Mike so happens woodsmith has a combo router build set of plans

That's a good design Gary. Basically you use the tall fence for a table when it's rotated. Years ago I made a horizontal table and they can be very useful since you can rout over the top of your piece as well as below so that offers possibilities that only routing below doesn't

There is one VERY important thing to remember if you are routing with a horizontal table and that is that feed direction is reversed when the bit is below the work and should be left to right. If the bit is above the work then you go back to the standard right to left.

It is an interesting idea but the more I looked at it then I cant see why the table gets flipped up, a first glance you could think it was a variable angle arbour buts it's not as regardless of the angle the table is sitting on then cutter is still square to the table and the fence so regardless of how you set it the cutter angle is still the same, Mike is right and the feed direction would get reversed still I will think about this some more and see if I can see why anyone would need to flip a router table 90degs and use the fence as the table instead of use the table itself. It's a lot of work to make the table so it could flip and so far I don't see why I would do that. N

N I used it to make some picture frames. The wife had picked some out at a frame shop that she liked but they were $25 per running foot. I realized they were just a collection of simple curves with a bead at the top. The problem was that it would have been very difficult to rout those unless the profiled part was up and the back was on the table.

I think an overhead router would have worked too and I've been keeping my eyes open for an old radial drill press, thinking it might be easy to convert but I haven't run across one yet.

Cherryville Chuck said:

I think an overhead router would have worked too and I've been keeping my eyes open for an old radial drill press, thinking it might be easy to convert but I haven't run across one yet.

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This help? Homemade Pin Router - HomemadeTools.net

Not exactly Theo but if you click on the image of it it takes you to the mandolin cafe site and the post above it there is interesting. BJ had made an overhead router setup by adding an L bracket onto the end of a radial arm saw motor and he said it worked pretty good. I'd like something easy to raise and lower. That's why I thought a radial drill press.

Cherryville Chuck said:

Not exactly Theo but if you click on the image of it it takes you to the mandolin cafe site and the post above it there is interesting. BJ had made an overhead router setup by adding an L bracket onto the end of a radial arm saw motor and he said it worked pretty good. I'd like something easy to raise and lower. That's why I thought a radial drill press.

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Ah, gotcha now. And know exactly what would work for you. And, of course, can't remember where I saw it - it has been a good while. I'll post it if I ever run across it. In the meantime, found this, don't know if it will be of use to you or not, but maybe someone. Homemade Overhead Router System - HomemadeTools.net

I don't need an overhead router, but if I did, I'm sure I could come up with something workable, different, and ugly. :grin: Hmm, just hit me, I'm thinking a router mounted to a chunk of 2X4, between 2 chunks of 2X4, backed with 2 chunks of 2X6, separated slightly making a slot, and height likely adjustable by hand but a threaded rod could be used, and locked in place with a bolt (or 2). And all glued together - I don't like metal in my shop projects especially, then if I repurpose the wood, nothing to damage my saw or planer blades. And I'd paint the whole thing bright yellow, to make it cheerful, and to brighten up the shop a bit.

A little bulky but it looks workable.

neville9999 said:

It is an interesting idea but the more I looked at it then I cant see why the table gets flipped up, a first glance you could think it was a variable angle arbour buts it's not as regardless of the angle the table is sitting on then cutter is still square to the table and the fence so regardless of how you set it the cutter angle is still the same, Mike is right and the feed direction would get reversed still I will think about this some more and see if I can see why anyone would need to flip a router table 90degs and use the fence as the table instead of use the table itself. It's a lot of work to make the table so it could flip and so far I don't see why I would do that. N

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I think it would make it easier to do mortises, Neville. They show the jig and stops for that. There's also some panel bits which go the other way like that... need less power for those because of the smaller radius.

I would like to be able to angle the cutter too though. That would add a lot of versatility that I could have used for my columns that I had to make a jig for: http://www.routerforums.com/general-routing/101010-how-dress-up-columns-2.html#post1327041

Mark Sternberg makes one that angles to any angle you want: https://routermillwoodworks.weebly.com/

Basically what he did was to attach the frame that holds the router to a round piece of plywood that can be rotated then locked into position. I had forgotten about it until you mentioned that Paul. He posted the prototypes on the forum maybe 5 years ago now.

If you are good at making images in your head then set the table at any angle between the cutter pointing directly up and the cutter fully on its side, there are 90 different positions if you stop it every 1 degree, 180 if you can imagine 1/2 degrees, the thing is that on all of those angles then the cutter is exactly the same in regard to both the table and the fence so at all the angles then nothing changes at all other than the working angle as the wood is in the same relationship to the cutter so I have been wondering what real benefit there is in all the work to make it tilt? Its not like tilting the table makes it a tilting arbour. I would want to see some reason to make it. N

If you are doing raised panels the bit is much smaller if done on horizontal router table.

neville9999 said:

If you are good at making images in your head then set the table at any angle between the cutter pointing directly up and the cutter fully on its side, there are 90 different positions if you stop it every 1 degree, 180 if you can imagine 1/2 degrees, the thing is that on all of those angles then the cutter is exactly the same in regard to both the table and the fence so at all the angles then nothing changes at all other than the working angle as the wood is in the same relationship to the cutter so I have been wondering what real benefit there is in all the work to make it tilt? Its not like tilting the table makes it a tilting arbour. I would want to see some reason to make it. N

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In the example I gave of Mark Sternberg's design the router does tilt in relation to the table. That still probably doen't give any advantage with lots of bits. I can't see angling a roman ogee profile for example but it might open up some possibilities when using straight or round nosed bits and you could tweak angles on bevel bits, for whatever that might be worth.

Cherryville Chuck said:

In the example I gave of Mark Sternberg's design the router does tilt in relation to the table. That still probably doen't give any advantage with lots of bits. I can't see angling a roman ogee profile for example but it might open up some possibilities when using straight or round nosed bits and you could tweak angles on bevel bits, for whatever that might be worth.

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The point I am making is that its a lot of work to make this tilting table so I would want to see some real benefits from doing it, just now I cant see a reason to make it. N

Neville, the only benefit I can see from this design is the ability to transform a "normal" router table to a horizontal table in a few seconds. The benefits of a horizontal table speak for themselves.