[email protected] wrote:
> I've got Norm's table almost done and am wondering about an alternate
> (to plastic laminate) surface. Anybody have any thoughts on the pros
> and cons of an alternative surface?
For my non Norm table I simply used 3/4 inch birch plywood, sanded smooth, a
good soak or two of Watco with solid wood trim on the edges......Being
cheap I also used a 3/8 plywood insert.....my table is 2ft by 4 ft(router
off center or nearer one end). .... I braced under the table for additional
support for both the insert and the table itself...it has held up fine for
both routing(Bosch 2 1/4 hp), off feed for the table saw(just low enough for
the table saw miter bar to clear) and assembly. Nonetheless even though I
have no complaints next time around I'd use a double layer of ply......Oddly
unless I need additional material support I use the table off of the 2 ft
end. Rod
Sun, Dec 30, 2007, 10:53am (EST-3) [email protected]
(Rod=A0&=A0Betty=A0Jo) doth sayeth:
For my non Norm table I simply used 3/4 inch birch plywood, sanded
smooth, a good soak or two of Watco with solid wood trim on the
edges......Being cheap I also used a 3/8 plywood insert. <snip>
Made my own table, no plans. Top is 1/2" plywood, no finish.
Insert is 1/2" plywood. I'm not cheap, just don' need no steenkin'
plans, and the plywood works just fine. Table probably cost a couple of
bucks, total. Nothing for sale fit my needs/wants - this one does - for
now.
JOAT
If you can read this you're in range.
Sun, Dec 30, 2007, 11:09am [email protected] doth query:
I've got Norm's table almost done and am wondering about an alternate
(to plastic laminate) surface. Anybody have any thoughts on the pros and
cons of an alternative surface?
I suppose that would depend on what you mean by 'alternative'. My
top is plywood, and I have no problems with it at all. If there is
another version made it will have a plywood top. What's supposed to be
bad about a plywood top anyway?
JOAT
If you can read this you're in range.
<[email protected]> wrote:
> Corian is great but expensive and a bit difficult to get as DuPont no
> longer sells to anybody except an authorized fabricator.
>
> I guess I was looking for a less expensive alternative.
Free is about as inexpensive as it gets for Corian®
You're correct about DuPont only selling to authorized fabricators, so
you need to schmooze up to one of them.
I turn a lot of pens, and use a lot of different color corian scraps
that I get from a local cabinet maker/kitchen installer. They're mostly
small pieces, but once in a while I score a sink cutout from a kitchen
or bathroom. These would certainly be big enough to use in your router
table.
Every once in a while the guy asks me to make a matching set from the
stuff for his customer, but for this I have a regular supply. He even
calls me when he has a 5 gallon bucket or two for pickup.
Just a thought.
Joe
aka 10x
After building one of Norm's router stations, one thing I would really
consider changing is the way the fence attaches to the table. If you need
to remove the fence for freehand routing, for example, the T-bolt on the
right side drops down into the compartment where the electrical wires are
when you lift off the fence and you have to lift the whole table top up to
get the bolt back. The other bolt on the left drops into the tool drawer
which isn't quite as bad, but still a nuisance. Instead of routing all the
way through the top for the T-bolt, seems like it would be better to just
epoxy and screw a short piece of T-track in a dado on top that allows you
to just slide the T-bolts and fence off the track to the back... kinda like
you can do with most drill press table tops. The base of the fence is so
wide that you don't have to tighten the T-bolts very much to have them hold
the fence in place. Good luck with you're new router station.. It gets
used all the time here..
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've got Norm's table almost done and am wondering about an alternate
> (to plastic laminate) surface. Anybody have any thoughts on the pros
> and cons of an alternative surface?
On Dec 30, 9:09 am, [email protected] wrote:
> I've got Norm's table almost done and am wondering about an alternate
> (to plastic laminate) surface. Anybody have any thoughts on the pros
> and cons of an alternative surface?
for me, router tables are often quickly made for a specific job and
abandoned when the job is done. a few of them have been better built
than that, adapted to new uses and kept around.
most of them have melamine faced particle board tops. the down side of
the melamine board is rigidity. if you add a heavy router to a wide
table it'll sag. this can be overcome just fine with an understructure
of ribs. the melamine has a nice smooth surface and with a coat of wax
it performs very well as a router table top. best of all it's cheap,
even often free, so if you need to drive screws into it, or chop off a
corner, or drill holes into it there's no guilt or hesitation. make
the needed mod and get the job done. when the top gets too torn up,
pitch it and make a new one. if you don't use mel. board as a material
in your shop enough to have a ready supply of scrap it can be
purchased in less than full sheet amounts as closet shelving at the
borgs, or scavenged from low end furniture and cabinetry. my biggest
router table top right now is a door from some kind of white storage
cabinet left behind by the previous tenant at a space a client of mine
was moving his business into.
if your goal in having a router table is to have an impressive looking
piece of shop furniture, buy one from a catalog. or heck, build it
from fancy hardwoods and put a granite top on it. just don't use it
hard, or it'll get scratched ; )
one benefit from building your own, and building plenty of them, and
not taking them too seriously is that you stop thinking about how to
make your projects work with the router table you have and you start
thinking of how to set up your router in the best possible way for the
operation you are performing.
On Dec 30, 10:09 am, [email protected] wrote:
> I've got Norm's table almost done and am wondering about an alternate
> (to plastic laminate) surface. Anybody have any thoughts on the pros
> and cons of an alternative surface?
What about Corian?
On Dec 30, 12:22 pm, [email protected] wrote:
> Corian is great but expensive and a bit difficult to get as DuPont no
> longer sells to anybody except an authorized fabricator.
>
> I guess I was looking for a less expensive alternative.
>
> On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 08:19:04 -0800 (PST), Lou <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >On Dec 30, 10:09 am, [email protected] wrote:
> >> I've got Norm's table almost done and am wondering about an alternate
> >> (to plastic laminate) surface. Anybody have any thoughts on the pros
> >> and cons of an alternative surface?
>
> >What about Corian?
I scored a 3' x 5' piece of Corian that an installer goofed up on when
he installed it, and had sitting in a field outside his shop along
with a bunch of other odd pieces that were waiting for use. $50 got me
the whole thing, which was enough for a nice, big router table top and
a nice island top for the kitchen.
> Every once in a while the guy asks me to make a matching set from the
> stuff for his customer, but for this I have a regular supply. He even
> calls me when he has a 5 gallon bucket or two for pickup.
>
> Just a thought.
>
> Joe
> aka 10x
You could also get together with a bath remodeler.
Corian sells a bath wall that is sold to anyone, not just
countertop installers.
Lou
On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 11:09:03 -0500, [email protected] wrote:
How about poly or shellac on mdf. Several coats with smoothing with
200 grit (or finer) between coats. Seems I read about this a long
while ago someplace.
>I've got Norm's table almost done and am wondering about an alternate
>(to plastic laminate) surface. Anybody have any thoughts on the pros
>and cons of an alternative surface?
Corian is great but expensive and a bit difficult to get as DuPont no
longer sells to anybody except an authorized fabricator.
I guess I was looking for a less expensive alternative.
On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 08:19:04 -0800 (PST), Lou <[email protected]>
wrote:
>On Dec 30, 10:09 am, [email protected] wrote:
>> I've got Norm's table almost done and am wondering about an alternate
>> (to plastic laminate) surface. Anybody have any thoughts on the pros
>> and cons of an alternative surface?
>
>
>What about Corian?
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've got Norm's table almost done and am wondering about an alternate
> (to plastic laminate) surface. Anybody have any thoughts on the pros
> and cons of an alternative surface?
You might consider MDF and a couple coats of a good epoxy paint.
But plastic laminate is inexpensive, easy to apply, and sufficiently
durable.
Max
At the risk of being horned out of the group.. I'm confused..! Why would
you not use high pressure laminate.. You have all this time and money
invested already in a long term router station. At the local hardware store
here I spent $37 for a half sheet (16 s.f.) That's about $2.30/s.f. and you
only need about 9 s.f. at the most if you include the fences.. Ok, you do
need some contact cement too. You can use the leftover for a drill press
table, extension for your table saw or million other things. Its so strong
and can take a whack once in place. If you drop something on MDF you'll
dent the crud out of it... Its a smooth surface, can take spills and with a
putty knife you can clean off most dried up spills. You can also measure
and mark all over laminate with a pencil and it washes right off. Too me,
its too cheap to not use.. You can cut it easily with a router straight
bit.. My vote is to use it..
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Sun, 30 Dec 2007 11:09:03 -0500, [email protected] wrote:
>
> How about poly or shellac on mdf. Several coats with smoothing with
> 200 grit (or finer) between coats. Seems I read about this a long
> while ago someplace.
>
>>I've got Norm's table almost done and am wondering about an alternate
>>(to plastic laminate) surface. Anybody have any thoughts on the pros
>>and cons of an alternative surface?