I've seen a number of posts here about making your own router table and such. Just to add fuel to the fire, one way to pick up some free materials for a home-made router table is to check your local cabinet shops.
This is a pile that I picked up a couple weeks ago, I was in the car so I could only get about 1/3 of the pile that was put on pallets out by the road.
A good way to stock up on materials for templates also, there always seems to be a bit of 1/4" stock in the piles.
Items include, countertop cutoff, 1/4" hardboard, 1/4" Masonite, 1/2" chipboard, and some 1/2" Melamine.
