moves jerkily, the cut turns out to be uneven, or even the workpiece is bitten by the cutter. The reason is longitudinal, i.e. horizontally propagating elastic waves in the workpiece material. The comb vertical stop (see below) does not have time to absorb them, and antinodes (foci) of vibrations appear on the workpiece, spoiling the whole thing.

The horizontal stop is designed for such a situation, see next. rice. It is always performed with a comb, because is primarily a vibration absorber. For the same purpose, a second vertical comb stop is added.

In Fig. a table with 2-sided stops is shown, designed to feed the workpiece back and forth, see below. For a homemade table for ordinary carpentry work, it is better to make one-sided stops (see below): they are technologically simpler and can be made from ordinary hard, fine-grained wood (oak, beech, walnut). In any case, the most critical structural components of a homemade milling table are:

Support (work table) and installation (mounting) plates;
Stops – comb and blind (simple);
Milling machine lift.

Plates

The base and mounting plates of a milling table are structurally identical to those of the same machine. An example of the design of a base plate for a milling table made of 2 layers of 19 mm plywood is shown in the figure:

Its main disadvantage is its high cost: birch plywood (bakelite is even better) of grade no lower than Ib. Meanwhile, having spent a little more time and labor on gluing a multilayer plywood “pie”, it, and even better quality, can be made, as for a milling machine, from cheap 4-mm construction (grade II) or packaging (non-grade) plywood. The required wear resistance and strength are ensured by impregnating the sheet with a water-polymer emulsion before cutting (a full-fledged substitute is the construction primer EKO Grunt), and vibration-absorbing properties by layers of PVA glue. Dried assembly (reinforced) PVA produces a viscous elastic film that perfectly damps vibrations, but even without that, the height space in which the elastic wave can gain strength is reduced by five.

Note: plywood is glued from veneer sheets with cheap casein or similar synthetic glue, which has vibration-damping properties only to a small extent (its layer is hard and brittle). Plywood glued with PVA would be completely unprofitable.

The design of an installation unit with increased vibration damping for a milling table is shown in Fig. and exactly the same as for a milling machine ().

And the procedure for making the base plate is the same: a sheet of plywood is impregnated 2-3 times on each side, then cut out (immediately with cutouts for the router). It is better to make a car window round or with rounded corners. The bag is glued according to the glue instructions and dried for at least 2 days under dispersed pressure for approx. 100 kg/sq. m slabs; a very good load - stacks of books and/or magazine files.

Plate for the router and its modification

The installation (mounting) plate of the router is made of fiber-laminated vibration-absorbing thermosetting plastic: textolite, fiberglass. Massive thermoplastic materials - hardboard, etc. - are somewhat worse at absorbing vibration. Thermoplastic plastic may warp when heated during operation and the machine will lose accuracy. Massive (ebonite, bakelite) or layered thermosetting plastics (getinax) are unsuitable - they very soon delaminate and crack due to vibrations and heating.

How the machine is modified for installation in a milling table is shown in the figure:

The lock of the standard sliding work table (shown by the arrow on the left in the figure) is released (pressed out). The standard table is then removed and placed on compression springs (in the center) with a total force of approx. 1.5 car weight. The base of the standard table (shown by the arrow in the center) is removed, and a mounting plate is attached in its place (on the right in the figure). Restoring the machine for manual use is done in the reverse order.

Stops

Since a homemade milling table is capable of providing better accuracy and cleanliness of processing than the same machine, it is advisable to modify the stop system for it. Stops, as in the machine or in Fig. above with picture simple table, are suitable for the manufacture of non-facade (decorative) parts, because The straight L-shaped blind stop still strongly transmits vibrations back into the workpiece and makes it difficult to feed it (a workpiece made from ordinary industrial wood can jam).

Drawings of oblique comb and blind vertical stops for a homemade wood milling table are shown in Fig. Structurally, the comb stop for a table is somewhat different from that for a machine (all teeth are the same), because The whole unit doesn't shake as much anymore. Maple is one of the best vibration absorbers, but seasoned, without defects, knots, twists and cross-layers, commercial maple wood is an expensive and scarce material. It can be completely replaced by oak, beech, hornbeam, and walnut.

Note: An even better vibration damper is elm wood. But defect-free mature commercial elm is practically not available for general sale, because All of it goes into lasts for sewing expensive leather shoes and important machine parts.

The comb and blind stops are installed in pairs (the blind stop is the first along the workpiece), see the inset in the center in Fig. They are fixed with a locking block (stopper), highlighted in red in Fig. on right. However, placing a comb with a capercaillie before the cutter along the course of the workpiece when feeding it, as shown there, is still wrong: the main “shaking” occurs behind the cutter. But installing 2 pairs of comb-grouse, before and after the cutter, is not prohibited and is useful for processing accuracy.

Back and forth emphasis

Blanks from homogeneous materials High Quality(MDF, postforming for kitchen countertops, selected small-grained wood) are often milled using the back-and-forth method: the part is pushed onto the cutter and then immediately, without turning off the router, pulled back. The combination of up and down milling in one pass (see the article on the milling machine) gives the cleanest surface.

Note: parts milled back and forth are quite suitable for veneering and lamination.

However, it is impossible to place a pair of oblique combs turned in opposite directions for milling back and forth: the workpiece will jam on the incoming ridge. For back-and-forth milling, the workpiece is supported by pairs of vertical and horizontal straight combs (see figure above): their ridges (and grooves between them) are perpendicular to the working surface, and the working parts of the combs are trapezoidal in plan with bevels 60 degrees from the perpendicular (30 degrees from the sole of the comb). Unfortunately, the choice of materials for making straight 2-sided combs yourself is limited: defect-free, seasoned commercial maple, elm, teak.

Note: On sale there are straight combs for wood routers, cast from polypropylene. I don’t know how they work, I haven’t tried them.

Elevator

The most simple designs elevators for a wood milling table - hard cam (pos. A in the figure) and wedge (pos. B).

Their common advantage is the ability to make the base plate folding for easy access to the router. But the overall huge drawback is instability; the machine slides down due to vibration. In fact, after 1.5-2 m of cutting, the elevator has to be reinstalled. A cam elevator, in addition, in terms of ease of use, is not much better than a homemade milling machine elevator that is adjustable with washers and rubber.

The optimal design of the milling machine elevator in the table is screw, see next. rice. If the lower flange nut is additionally secured with a locknut (or a self-tightening flange nut is installed), the cutter extension is held firmly. And it can be truly adjusted, literally while the workpiece is being processed.

Precision mini table

For artistic woodworking and/or facade carpentry, an indispensable thing is a milling and copying machine. It is possible to make it yourself, but it is quite difficult, and purchasing a factory made one only makes sense if there is a stable flow of orders for work of this type and solid skills in performing them.

However, shaped grooves in the front parts of furniture, milled in a straight line, can give an excellent aesthetic effect. Direct milling is widely used in the manufacture of furniture and decorative wood products in any style, see fig. It can be done independently with low-power hand tools. milling machines on wood of increased accuracy (on the right in the figure); installing a manual mini router in a table improves the quality of work and productivity in the same way as a “large” one.

Drawings of a mini wood milling table for domestic handcraft milling machine are given on the next page. rice. His distinctive features– cam side clamp of the workpiece and a vertical comb with wide teeth. The solution for working with high-quality materials is quite justified: small fine combs themselves “act” a little on the workpiece, which is minimized in this design.

What about the hood?

Milling wood produces many times more sawdust, shavings and wood dust than sawing operations. Dust spoils the precision of processing on the table and the health of its operator just like a dusty machine. Therefore, a milling table also requires a dust collector, a dust extractor and a dust collector; their design is the same for both the table and the machine, see respectively. article.

Woodworkers treat their router table with respect. And there is a good reason for this, as such designs can improve productivity and workflow efficiency. Now it's not a problem to find suitable models tables for hand routers, but they are obscenely expensive. But making a milling machine with your own hands, without spending a lot of money on a branded table or buying a cheap Chinese equivalent and throwing money down the drain, is within the power of every business person. This requires an electric motor of suitable power, a guide structure and a table.

Purpose of the milling table

Working with a manual milling cutter involves performing operations to move the machine along a rigidly fixed surface of the workpiece being processed. This is not always convenient. And therefore, they often do the opposite: the router is permanently attached, and the workpiece moves. In this case, they are already talking about a design called a “milling table”, and not just about a “hand router” tool.

Milling tables quite often make it possible to achieve results that were previously only available to professional furniture workshops that had milling machines. With their help, cutting shaped holes, cutting grooves, making joints, processing and profiling edges, as well as cutting shaped holes is done accurately, easily and safely.

The big advantage of this design is that using a milling table for a manual router you can process various materials such as wood, chipboard, MDF, plastic, etc., in wooden parts make slots and grooves, connect parts on tongues and tenons, create decorative profiles and chamfer.

The milling table can also easily be used as a woodworking machine. All you need to do is secure the tool on a workbench or in an electric drill stand. It comes as no surprise that a large number of firms rushed to quench the indomitable appetite of carpenters, producing quite a wide range of milling tables, as well as accessories for them. Homemade milling tables, however, are sometimes not inferior to branded ones in terms of their own characteristics.

Milling table design

You can use the surface of a workbench to install a hand router, or you can make a separate table. The table has a rigid structure and is well stable, because the milling machine causes quite strong vibration during operation. You should also take into account that the router is attached to the bottom of the tabletop, and it is important that nothing interferes with it. Therefore, there are no additional elements in this part.

The mounting plate is used to attach the router to the table; it is made of durable and high-quality materials. For this, textolite, metal sheet or plywood are used. Usually exist on the sole itself threaded connections, for reliable fastening of plastic masonry.

A recess for the plate is present on top of the tabletop, so that the latter is recessed flush. The plate is attached to the countertop with self-tapping screws that have a countersunk head. To attach the sole, a hole is drilled, and the plate hole is duplicated in the tabletop. The router is attached to the table using countersunk screws. If there are no holes in the sole for attaching the plate, they can be drilled independently, and clamps can also be used.

There is a button attached to the table, which is used to conveniently turn on the router; it is also possible to install an emergency mushroom button for your safety. For more comfortable work and fixing larger workpieces, the table for a manual router can be equipped with upper clamping devices. Also, for ease of measurement, it is customary to attach a ruler.

Beginning of work

It is best to start the process of making a structure for a manual router by determining the location of the future table in the workshop. First of all, you should have a clear idea of what kind of milling table you need: a side extension of the saw table (aggregate), tabletop (portable) or separate (stationary).

If you have to work using a milling table only occasionally, or outside the workshop, you need to think about a portable option; it can be hung on the wall or removed to save space. If there is enough space, then maximum convenience will be provided by a free-standing milling table; it can be placed on wheels and then placed where it is convenient. A portable or free-standing router table can be set up to perform an operation and left for a while without interfering with other tools, devices and machines.

Possible as simple device build a low structure that can be placed on a regular table. You can take a sheet of chipboard and attach a guide to it. According to the drawings of the table for a manual router, it may be an ordinary piece of board that is not very thick. Next you need to secure it to the bolted connections.

To do this you need to take two clamps. Next you need to make a hole for the cutter. That's all. If a milling machine is your main tool, then you need to make a solid and convenient milling table, because you will have to spend a lot of time at it.

Bed and table top

The bed of any milling table is a stationary part, that is, it is a frame on supports that has a table top on top. What the frame is made of is not significant: welded steel structure, MDF, chipboard, wood. The main and main task is to ensure its stability and rigidity during operation. Also, the dimensions of the bed are not critical, and should be selected depending on the dimensions of the parts being processed.

To prevent the machine operator from tripping over parts of the structure, the lower part of the frame needs to be deepened (like the plinth of furniture) by 100-200 millimeters relative to the front overhang of the tabletop being used. For processing door overlays and the ends of facade blanks for the frame homemade table for a manual router, we can recommend the following dimensions in millimeters: height - 900, depth - 500, width - 1500.

An important parameter, perhaps, is the height; it should be in the range of 850-900 millimeters, since this height is optimal for working while standing. It is quite good when the bed has adjustable supports; with the help of such supports you can compensate for uneven floors, and also, if necessary, change the height of the table.

Inexpensive and good option The countertop for a DIY milling table is a regular kitchen countertop based on chipboard with a thickness of 26 or 36 millimeters, which is covered with wear-resistant plastic. The workpiece glides well on the surface of hard plastic, the standard kitchen countertop depth of 600 millimeters is very convenient to use, and chipboard dampens vibrations quite well. For a countertop, in extreme cases, they are suitable MDF boards or laminated chipboard (chipboard) from 16 millimeters.

Table mounting plate

Due to the rather large thickness of the kitchen countertop (at least 26 millimeters), and in order to maintain the entire amplitude of the cutter's reach, the design of the router provides for the use of a mounting plate near the place where the base of the router is attached to the table. This part, despite its small thickness, is characterized by quite high strength.

The plate is often made of metal, but fiberglass (textolite) is still more convenient in processing and is not inferior in strength. The PCB mounting plate is a rectangular piece 4-8 millimeters thick, with a side of 150-300 millimeters, in which a hole is made in the center with the same diameter as the hole in the base of the router.

The base of the router usually has standard threaded holes that are intended for attaching a plastic cover. By means of them, they are attached to the mounting plate of the router. If suddenly there are no holes, you need to make these holes yourself, or secure the router in another way, for example, using metal clamps. To attach the plate to the tabletop, you need to drill four holes closer to the corners of the plate.

Milling table assembly

First of all, a tabletop is temporarily attached to the finished frame, as shown in the video about tables for a manual router. The mounting plate is placed on a pre-calibrated place on the tabletop, and its exact location is marked with a pencil along the contour. Using a hand router with a small cutter diameter of 6-10 millimeters, a seat is selected in the tabletop for the mounting plate, such that it lies flush, that is, ideally with the top surface of the tabletop.

We must also not forget that the seat of our plate will not have right corners, but rounded ones, which means that we will need to use a file to round the corners with the same radius of the textolite mounting plate. After the mounting plate has been attached, you need to use a router with a straight cutter thicker than the tabletop to make through milling of a hole in the tabletop according to the shape of the given router sole.

This operation does not require special precision. But you need to be prepared for additional material sampling from the bottom of the tabletop, for example, for a dust collector casing and various other devices.

Now everything remains to be connected together. We start the router from below, screwing it to the plate, and then use self-tapping screws to fasten the plate to the tabletop. We make sure that the caps of the fastening elements are recessed securely and that they should not cling to the workpiece when sliding it along the tabletop. Finally, we screw the tabletop to the frame.

Upper clamp

For additional safety and convenience, you can equip the structure, according to the drawings of the table for a manual router, with an upper clamping device made on the basis of a roller. This is especially necessary when working with large workpieces, for example, such as door trims. The design of the clamp is very simple.

A ball bearing of suitable dimensions, for example, can serve as a roller. The bearing is mounted in the holding device; it can be rigidly fixed from the surface of the tabletop at the required distance. This will ensure that the workpiece is constantly pressed tightly against the tabletop when passing under the roller of the workpiece.

Drive for a homemade machine

If you are planning to design a simple homemade milling machine, you should pay attention to the electric drive. An important factor is its power. For a machine with shallow sampling of wood pieces, a motor with a power of 500 watts may even be suitable. Still, such a machine will often stall, so it will not justify either the time or the money saved on the purchase of a low-power engine.

From observations it is clear that the best option is a motor with a power of 1100 W. A 1-2 kilowatt motor will allow you to process wood as usual, as well as use any type of cutter. Electric motors, both stationary and drives of hand-held power tools, such as hand cutters, drills, and grinders, are suitable here.

Another important factor is turnover. How more quantity rpm, the more uniform and cleaner the cut will be. If the engine is designed for a regular household network of 220 volts, then there will be no problems with the connection. But a three-phase asynchronous motor must be connected according to a special scheme - star-delta, which guarantees the maximum possible output in this situation, as well as a smooth start. If you connect a three-phase electric motor to a single-phase network, the efficiency will be lost in the amount of 30 - 50%.

Security questions

After making a table for a manual router, you need to say in conclusion about the main thing, that is, about safety. We strongly recommend making for the cutter protective screen according to the type of samples for industrial milling tables. It is also necessary to equip the machine with the so-called “fungus”, that is, an emergency stop button, placing this button in an easily accessible place, and also to prevent accidental pressing of the start button.

After this, it is recommended to highlight the working area, since around the cutter the most dangerous place. It makes sense to think about an automatic or manual device for lowering and raising the router if you change the cutter reach height quite frequently. The design of a homemade milling machine can be improved over a long period of time, depending on the tasks being solved and the designer’s imagination.

Currently, milling equipment is especially popular. The essence of this type of material processing is that the cutter processes a workpiece that is fixed motionless, that is, the tool itself rotates, but the workpiece does not. However, this is not always convenient when it comes to a manual router. A table for a manual router is perfect solution this problem. You can make a structure that will allow you to move the workpiece, and the hand router itself will be fixed permanently. The question arises, how to make a table for a hand router with your own hands.

Of course, you can try to search already ready-made solution, but this will be quite difficult to do, since a hand router is a specific tool. You can make such a table with your own hands quite simply. However, first you need to decide on its design.

Selecting the type of table to be mounted

You can make a table for a manual router with your own hands in three types:

portable;
stationary;
aggregate.

If we talk about the portable version, then it is ideal for a manual router. Such a table can be used not only directly in the workshop, but also dragged to any other convenient place.

When it comes to working in confined spaces, as well as in permanent place, then the stationary option looks preferable. It will be possible to perform not only operations using a manual milling cutter, but also a lot of other actions. For example, sawing workpieces.

Drawing of a milling table with a milling lift.

If the first two options are not suitable, you need to choose the third.

Before you make a table for a hand router with your own hands, you need to clearly understand what main parts it consists of. There must be a bed, a tabletop, a mounting plate, and stops. These are the parts that are included in any table for a manual router. The easiest option is to use a ready-made table. You just need to attach it to it additional details. Here you will have to make stops, clamps and think over the fastening method.

However, it is worth taking a closer look at the process from the very beginning so that there are no questions about how to make a table for a manual router with your own hands.

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Bed and its features

The bed is an integral part of any router table. And this applies not only manual option, but also ordinary. The bed consists of two parts - a frame and a table top.

For work you will need MDF or chipboard, as well as metal profiles and wood.

It is the metal profile that provides simple assembly the entire structure. Here, all joints are not welded to each other, but are fastened with bolted connections. In this case, the connections are reliable and, if necessary, easy to disassemble.

As for the dimensions of the bed, they are selected depending on the size of the parts that will most often be processed on it. In order to avoid mistakes, it is worth acquiring a drawing. All overall and geometric dimensions should be indicated on it.

List of materials and parts for making a milling table.

As for the height of the bed, it should be optimal for the work. It is best to choose a height from 0.8 to 1 m. However, everything depends mainly on the height of the person who will have to work with a hand router. To avoid your feet touching the bottom of the table while working, you should make it recessed in relation to the top part. In this case, all problems of this kind disappear.

Chipboard should be used to make the lid. This material perfectly resists various types of vibrations. In addition, such a surface will be hard and smooth, which means that the workpiece will easily slide and move along it.

You can also use thick plastic. Such a surface is quite easy to process using any tools. In addition, plastic is a smooth material on which the workpiece will glide perfectly. No additional processing is required here. Plastic is easy to cut and process. This allows you to make excellent grooves on its surface and fasteners.

An aluminum countertop is also an excellent option. This material is easy to process and is not exposed to external aggressive factors. First of all, we are talking about moisture. Aluminum is not subject to corrosion. The tabletop will last for many years.

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Mounting plate: nuances

The mounting plate is one of the main parts of the machine. It is simply necessary to install it. Mounting plate allows you to save design features milling machine. This is done if the height of the frame exceeds 25 mm. This size occurs because the frame is made 1 m high.

Very often, a metal sheet is used to make such a plate. It must have a minimum thickness. You can use a sheet of PCB.

This material is extremely durable, which is a necessity in this case.

The mounting plate may have various sizes, but they must fully match the size of the tabletop. It shouldn't be too thick. Its optimal thickness is approximately 6-8 mm.

It is necessary to make a hole in the center of the workpiece, the diameter of which will be equal to the corresponding characteristic in the milling sole. Most models have special holes to which the plate is attached. If there are none, then you should do them yourself. For these purposes, a drill is used, into which a metal drill is installed. You can do without extra holes.

Any hand router can be secured using brackets with springs.

This fastening method is also quite effective, but it is worth remembering that the brackets must be made of durable material, since as a result of work, numerous loads arise that cause vibration of the machine. It can harm both the router itself and cause an accident.

All parts for the table are now ready. It is very important that they are all done according to these instructions. Otherwise, there is a high probability that the work will be done poorly.

In a private household, a milling machine is always useful. The equipment is indispensable in the manufacture of various wooden products- from window frames to various small crafts. The milling machine consists of a support table and the router itself. If the owner already has a manual router, then you can make a router table with your own hands.

The table is the main base of the machine. Milling cutters are its working parts. With the help of these parts, many operations are performed when processing wood blanks. On a machine, longitudinal grooves, channels, vertical recesses, oval bevels and much more are made in wood. A table is necessary for precise placement of the cutter - both horizontally and vertically.

Milling table design

The machine desktop must meet the following requirements:

The standard working surface height ranges from 800 to 900 mm. The height of the table can be different - at the request of the owner of the workshop.
The surface of the table should ensure unhindered sliding of the wooden workpiece.
The milling cutter must be equipped with an elevator that will easily move the cutter vertically.
IN work area you need to install chip and dust suction.
The mounting plate must ensure reliable fastening of the router. The thickness of the plate should allow the cutting element to extend upward as much as possible.
The clamping parts must be such that the worker’s hands cannot accidentally get under the cutter.
The machine bed must be stable, and at the same time allow the machine to be easily moved to the desired location.

Manufacturing of bed and table top

In a home workshop, inexpensive auxiliary materials are often used to make the supporting part of the machine. To do this, take pieces of MDF, construction plywood, metal corner, hardware (bolts, screws, washers and nuts) and so on.

bed

The supporting structure for the machine is made of wooden beams or welded metal profiles. Some craftsmen adapt it to the bed old table or workbench. The most important thing in the design of the frame is stability. During operation of the milling cutter, various vibration loads may occur.

If old furniture is loose, it is worth installing additional fasteners. To do this, use a metal corner, which is attached to questionable parts of the structure through drilled holes with screws.

The most reliable design will be a frame made of steel angle 40x40 mm. To do this, you need a welding machine and experience in handling it.

Tabletop

The organization of the desktop can be “seen” in videos about the operation of milling machines published on the Internet. When manufacturing a tabletop, it is necessary to follow the requirements that ensure easy movement of the wooden workpiece and the cutting part of the cutter, as well as reliable fixation of the workpiece relative to the cutter.

DIY machine assembly option

Install on both side ends of the table aluminum profile T-shaped section for fastening and free movement of the rip fence in the form of a bar. The side strip is equipped with aluminum fasteners that fit into the grooves of the side profiles.

A rectangular cutout is made in the plank for the exit of the cutter. A guide profile is attached to the part, along which the vertical and angular clamps move. Clamps fix the passage of the wooden workpiece through the milling zone.

A parallel groove is cut in the tabletop to move the miter gauge slider. On one of the supports under the tabletop there are switches with an emergency stop button for the router.

The work platform is often made of MDF and construction plywood. The surface of such material wears out quickly. A more reliable tabletop is made of textolite. The textolite surface has high wear resistance and a low coefficient of friction.

The ideal option for a tabletop would be a steel sheet or an aluminum alloy plane. Since the platform must have technological grooves and holes, making such a part with your own hands will be quite difficult, and sometimes impossible. A solution can be found in using parts of old equipment.

Router plate

An opening is cut out in the center of the tabletop to install the work plate. It is better to make the plate from the same PCB. A round hole is made in the slab. Round inserts are made under the hole. By combining inserts, select the through hole in diameter for the desired cutter.

The ring inserts, like the plate itself, must be flush with the entire surface of the work table. The rings ensure that the cutter fits tightly into the working area.

Fraser

The power plant functions like an ordinary drill. The milling chuck clamps the cutter axis and imparts rotational movement to it. The unit is attached from below to the working plate. When designing a table, it is necessary to take into account the preservation of space for placing the device under the tabletop.

A compact electric motor is used as a milling cutter. You can make a homemade power tool to an experienced master. In some cases, an electric drill is used. To get rid of this problem, purchase a ready-made manual router. The retail chain offers customers a wide range of hand-held power tools of this type.

Manual milling machines from different manufacturers have approximately the same set of options and overall dimensions. The tool is mainly intended for processing wooden workpieces.

The milling machine allows the worker to control the processing process with two hands, and when working with hand tools, hands are busy holding the unit itself. It is advantageous to place a manual milling cutter in a homemade machine design.

Mounting plate

The polymer sole of the router is removed and a mounting plate is cut along its contour. The mounting plate is made from metal sheet, thickness no more than 6 mm. Mounting holes are drilled in the working area along the screws securing the router through the mounting plate.

The holes are made from the side of the working surface with a countersunk so that the screw heads do not protrude above the plane of the table.

Elevator

An elevator is a device for moving something vertically. In this case, this concerns the milling unit. The manual router is equipped with a lift. The problem of installing an elevator becomes relevant when home-made devices are used as a power plant.

You can purchase a ready-made factory-made elevator. There are many options for making homemade lifting devices published on the Internet. The main task of the lift is to accurately fix the cutter vertically. The protrusion of the conical cutting surface of the cutter determines the depth and width of the wood sample in the workpiece.

One of the most popular options for a homemade elevator is to move the router on a vertical threaded metal rod.

Diagram of a homemade router lift

A shelf is installed under the table into which a rod with a flange nut is inserted. A flywheel is installed higher on the rod. By rotating it, you achieve the desired height of the cutter above the surface of the work table.

Rotary milling table

The rotary model of the machine is complex design, ensuring the inclination of the wooden workpiece in relation to the cutter. Thanks to this feature of the machine, wooden blanks of complex shapes are produced. It is almost impossible to assemble such tables at home.

Safety when working on a homemade machine

To operate the milling machine safely, several safety rules must be followed:

The metal frame must be grounded.
The machine is installed in a dry, ventilated area.
If the machine is made entirely of wood, then the milling cutter body itself is grounded.

Conclusion

A DIY milling table will save money for the workshop owner. Homemade design takes into account all the individual needs of the machine owner, which compares favorably with ready-made options.