Router table setup has gotten complicated with all the premium fence systems and lift mechanisms flying around. As someone who built my first router table from scrap plywood and a thirty-dollar router, I learned everything there is to know about making a router table that actually works well regardless of your budget. Today, I will share it all with you.
Why a Router Table Changes Your Workflow
Some cuts are just easier and safer with the wood moving past the bit instead of the router moving across the wood. A router table gives you both hands free to control the workpiece. The fence keeps cuts consistent across multiple pieces. Small parts that would be sketchy or downright dangerous to route handheld become safe and controlled on a table. Edge profiles especially become dramatically easier — run the piece past the bit, and you get a perfect profile every time.
I resisted building a router table for years because I thought my handheld router was enough. Wrong. The first time I ran an edge profile on a router table with both hands guiding the workpiece, I realized how much I had been fighting the handheld setup. That’s what makes a good router table endearing to us woodworkers — it multiplies the capability of a router you already own.
Table Options for Every Budget
Probably should have led with this section, honestly. There are three basic approaches and they all work.
Standalone router tables give you the most features and dedicated workspace. They have their own base, a full-size top, and usually a more sophisticated fence system. If you have the shop space, a standalone table is the most comfortable to use because you can walk around it and feed from any direction.
Benchtop versions sit on your workbench and save floor space. They sacrifice some work surface area but handle the same operations. If your shop is tight — and most shops are — a benchtop router table is a smart compromise. Mine sat on my bench for three years before I built a dedicated station.
Building the table into your table saw extension wing is the space-saving move that a lot of clever woodworkers use. You already have the outfeed support and the work surface. Adding a router plate to the wing gives you a full-function router table without losing any floor space. Brilliant design that I wish I had done from the start.
You can absolutely build your own table. Mine started as a three-quarter-inch plywood box with a laminate top surface. Cost me about forty dollars in materials and an afternoon of work. It is not pretty, but it has been dead accurate for years.
The Fence Is Where Precision Lives
Your fence needs to be dead straight and easy to adjust. A warped or bowed fence produces uneven cuts no matter how good the rest of your setup is. I made my first fence from a straight piece of MDF with a cutout for the bit. Simple, cheap, and it worked until I upgraded.
Split fences are a nice feature that let you offset the outfeed side slightly from the infeed side. This is essential for jointing operations where you are removing material and need the outfeed side forward to support the newly cut surface. Not everyone needs this, but if you do any edge jointing on the router table, a split fence is worth it.
Add featherboards to your setup. Seriously. Featherboards press the workpiece firmly against the fence and down onto the table during the cut. The result is safer operation and more consistent cuts because the workpiece cannot drift away from the fence or lift off the table. I have featherboard mounts on both sides of my router bit position.
Mounting the Router
Fixed-base routers work best in a table because there is no play or wobble in the depth adjustment. Plunge-base routers have more moving parts that can introduce slop. If you have a router with interchangeable bases, use the fixed base in the table and keep the plunge base for handheld work.
Get a plate that lets you adjust the bit height from above the table. Reaching underneath to fiddle with the depth adjuster is awkward, slow, and means you cannot see what you are doing. Above-table adjustment is one of those features that seems minor until you use it, then you wonder how you ever lived without it.
Dust collection matters more at the router table than almost anywhere else in the shop. Router chips go absolutely everywhere without a collection port on the fence and ideally another one below the table. I connected a four-inch port to my fence and a two-and-a-half-inch port to the router compartment below. Catches about ninety percent of the mess.
Start Simple and Upgrade Later
You do not need a five-hundred-dollar setup to start routing on a table. A basic flat surface, a straight fence, and a decent router get you started. Use it for a few months, figure out what annoys you and what you wish you had, then upgrade those specific things. That is how you end up with a router table that is perfectly tailored to your work instead of a showroom piece with features you never use.
