[Ketch]

I have a router table which has a 1” thick base and a coping sled with a 1/2” base which I need for routing “rails ends” for cabinet doors. I have to raise the bit in the router in order to clear the table base and the sled base but it only leaves about 3/8” of the bit shaft in the router. The router is adjustable and is as high as it will go. I know this isn’t a safe set up but just wondering what to do. Thanks for any help.

 

[Ketch]

Something like this will work Collet Extension

Thank you, I wasn’t aware of this, that should do it

 

[Ketch]

Welcome. A collet extension as suggested will work.

However, from what you are describing, it is time to install a router mounting plate, which means cutting an opening in the table to fit a plate from any manufacturer that makes one for your router. These plates sit in an exact fit opening, on top of a lip that's half an inch smaller than the plate opening on all four sides. You remove the plastic plate on the base of your router and attach the bare base directly onto the plate. Most plates are between 1/4 and 3/8ths thick, so your bit will be higher. Kreg and many other suppliers make mounting plates. Kreg also makes a set of four leveling screw setups so you can level the top of the plate with the top of the table.

You are correct, most of the shank must be inside the collet to use a bit safely. They should bottom, then lift about 1/8 inch. Or for half inch collets, you can get a half inch grommet and place it in the collet, then just drop the bit in and it will bottom out on the grommet.

Hope the pictures and drawing are helpful. This is pretty easy to do. Cut the small opening first, then use a router with a hinge mortising bit with a top mounted bearing to cut the larger opening. Lay the new plate on the table, surround it with boards so it makes a template to guide the bearing. Easier to do than describe. Don't try to take off too much at once. Pix 1 a Kreg plate with quick twist lock inserts. Pix 2 Kreg leveling devices. Drawing is a side view of the lip for the plate.

View attachment 397781 View attachment 397782 View attachment 397783

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[Ketch]

Hi Tom,
Thanks for your helpful info. I have an old craftsman router and table but the opening in he fence wasn’t tall enough to accommodate the larger bits needed for making the cuts in rails and stiles. So I purchased a Skil table which has a removable , quick disconnect”plate on bottom of the 1” thick table base. I did remove the plastic base on the router and attached the router to the quick release base but that is still mounting the router 1” under the table and with the router adjusted to its fullest height the collet is still below the top of the table. This is all new to me so a good learning experience. I see how useful it would be to have base sit on top of the table as opposed to underneath, thanks again.

 

[Ketch]

Welcome to the forum

Thank you Roxanne, i appreciate that. I’m new to routing and trying to make 2 cabinet doors for my wife. I started with a Craftsman router that I’m borrowing from my sister-in-law . Since then Ive purchased a router table some bits for the stiles and rails , a coping sled, a collet extension , who knows where it will end. These will be some high priced cabinet doors.

 

[Ketch]

The hobby can get very addictive. You can count the experience learned from making the doors into the cost of the project I used to always try to buy myself a new tool when ever I did a large project. It was my way of rewarding myself. Just go have some fun and make some saw dust that is how we learn.

Thanks , good advice, ill try to remember that.

 

[Ketch]

Welcome. A collet extension as suggested will work.

However, from what you are describing, it is time to install a router mounting plate, which means cutting an opening in the table to fit a plate from any manufacturer that makes one for your router. These plates sit in an exact fit opening, on top of a lip that's half an inch smaller than the plate opening on all four sides. You remove the plastic plate on the base of your router and attach the bare base directly onto the plate. Most plates are between 1/4 and 3/8ths thick, so your bit will be higher. Kreg and many other suppliers make mounting plates. Kreg also makes a set of four leveling screw setups so you can level the top of the plate with the top of the table.

You are correct, most of the shank must be inside the collet to use a bit safely. They should bottom, then lift about 1/8 inch. Or for half inch collets, you can get a half inch grommet and place it in the collet, then just drop the bit in and it will bottom out on the grommet.

Hope the pictures and drawing are helpful. This is pretty easy to do. Cut the small opening first, then use a router with a hinge mortising bit with a top mounted bearing to cut the larger opening. Lay the new plate on the table, surround it with boards so it makes a template to guide the bearing. Easier to do than describe. Don't try to take off too much at once. Pix 1 a Kreg plate with quick twist lock inserts. Pix 2 Kreg leveling devices. Drawing is a side view of the lip for the plate.

View attachment 397781 View attachment 397782 View attachment 397783

 

[Ketch]

HI Tom,
well this so frustrating. I ordered a collet extension. I wonder if they come in different lengths ? I’m using a Rail and Stile 2 bit Round Over set. The router is mounted under a Skil Router table but with the router adjusted as high as it will go, the bit is not high enough to cut the stile. So I install the collet extension in the router with the bit , lower the router as low as possible and the bit is still about 1/4” to high to make the cut. So I had to clamp a 1/2” piece of plywood to the top of the router table and adjust the router height so the bit was at the correct level for the 3/4” Stiles. For the Rails i ordered a coping sled and ran into the same problem. With the rail clamped to the sled, the bit was to high with the router lowered as far as it would go. I had to add a 1/4” piece of plywood under the Rail piece on the sled in order to raise it high enough to make the cut. The cuts all came out OK but I’m not understanding why I‘m having all those headaches . The router table has a mounting plate for a router but it places the plate under the 1” thick table. Your diagram shows the router plate basically flush with the top of the table which would probably help. But I’ve thrown so much money into this 2 door project I just dont know if I want to invest even more at time time. I really need to take a break from this entire situation.

 

[Ketch]

HI Tom,
well this so frustrating. I ordered a collet extension. I wonder if they come in different lengths ? I’m using a Rail and Stile 2 bit Round Over set. The router is mounted under a Skil Router table but with the router adjusted as high as it will go, the bit is not high enough to cut the stile. So I install the collet extension in the router with the bit , lower the router as low as possible and the bit is still about 1/4” to high to make the cut. So I had to clamp a 1/2” piece of plywood to the top of the router table and adjust the router height so the bit was at the correct level for the 3/4” Stiles. For the Rails i ordered a coping sled and ran into the same problem. With the rail clamped to the sled, the bit was to high with the router lowered as far as it would go. I had to add a 1/4” piece of plywood under the Rail piece on the sled in order to raise it high enough to make the cut. The cuts all came out OK but I’m not understanding why I‘m having all those headaches . The router table has a mounting plate for a router but it places the plate under the 1” thick table. Your diagram shows the router plate basically flush with the top of the table which would probably help. But I’ve thrown so much money into this 2 door project I just dont know if I want to invest even more at time time. I really need to take a break from this entire situation.

Hi Ketch, could you post some photos of your setup, showing the over and under views of the table?

Hi Ketch, could you post some photos of your setup, showing the over and under views of the table?

Hi Ketch, could you post some photos of your setup, showing the over and under views of the table?
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Hi Ketch, could you post some photos of your setup, showing the over and under views of the table?

Hi Ketch, could you post some photos of your setup, showing the over and under views of the table?

So the craftsman router is attached to a quick release plate mounted under the table. With a bit mounted in the router collet and the router bit height set as high as possible ,it doesn’t raise high enough above the table to make the cut. By adding the collet extension ,raises the bit so high with the router set at its lowest setting , still can’t get the bit low enough to make the cut. So now I had to add a piece of plywood and adjust the height of the router to make the cut for the stiles . Have the same problem with the rails.

 

[Ketch]

Could you undo the quick release, but leave the router mounted to the plate, insert the stiles bit without the collet extender, and set the route as for maximum bit height above the table, and take a side-on photo? I find it hard to accept that there should be such a mismatch between the router and the table.

Well that is a good idea, i will give that a try, but not today. Thanks.

 

[Ketch]

Well that is a good idea, i will give that a try, but not today. Thanks.

Well that is a good idea, i will give that a try, but not today.

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Well that is a good idea, i will give that a try, but not today. Thanks.

So the table comes with a quick release bracket, one piece is attached to the bottom of the table the other piece is to be bolted to the router after you remove the plastic base that came installed with the router. I don’t see any other way to mount the router without using this quick release plate. With the router adjusted to it highest position and the router snapped into the quick release bracket, the top of the router collet sits about 5/8” below the top of the table. The bit sits way to low in the collet in order to make a cut. The shaft on the router bit is 1 1/4” long. I would need to raise the bit about 3/4” out of the collet in order to make the cut. The bit instructions say about 80% of the shaft must remain inside the collet and the bits have a mark on them showing that only about 1/4” of the shaft should be showing ,the other 1” of the shaft MUST remain inside the collet. Keep in mind I’m new to using routers so I might be missing something. But it seems dangerous not to be following their instructions.

 

[Ketch]

Hi Ketch, I suspect the problem may be the thickness of your coping sled. From the photos, it looks like the collet can reach at least the bottom of the router base, if not actually protrude through it. The underside of the table is routered out to accommodate the quickmount plate, which is itself sheet metal, not very thick. Your photo shows the bit clearing the table surface, but obviously not the coping sled.
Unfortunately I have zero experience with that type of router - they are uncommon this side of the Atlantic. But I would be surprised if its intended range of movement is too small to allow the use of the bit you show in the picture. Perhaps somebody who uses a similar Craftman can advise you on what may be restricting travel - the use of the extender is introducing a bunch of new problems, and is preferably avoided.
You might have to do without the coping sled. I made one, but abandoned it. Over the years, members have described various alternatives. I often just use a substantial scrap block, with two edges at right angles to each other: one edge bears against the fence, the other supports the workpiece. The block needs to be large enough to keep your fingers well away from the bit.

Well it just seems a shame that the coping sled I ordered for this project won’t work for me . I might be able to take it apart and replace the bottom with a smaller thickness plywood. So that would be for cutting the ends of the “rails”. I still have the same problem with the stiles. In one of my previous pictures you can see I had to add a 1/2” thick piece plywood to make he router base to make the cuts. I have watched tons YouTube videos of guys making the same cuts but none of them making modifications to their router tables or coping sleds .

 

[Ketch]

1" +1/2 is a 1 1/2 before you get to the cutter. I used a extension for doors one time., never do it again. You need to change the router plate and coping sled. Mines only 1/4 thick..
View attachment 397919

Ok I guess I can now try to make my own sled for the end cuts of the rails and sell the one I bought on eBay or something. This still leaves me with having to add a 1/2” piece of plywood clamped to the router table in order to make the cuts on the stiles. I didn’t think there was going to be so many Modifications needed to be made to store bought router equipment.

 

[Ketch]

Using a sled takes the "if" out of the run...

Thanks for the info. I’ve been using the sled with a 1/4” piece of scrap stock under the Rail to raise it up to a necessary height. It seems to be working OK so I think I’ll just stick with that set up. As for the stiles, i cant get the bit high enough above the router table to make the cut even with the router raised as high as it can go. Adding the collet extension to the bit an lowering the router to its lowest height leaves the bit to high to make the cut. So i have had to add a 1/2” plywood plate clamped to the router table and am able to then adjust the router to the necessary height.