Well, I have had this metal frame cart given to me by a friend, that was originally used at a macy's store to put price tags and such on clothes. It was an assembly table for a while, and then I mounted my router table top on it. It worked OK, but it was a little light, and the bins that were mounted on it just filled up with dirt.
I took an idea from one of the articles on a "woodworkingathome.com" DVD, ad added a cabinet with several small drawers. The majority of my router accessories are less than 2 inches tall, so the small drawers make everything easier to find than in the deeper drawers they used to be in. The drawers are also interchangable in the different slots, except for the 3 odd sized ones that were made to fit the bigger boxes of some of my bit sets. In all, it took 2 sheets of ply, 2 sheets of 1/4 hardboard for the drawer bottoms, and about 400 screws, but the storage and the sheer weight of the cabinet make the router table much more functional. Probably only around $65 for the wood, $30 in hardware.
The piece of MDF on the outfeed of the table is easily replacable, and serves as a cuting surface for handheld work. The cabinet is actually pretty spacious, the drawers are 25 inches deep, and slide fully thru the cabinet so the open on both sides. This allowed me to make fewer drawers, and store some pretty long items in there, like my router compasses, etc. The cubby oposite the router was originally going to be fitted with 2 slide out bit trays, but I had so much storage that I ended up dividing the cabinet at that point and it holds my other router and the plunge base for the mounted router.
The height is a little low, but it is just about even with my workbench when I put the protective top on it, and it tucks under the extension wing of my saw if I need to get it out of the way. The casters lock, and the extra weight really prevents it from sliding around, but I have some wedges that will actually jack it up a hair and really lock it down if I'm doing BIG stuff.
I'll probably end up putting some finish on it, but only if I have nothing else to do any time soon. I am also going to try a couple of dust collection ideas as well.
The switch is from sears, it was only $20, and I had a coupon for $5 off, so I figured what the heck. The opening on the front and side give easy access to the controls, but height adjustment is also thru the top.
I took an idea from one of the articles on a "woodworkingathome.com" DVD, ad added a cabinet with several small drawers. The majority of my router accessories are less than 2 inches tall, so the small drawers make everything easier to find than in the deeper drawers they used to be in. The drawers are also interchangable in the different slots, except for the 3 odd sized ones that were made to fit the bigger boxes of some of my bit sets. In all, it took 2 sheets of ply, 2 sheets of 1/4 hardboard for the drawer bottoms, and about 400 screws, but the storage and the sheer weight of the cabinet make the router table much more functional. Probably only around $65 for the wood, $30 in hardware.
The piece of MDF on the outfeed of the table is easily replacable, and serves as a cuting surface for handheld work. The cabinet is actually pretty spacious, the drawers are 25 inches deep, and slide fully thru the cabinet so the open on both sides. This allowed me to make fewer drawers, and store some pretty long items in there, like my router compasses, etc. The cubby oposite the router was originally going to be fitted with 2 slide out bit trays, but I had so much storage that I ended up dividing the cabinet at that point and it holds my other router and the plunge base for the mounted router.
The height is a little low, but it is just about even with my workbench when I put the protective top on it, and it tucks under the extension wing of my saw if I need to get it out of the way. The casters lock, and the extra weight really prevents it from sliding around, but I have some wedges that will actually jack it up a hair and really lock it down if I'm doing BIG stuff.
I'll probably end up putting some finish on it, but only if I have nothing else to do any time soon. I am also going to try a couple of dust collection ideas as well.
The switch is from sears, it was only $20, and I had a coupon for $5 off, so I figured what the heck. The opening on the front and side give easy access to the controls, but height adjustment is also thru the top.