[Duane Bledsoe]

Going back to the mobile work bench I’m building, it will have a 3/4 plywood top and I’m putting my DW611 router in it for utility work and for just having a second table available in the shop to shape parts or whatever I may need at the moment. So keep in mind it doesn’t have to do precise work. Therefore I don’t want a plate. It’s more important to me to be able to move it around to job sites and use it as more than just a router table.

So I’m just fastening the router to the bottom of the 3/4 plywood and planning to use panhead screws with washers under the heads to screw down from the top into the router base below. I am just guessing but I’ll probably have to drill maybe 1/4 inch deep stepped holes from the top to keep the panheads below the surface. This leaves about 1/2 inch of thickness to hold the router and keep the screws from pulling through.

Now if I were to route a recess from below just to get the router a bit closer to the surface, say 1/8 inch deep, then this shaved down the total thickness between the base and screw heads to 3/8. Is this enough to rely on and not have the weight of the router pull the screws through?

I don’t know about this plywood but it seems a bit soft. Funny thing is I don’t even know what kind it is. It wasn’t advertised as pine. I got it from Home Depot for $40 per sheet and it is very smooth without so much as a blemish on either side. Not even a filled place.

 

[hawkeye10]

Duane Home Depot made a mistake on the pltwood. It should have been about $100 a sheet. For your router what about using hard board? You know that dark brown stuff. Watch the dust, that stuff is nasty.

 

[harrysin]

I would rebate 1/2" for the router and use countersunk bolts to hold it. I would also fit a MUSCLECHUCK, as I have to all my 1/2" routers, this gives about an extra 1/2" depth of cut, it also allows bit change from above using just a half turn of a 4mm ball ended Allen key and has a far Superior grip on the bit compared to a standard collet chuck.

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

Duane I'd say attach the 611 to a plate and let it float in a rabbet on the table top. That's what I've done with 3+ hp plungers and when I needed to use them out of the table I just used them with the table insert still attached. Makes a very stable plate that way. Only issue is that a standard plate may have too big a hole for the 611's bolt pattern. I've recessed holes to mount larger routers with no issue Duane and the 611 is a lightweight router so if you had 1/2' of thickness left that should be lots. In fact 3/8 of thickness should be lots even with the recessed holes. Remember that almost all the force on the bit is sideways and not down.

 

[AndyL]

My feeling is the 3/8" will be sufficient Duane, if you use washers under the screw heads. Especially as the DW611 is a relatively light router. The plywood will be in compression between the washer and the router base, and it should be pretty strong that way. Presumably your recess underneath will be sized to snugly fit the router base, so the rest of the table will be the full 3/4".

The Muscle Chuck does look like a pretty great solution though, if they do one that will fit the DW611. It gives normal routers a couple of the things that make Tritons so good for an "austere" router table - easy above-the-table bit changing and ample plunge depth.

 

[Nickp]

Now if I were to route a recess from below just to get the router a bit closer to the surface, say 1/8 inch deep, then this shaved down the total thickness between the base and screw heads to 3/8. Is this enough to rely on and not have the weight of the router pull the screws through?

611 is light...should have no problems going with what you have planned...if you need any extra strength you can always slap a couple of 1x2's on the bottom...nice and simple...low cost...to your point, you're not running panel bits...

 

[JIMMIEM]

I have a DW618 mounted in a table. The top is 5/8" MDF on top of 3/4" MDF the. The 3/4" MDF has a hole cut in it so the router base is flush to the 5/8" MDF piece. The 3/4" MDF is there to provide additional rigidity. I would think that a well supported piece of 1/2" MDF would be plenty for the DW611 and super flat.
Also, instead of pan head screws get screws with the same TPI and a wood screw head shape and countersink them into the table top. Measure the screw length so that they're long enough but don't bottom out.

 

[JIMMIEM]

I have a DW618 mounted in a table. The top is 5/8" MDF on top of 3/4" MDF the. The 3/4" MDF has a hole cut in it so the router base is flush to the 5/8" MDF piece. The 3/4" MDF is there to provide additional rigidity. I would think that a well supported piece of 1/2" MDF would be plenty for the DW611 and super flat.
Also, instead of pan head screws get screws with the same TPI and a wood screw head shape and countersink them into the table top. Measure the screw length so that they're long enough but don't bottom out.

Top is actually 1/2" MDF....not 5/8". I was just using it and re-measured it.

 

[Duane Bledsoe]

Top is actually 1/2" MDF....not 5/8". I was just using it and re-measured it.

Concerning screw length, it's not an issue. The routerbase for the DW611 has screw holes that go all the way through, except for two being covered by the plastic guard/dust port but I already drilled those two out so all four screw holes are now open. I only did this so I don't have to split hairs on measuring. Just get 3/4 or 1 inch. I wanted to get panhead so I could drill flat bottomed holes to guard against them pulling through, but I'll look to see what I can get. I might be overthinking it but I just figured a small screw like this would have a small head and this little router is fairly weighty for its size, not to mention this stand is going to see a lot of being bounced around. I had also thought maybe I'd route a recess into the bottom side of the top to elevate the router another 1/8 or so. I don't need to do that (see another thread I just made on this) but I had thought it would keep me from ever putting a bit in too deep and finding out after I've already put the motor back in the base that I have to take it out and start again. So the recess would help that but it also thins out the material between the base and the screwhead.

 

[JIMMIEM]

Concerning screw length, it's not an issue. The routerbase for the DW611 has screw holes that go all the way through, except for two being covered by the plastic guard/dust port but I already drilled those two out so all four screw holes are now open. I only did this so I don't have to split hairs on measuring. Just get 3/4 or 1 inch. I wanted to get panhead so I could drill flat bottomed holes to guard against them pulling through, but I'll look to see what I can get. I might be overthinking it but I just figured a small screw like this would have a small head and this little router is fairly weighty for its size, not to mention this stand is going to see a lot of being bounced around. I had also thought maybe I'd route a recess into the bottom side of the top to elevate the router another 1/8 or so. I don't need to do that (see another thread I just made on this) but I had thought it would keep me from ever putting a bit in too deep and finding out after I've already put the motor back in the base that I have to take it out and start again. So the recess would help that but it also thins out the material between the base and the screwhead.

I've got 4 flat heads screws countersunk into a piece of 1/2" MDF. The screw heads are just below the surface of the MDF so as not to interfere with the workpiece. MDF is a real nice flat surface and I've put several coats of oil base polyurethane on it. Less expensive than a high quality piece of plywood. If it needs to be portable there are lots of plans for portable router tables...some will even break down for easy transport and storage.