Archive: December 2009

Router Table (Pt. 1)

For the last two weeks I have been designing my next big project, a router table based on the NYW  deluxe router station. I’m making several changes to the plans, The biggest one being that my router station needs to be mobile, so it’s designed to rest on 3″ casters.  I’m also changing the bit drawer sizes, I sized the two bottom drawers to hold the longest 1/2″  bits Freud sells (4-3/4″), The top 4 drawers are sized to hold normal length 1/2″ bits, and long 1/4″ bits. The only other change worth noting, is how the back is attached. Norm used biscuits to attach the back, I’m going to use dado’s. Unfortunately since my design is based so closely on Norm’s commercially available plans I can’t post the Sketchup file, but I can post a screen shots of it.  Hopefully I will have the design finished by the end of the year, and be able to start construction in early January.

My design about 90% done.

Waterstone flattening

I finally broke down and purchased some waterstones so that I could take my sharpening skills to the next level. In my opinion the only real drawback to waterstones is that they don’t stay flat. Thus as soon as I placed my order, I spent a little time searching the net looking for the best flattening method. Lots of methods exist, but the two most common are: a coarse diamond honing stone, or sandpaper on a surface plate.

While diamond hones will do a great job of quickly removing material they are notoriously unflat, and thus in my opinion not acceptable. I have a surface plate, and while it is flat, I don’t like the idea of constantly having sandpaper glued to it. Additionally a 70 pound surface plate isn’t very portable. What I finally decided on (shown below) was a hybrid approach.

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