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Do-it-yourself milling table for a manual router. Homemade table for a manual router. There are three main types of router tables

It can be very difficult to cut grooves accurately and to size. To make the legs of tables and chairs, milling, jointing or drilling machines with special devices and moving tables are used. In the absence of stationary machines, the grooves are cut with a manual milling cutter using a stop.

To cut a groove, you need to adjust the entire system of tables and clamping devices by eye, and the first time you almost always get an error. After additional adjustments, the error is eliminated and parts can be completed. It is difficult to hold a hand router with your own hands, and sometimes vibrations cause mistakes and drifts towards the stop, especially when hitting a knot.

The problem becomes even more complicated if the part is single, or the groove is located at a large distance from the edge of the board.

Original idea

The table recommended in the article is light in weight and small in size. It is quickly transferred, rebuilt and allows you to select grooves with great accuracy, high quality and without errors. Working with a manual router using the proposed table becomes simple and safe.

Important! The advantage and peculiarity of the idea is that with the help transparent material plexiglass very quickly and conveniently install the structure, combining it with the marks on the workpieces.

The table presented in the article for hand router easy to do with your own hands.

Preparing for work

In order to make a table structure for a manual router, you must have the following materials and components available:

Materials

Name	Type and dimensions, mm	Quantity
Scotch		1
Double sided tape		1
Fluoroplastic plate	300x300x20	1
Plexiglas	500x500, thickness 6-8
Adhesive for plastic

Accessories

Name	Type and dimensions, mm	Quantity
Countersunk screw	M8, length 30	6
Countersunk screw	M8, length 60	2
Furniture bolt	M8, length 60	4
nuts	M8	6
washers	M8	6
wing nuts	M8	6

Tools

List of tools used in the manufacture of a homemade device:

• ruler;
• cutting knife;
• thick felt-tip pen;
• pencil;
• finger cutters 10 mm, 16 mm;
• conical cutter;
• hand router;
• carpenter's square;
• clamps;
• 8 mm;
• head for chamfering on a drill;

The process of making a homemade table

Advice! To protect against chipping, tape is placed in the slots. For this purpose, they also protect the places where holes are drilled in plexiglass, using a drill with a chamfer head.

After this, the tape is removed. Using a simple felt-tip pen, draw the line of the slot so that it appears clearly.

Two strips measuring 500x50 mm are cut from plexiglass to make guides for the milling table. The edges of the guides are ground to reduce friction.

Next, in the lower side of the plate for the platform, 3 holes are drilled on both sides. This operation is performed with a drill with a chamfer head. Countersunk head screws will be inserted into these holes from below. 3 holes are cut accordingly on one of the plexiglass guide strips. Then connect one guide to the platform and attach nuts and washers.

A conical cutter is installed on a hand router. The router is pressed against the platform, the end of the cutter is aligned with the line in the center of the platform, and the bolt is clamped on the guide. Repeat this operation at the other end of the guide, and tighten all the bolts. Screw the second guide in the same way.

Thus, the manual router slides along the plexiglass platform along the guides, which rigidly fix it on both sides, preventing errors and mistakes.

Then using milling machine cut a groove for the cutter, having previously marked its dimensions on the platform with a felt-tip pen. Since its width should be 1 mm larger than the largest available finger cutter, the groove is made in 3 passes.

At the next stage, it is necessary to make equipment from polystyrene for attaching the limiters. The limiters move and are fixed on the limiter base, which is mounted on the table platform.

1. Cut polystyrene blanks on a circular saw.
2. The grooves are milled.
3. Drill holes for fastening.

Grooves are milled into the blanks of the stops and inserted into the bases by threading the screws into the holes of the grooves. If necessary, protruding screws are cut off with a grinder and the burrs are smoothed with a file.

1. Drill holes in the clamping bars.
2. The cutter is used to select a countersunk for the heads of furniture bolts.
3. Insert bolts into holes.

On the back side of the platform, bars are inserted so that the bolts fit into the grooves for fixing the table. On furniture bolts and the screws of the limiters screw on the wings.

The design of the milling table is made by hand and is ready for use.

The procedure for using a homemade table

Milling of bars

1. The workpiece is installed from below, covered on both sides with pressure bars and clamped. Using markings on the plexiglass of the platform and marks on the block, the structure is oriented so that the center of the block is in the center of the platform. The wings of the pressure bars are clamped. After this, the structure with the workpiece is clamped in a carpenter's vice.
2. Using markings on the bars and a conical cutter, the limiters are set and fixed.
3. Moving a hand router along the guides from one stop to another, changing the depth several times, select the grooves.

Milling grooves on a board

To carry out this operation you will need double-sided tape. The clamping bars are removed from the device.

1. Make markings on the board with a pencil, glue tape to the board and press the platform to it in accordance with the markings.
2. Install and press the limiters.
3. The groove is milled.

The following figure shows work done with a hand router on bars and boards. The result of assembly on tenons is also shown. All dimensions were perfectly accurate, and the process lasted for an hour.

Conclusion

Homemade table for a manual milling machine, it is easy to implement and has a low cost. Along with this, it is quickly installed on the part and easily and accurately performs manual milling work. Using this device in the workshop, you can significantly increase the productivity of a carpenter.

Video

Craftsmen of the past carried out decorative wood processing by hand. We still admire their creations to this day. But it took years to learn fine woodworking, and not every apprentice was able to create a masterpiece that earned him the title of master. And raise money for tools and accessories for higher craftsmanship. What is still relevant today: sets of shaped planes, pieces of iron for them and cutters for manual finishing of the product will cost more than a good manual wood milling machine. Which will also shorten the learning process and increase labor productivity significantly. If you make a milling table for it with your own hands, then the quality of the products will become much more stable. True, the functionality of the router will be reduced (the number of types of work operations), but the remaining sections will not be so difficult to finish using the same router without a table or even manually, without the risk of “screwing up” the entire workpiece. About the essential points self-made the milling table will be this material.

Note: masterpiece was originally a technical term denoting a trial work that must be done independently by an apprentice claiming to be a master. Since in the old workshops the corporate spirit and nepotism dominated everything and everyone, in order for a new apprentice to make his way into a master, he had to do something truly outstanding, even exceptional. This is where the use of the word “masterpiece” came from for a creation created during a creative surge.

Table or machine?

However, hand routers are not cheap tools. There seems to be no fundamental difference in the design of it and the milling head of a vertical milling machine. A motor suitable in power and speed for a homemade milling machine may be waiting in the closet for some use. So what is better to do for milling work on wood: the entire machine from scrap materials, or buy a manual router and a table for it?

Note: factory-made tables for hand-held milling machines are sold in the same way as drill stands that turn them into drilling or lathe machines.

It's about vibrations. The vibration of a machine with a workpiece is the worst enemy of cutting materials. In milling operations, the influence of vibration on the quality of processing is especially strong. If a drill or cutter (other than a chisel in slotting machine) bite into the workpiece once and then move through the material more or less smoothly, then the cutter hits the workpiece at least twice on each revolution. Shaped cutters with curved in 3 planes cutting edges reduce this drawback, but do not eliminate it completely - a cutter that does not hit the workpiece will not cut anything from it.

A homemade milling machine with a motor made from junk generally shakes as best it can. Vibration dampening measures available in the home workshop provide a quality of work suitable for simpler applications. carpentry work. In manual wood milling machines, vibration damping is already provided structurally. Installing the router into the table further reduces the “shaking”, and the entire unit becomes suitable for fairly delicate carpentry work, incl. over the front parts of furniture, decorative parts and other important parts. So there is still a fundamental difference between a homemade milling machine and a table for an existing manual milling machine.

How does a milling table work?

The main differences between a milling table with a finished machine and a home-made machine for the same purpose are as follows:

• The table is made according to design diagram a vertical milling machine with a bottom drive, while a homemade machine can be both vertical and horizontal. However, the latter does not provide any tangible advantages over the vertical one at home.
• The milling table can be easily equipped with a lift - a device for smoothly and possibly quickly adjusting the protrusion of the cutter above the work table.
• The workpiece stop system of the milling table can be improved compared to homemade machine to improve precision and cleanliness of processing.
• The table-mounted milling machine is reversibly modified (see below) so that it can be removed for manual work.

How a simple milling table for woodworking works is shown in Fig. Cabinet (bed) - any sufficiently strong and stable design, because The main vibration damping is carried out, except with the router itself, by the base plate. Therefore, the cabinet in this case is not actually a bed, because is simply a supporting structure.

On a simple table it is difficult to achieve high-quality processing of workpieces with a large width-to-height ratio. A completely flat board on an equally flat table suddenly, for no apparent reason, moves jerkily, the cut turns out to be uneven, or even the workpiece is bitten by the cutter. The reason is longitudinal, i.e. horizontally propagating elastic waves in the workpiece material. The comb vertical stop (see below) does not have time to absorb them, and antinodes (foci) of vibrations appear on the workpiece, spoiling the whole thing.

The horizontal stop is designed for such a situation, see next. rice. It is always performed with a comb, because is primarily a vibration absorber. For the same purpose, a second vertical comb stop is added.

In Fig. a table with 2-sided stops is shown, designed to feed the workpiece back and forth, see below. For a homemade table for ordinary carpentry work, it is better to make one-sided stops (see below): they are technologically simpler and can be made from ordinary hard, fine-grained wood (oak, beech, walnut). In any case, the most responsible structural units homemade milling table are:

1. Support (work table) and installation (mounting) plates;
2. Stops – comb and blind (simple);
3. Milling machine lift.

Plates

The base and mounting plates of a milling table are structurally identical to those of the same machine. An example of the design of a base plate for a milling table made of 2 layers of 19 mm plywood is shown in the figure:

Its main disadvantage is its high cost: birch plywood (bakelite is even better) of grade no lower than Ib. Meanwhile, having spent a little more time and labor on gluing the multilayer plywood “pie”, it, and even best quality, can be made, as for a milling machine, from cheap 4-mm construction (grade II) or packaging (non-grade) plywood. The required wear resistance and strength are ensured by impregnating the sheet with a water-polymer emulsion before cutting (a full-fledged substitute is the construction primer EKO Grunt), and vibration-absorbing properties by layers of PVA glue. Dried mounting (reinforced) PVA produces a viscous elastic film that perfectly damps vibrations, but even without that, the height space in which the elastic wave can gain strength is reduced by five.

Note: plywood is glued from veneer sheets with cheap casein or similar synthetic glue, which has vibration-damping properties only to a small extent (its layer is hard and brittle). Plywood glued with PVA would be completely unprofitable.

The design of an installation unit with increased vibration damping for a milling table is shown in Fig. and exactly the same as for a milling machine ().

And the procedure for making the base plate is the same: a sheet of plywood is impregnated 2-3 times on each side, then cut out (immediately with cutouts for the router). It is better to make a car window round or with rounded corners. The bag is glued according to the glue instructions and dried for at least 2 days under dispersed pressure for approx. 100 kg/sq. m slabs; a very good load - stacks of books and/or magazine files.

Plate for the router and its modification

The installation (mounting) plate of the router is made of fiber-laminated vibration-absorbing thermosetting plastic: textolite, fiberglass. Massive thermoplastic materials - hardboard, etc. - are somewhat worse at absorbing vibration. Thermoplastic plastic may warp when heated during operation and the machine will lose accuracy. Massive (ebonite, bakelite) or layered thermosetting plastics (getinax) are unsuitable - they very soon delaminate and crack due to vibrations and heating.

How the machine is modified for installation in a milling table is shown in the figure:

The lock of the standard sliding work table (shown by the arrow on the left in the figure) is released (pressed out). The standard table is then removed and placed on the compression springs (in the center) with a total force of approx. 1.5 car weight. The base of the standard table (shown by the arrow in the center) is removed, and a mounting plate is attached in its place (on the right in the figure). Restoring the machine for manual use is done in the reverse order.

Stops

Since a homemade milling table is capable of providing better precision and cleanliness of processing than the same machine, it is advisable to modify the stop system for it. Stops, as in the machine or in Fig. above with picture simple table, are suitable for the manufacture of non-facade (decorative) parts, because The straight L-shaped blind stop still strongly transmits vibrations back into the workpiece and makes it difficult to feed it (a workpiece made from ordinary industrial wood can jam).

Drawings of oblique comb and blind vertical stops for a homemade wood milling table are shown in Fig. Structurally, the comb stop for a table is somewhat different from that for a machine (all teeth are the same), because The whole unit doesn't shake as much anymore. Maple is one of the best vibration absorbers, but seasoned, without defects, knots, twists and cross-layers, commercial maple wood is an expensive and scarce material. It can be completely replaced by oak, beech, hornbeam, and walnut.

Note: An even better vibration damper is elm wood. But defect-free mature commercial elm is practically not available for general sale, because All of it goes into lasts for sewing expensive leather shoes and important machine parts.

The comb and blind stops are installed in pairs (the blind stop is the first along the workpiece), see the inset in the center in Fig. They are fixed with a locking block (stopper), highlighted in red in Fig. right. However, placing a comb with a capercaillie before the cutter along the course of the workpiece when feeding it, as shown there, is still wrong: the main “shaking” occurs behind the cutter. But installing 2 pairs of comb-grouse, before and after the cutter, is not prohibited and is useful for processing accuracy.

Back and forth emphasis

Workpieces made from homogeneous high-quality materials (MDF, post-forming for kitchen countertops, selected thin-layer wood) are often milled using the back-and-forth method: the part is pushed onto the cutter and immediately, without turning off the router, pulled back. The combination of up and down milling in one pass (see the article on the milling machine) gives the cleanest surface.

Note: parts milled back and forth are quite suitable for veneering and lamination.

However, for milling back and forth, install a pair of oblique combs turned in opposite sides, you can’t: the workpiece will jam on the incoming ridge. For back-and-forth milling, the workpiece is supported by pairs of vertical and horizontal straight combs (see figure above): their ridges (and grooves between them) are perpendicular to the working surface, and the working parts of the combs are trapezoidal in plan with bevels 60 degrees from the perpendicular (30 degrees from the sole of the comb). Unfortunately, the choice of materials for making straight 2-sided combs yourself is limited: defect-free, seasoned commercial maple, elm, teak.

Note: On sale there are straight combs for wood routers, cast from polypropylene. I don’t know how they work, I haven’t tried them.

Elevator

The most simple designs elevators for a wood milling table - hard cam (pos. A in the figure) and wedge (pos. B).

Their common advantage is the ability to make the base plate folding for easy access to the router. But the overall huge drawback is instability; the machine slides down due to vibration. In fact, after 1.5-2 m of cutting, the elevator has to be reinstalled. A cam elevator, in addition, in terms of ease of use, is not much better than a homemade milling machine elevator that is adjustable with washers and rubber.

The optimal design of the milling machine elevator in the table is screw, see next. rice. If the lower flange nut is additionally secured with a lock nut (or a self-tightening flange nut is installed), the cutter extension is held firmly. And it can be really quickly adjusted, literally while the workpiece is being processed.

Precision mini table

For artistic woodworking and/or facade carpentry, an indispensable thing is a milling and copying machine. It is possible to make it yourself, but it is quite difficult, and purchasing a factory made one only makes sense if there is a stable flow of orders for work of this type and solid skills in performing them.

However, shaped grooves in the front parts of furniture, milled in a straight line, can give an excellent aesthetic effect. Direct milling is widely used in furniture making and decorative items made of wood in any style, see fig. It is carried out independently using low-power manual wood milling machines of high precision (on the right in the figure); installing a manual mini router in a table improves the quality of work and productivity in the same way as a “large” one.

Drawings of a mini wood milling table for a domestic manual milling machine are given below. rice. His distinctive features– cam side clamp of the workpiece and a vertical comb with wide teeth. The solution for working with high-quality materials is quite justified: small fine combs themselves “act” a little on the workpiece, which is minimized in this design.

What about the hood?

Milling wood produces many times more sawdust, shavings and wood dust than sawing operations. Dust spoils the precision of processing on the table and the health of its operator just like a dusty machine. Therefore, a milling table also requires a dust collector, a dust extractor and a dust collector; their design is the same for both the table and the machine, see respectively. article.

In this material I will show you how to make a milling table with your own hands. But first, a little history... The advent of hand-held milling machines in 1974 made it possible in small workshops to carry out a number of furniture manufacturing jobs at a completely different level. At the same time, the need arose to create a table for a manual router. Here you can make long grooves of various configurations. In the presence of special cutters, the desired type of processed surface of a part made of wood or other materials is formed. soft materials.

Milling tables have been used in workshops producing wood products for more than 150 years. These machines take up a lot of space, creating the necessary space around them to perform work with long workpieces. In private workshops, it is easier to use a homemade milling table, which uses a small-sized lightweight machine with a built-in electric drive. You can make such a device for yourself in a couple of days. It is important to determine your needs, depending on your goals for the near future.

Small milling table (drawings, components)

Quite often, a small-sized base is installed on a support, in which a manual router is placed. If necessary, it can be removed and put aside, freeing up space inside the workshop.

Small table for hand router

This device is made from solid hardwood (maple) and birch plywood. Assembly drawings and individual parts are given below.

	The sidewalls will be installed according to the attached diagram. This is what the table looks like in cross section.
	Top view of the table. The main dimensions are shown here. The table cover is made of two layers.
	Manufacturing sequence. Carrying out markings before starting to cut out the window. Work is carried out in the lower layer.
	Sequence of making the top layer.
	Both layers are glued together. Installation of guide strips. They are needed to cut out the window using a router.
	Milling relative to guide bars.
	Design rip fence, placed on the table.
	End scarf. They are installed at the ends of the stop.
	In the middle part, two additional gussets are installed for additional reinforcement. A hood for dust extraction is installed. The hose from the vacuum cleaner will be connected to it.
	Shield holder. The shield itself is made of plexiglass.

To make such a device, parts are needed. Their sizes, quantities and materials are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Accessories for making a table for a manual router

Part name	Designations on the drawings				Characteristics of semi-finished products
		Thickness, mm	Width, mm	Length, mm	Type of material for manufacturing	Number of parts
Table details
Panel A	A	19	522	622	Birch plywood	1
Panel B (cladding)	B	3	522	622	Solid fiberboard	1
Longitudinal edge overlays	C	19	40	660	Solid maple	2
Side edge trims	D	19	40	560	Solid maple	2
Legs	E	19	292	521	Birch plywood	2
Ties	F	19	76	521	Solid maple	4
Power cord strip	G	19	51	420	Solid maple	1
Table support
Vertical support wall	H	19	152	661	Solid maple	1
Horizontal base	I	19	76	661	Solid maple	1
Gussets for the dust extractor pipe	J	19	64	79	Solid maple	2
End plates	K	19	121	191	Solid maple	2
Additional accessories
Holder	L	19	127	127	Solid maple	1
Shield	M	6	70	127	Plexiglas	1
Comb clamp	N	19	45	203	Solid maple	2
Stop block	O	19	45	76	Solid maple	2

How to make a milling table with your own hands?

Many craftsmen adapt an ordinary workbench as a table for a router. However, in practice it has been proven that it is better to have a separate specialized design. The explanation is simple:

• during operation, vibration will occur, which can lead to an unstable position of parts on the workbench;
• To move up and down you will need a special device (elevator). In a regular workbench there is often no free space.

An important feature of the router is the need to install a base plate connected to the table top. For it I use metal, plexiglass or durable plywood. Fixation is carried out using holes. Most manufacturers hand tools provide fasteners for their products in advance, assuming that a significant part of their products will be used in a stationary version.

Various cutters are used during work

Milling methods using different types of shaped cutters

Based on a study of known designs, a number of basic requirements for a milling table have been formulated.

1. The support plate should be located in the same plane as the table. When moving workpieces, vertical displacement on the support is not allowed. Some craftsmen leave the base sole. They bring it to “zero” with the tabletop. But most agree that another plate needs to be made.
2. For convenience and safe use When using the machine, the on and off buttons should be positioned so that they can be quickly used. A situation may arise when you urgently need to turn off the power to the engine.
3. The workpieces are moved relative to the stop. It can be shifted so that the master has the opportunity to mill edges, as well as grooves in semi-finished products.
4. It is useful to think about the installation location of the machine. You need a convenient hike to get there. You may have to mill the length. Then the workpieces should be placed on both sides of the table.
5. Some craftsmen adapt the installation of only the tabletop to an existing machine. This makes it possible to combine several devices on one frame.

Even an ordinary table can be converted into a machine. An example of such a transformation is shown in the video.

To get the most out of the machine, you need to minimize the thickness of the base plate. Then the cutter overhang will be maximum. In practice, long finger cutters can be used for deep milling. Strength will be ensured only by fairly rigid materials.

Installation of the vertical movement device

The upward and downward movement of a hand router is carried out using a device called an elevator. Here, a variety of mechanisms are used to move and fix a given position.

Possible option the elevator is shown in the video.

Option for making a compact table with drawers

Quite an interesting design that is easy to replicate for your own workshop.

Real view of the machine for milling blanks

Constructive development in three-dimensional display using engineering programs

	Frame made of individual parts. They are made from coniferous wood.
	Organization of cuts when joining frame parts in the upper part. Main dimensions shown.
	Organization of cuts when joining frame parts in the lower part.
	To install guides for drawers you will need to glue these parts from two blanks.
	Assembling the table frame and installing facing side panels.
	The table top consists of two plates. They are framed by side ribs. It is required to do a miter connection.
	The stop is made of several parts.
	Large drawer design.
	Small drawer design.
	The order of installation of the elements of the front part of the box.

To manufacture such a machine, you will need to prepare parts. Table 2 shows the configuration, workpiece dimensions and material.

Table 2: Accessories for making a table for a router

Position on drawings	Name	Finished dimensions, final			Quantity	Material
		Thickness, mm	Width, mm	Length, mm
Frame
1	Front and rear horizontal frames	50	40	780	4	Solid pine
2	Racks	50	50	860	4	Solid pine
3	Horizontal side frames	50	40	550	4	Solid pine
4	Front and rear horizontal	50	20	750	2	Solid pine
5	Side window frame, vertical	50	50	380	4	Solid pine
6	Side window frame, horizontal	50	20	360	2	Solid pine
Panels
7	Side panels	6	740	518	2	Birch plywood
8	Sidebar Windows	6	600	393	2	Birch plywood
9	Lower window	6	600	400	1	Birch plywood
Large drawers
10	Side of the drawer	16	140	550	8	Solid pine
11		29	140	348	8	Solid pine
12	Drawer front	7	168	348	4	Solid ash
13	Bottom	6	138	570	4	Birch plywood
Small drawers
14	Side of the drawer	16	100	550	8	Solid pine
15	Front and back side of the drawer	29	100	138	8	Solid pine
16	Drawer front	7	108	138	4	Solid ash
17	Bottom	6	570	348	4	Birch plywood
Tabletop
18	Top layer	18	700	920	1	Birch plywood
19	Front and rear trim strips	10	38	940	2	Solid ash
20	Side trim strips	10	38	720	2	Solid ash
21	Stop wall	18	150	750	1	Birch plywood
22	Stop base	18	150	640	1	Birch plywood
23	Front stop bar	10	90	380	2	Solid ash
24	Top edge stop	10	420	550	1	Solid ash

Design of the milling table

Tabletop machine for milling wood is shown below.

	Structural development of the product in three-dimensional modeling programs.
	Rear view. From special box, installed on the stop, a hose connected to the vacuum cleaner comes out. This is how dust generated during milling of workpieces is removed.
	Currently, the finger cutter is raised as high as possible. The window is wide open.
	The doors are moved. The cutter itself is lowered down.
	A manual router installed in the space under the tabletop.
	Constructive implementation of connections for dust removal (aspiration system).
	Features of tool fastening. Pipelines for chip removal are visible.
	Installing a long screw. With its help, the position of the cutters on the working surface is adjusted.

	By rotating the nut on the screw, the router moves up or down. A socket wrench is used.
	Using a measuring tool, the vertical extension of the cutter beyond the table is set.
	Adjusting the position of the cutter from the stop.
	Desk. The router is not installed. Only the plexiglass to which the router is attached is visible.
	Quality of work performed. There are no gaps between the glass and the tabletop.
	Before installation in the table, the router is screwed to a plexiglass support platform.

Option for manufacturing a table for a router

Enough interesting performance table designs. Here they suggested using a car jack to raise and lower the tool.

	If you take the tabletop out of the cabinet box, you can see a similar design.
	A car jack allows you to develop a force of several tons. It rests on a special box where the router itself is located.
	This is what the tabletop looks like from above. There is an emphasis. A groove is made on the surface with an aluminum guide channel glued into it.
	A carriage can be installed in the groove. With its help, the part can be fed for processing at any angle.
	The parallel fence is fixed in the desired position using wing nuts. IN horizontal plane There are grooves along which the thrust device moves along the working surface of the table.
	Box for connecting a vacuum cleaner. You can use not only an industrial, but also a household vacuum cleaner.
	The router itself is attached to the tabletop using a steel support plate.
	Features of fastening the tool to the plate can be seen in the presented photograph.
	By rotating the jack handle, the master moves the router in the vertical direction.

Detailed video about a homemade table.

Step-by-step production of a milling table based on a circular machine

There is a circular saw industrial production. It was decided to modernize it for the possible installation of milling equipment. In this case, the basic design does not undergo any changes. The manufactured part is quite simple and removable; if necessary, it can be removed without any problems. In fact, a removable tabletop will be manufactured.

Brief description of the device

	The machine has a retractable wing. It is designed for sawing large-format sheets. Between the main part and the retractable part there is a window that can be used to place additional technological equipment in it.
	By extending the wing to maximum reach, you can install a table top with a router. Installation option shown.
	After installing the tabletop, the retractable wing is pulled closer to the main part of the machine. The gaps are all being eliminated. An additional tool can be secured in this position.
	If you look from the side, you can see where the hand router is located.
	A screwdriver is used to raise and lower the tool. It has a 13 mm socket head. It rotates the head of the M8 bolt. By specifying rotation in the desired direction, you can select the direction of movement of the cutter (up or down).

Removable tabletop manufacturing technology

	Laminate is used as a tabletop chipboard sheet. Its thickness is 19 mm. The size is 360·540 mm. It corresponds to the size of the resulting window on the machine. Having oriented to the sides, the center is determined. The router shaft must be positioned in the center. Place the support pad in the selected location and outline the pad.
	A contour is formed on the chipboard sheet. It is necessary to accurately cut the window along this contour.
	To install the support pad tightly without gaps, you need to drill holes exactly along the edges of the markings. Holes are needed at all extreme points.
	A jigsaw is used to cut out the window along the drawn contour. If there are irregularities, the walls are refined using abrasive paper and a file.
	To install the router, you need two steel rods Ø 8 mm. Construction staples are used. You just need to cut them off using a saw blade angle grinder disk for a length of 255 mm.
	The router has holes where you can install rods. To make it easier to install them, any irregularities on the surface of the pins are removed with sandpaper.
	Having installed the tool exactly above the window, determine the places where the rods will be located during installation. But for them you need to cut special grooves. They are milled. Preparation required for milling.
	The guide strips are secured using pistol-type clamps. The grooves for the pins will be milled in relation to them. The depth relative to the surface is also set so that on the front of the table the support pad of the router is exactly level with the tabletop.
	Having completed milling on one side, proceed to a similar operation for the second rod. Guide strips are also installed here and fixed in the desired position.
	The rods must be pressed from above using clamping bars. Therefore, you will need to prepare a groove where these will be installed. wooden elements. First, they are cut out and tried on in place. Then a groove of the required dimensions is marked and milled.

	Once installed in place, the rods will be securely and tightly pressed in their grooves.
	It can be seen that the recess under the planks was made to a shallower depth. Structurally, this is how it was originally intended.
	The router is installed in its place. It is clearly positioned relative to the countertop used. After fixation, it will stand in a given place without the possibility of moving in any direction.
	Since production is carried out in experimental mode, each stage is checked by preliminary assembly of structural elements. IN at the moment it is checked how the wooden planks will press the rods and fix the tool in place.
	M8 bolts will be used for fixation. They have a secret head. To simplify installation, wing nuts will be used. They are tightened without using a key. Along the way similar solution allows you to adjust the flatness of the router sole on the front side when tightening.
	By pressing the parts in place on the reverse side using clamps, holes are drilled. No special markings were made, therefore, to facilitate assembly, mating fragments are marked with markers of different colors. A countersink is used to countersink holes on the working surface of the table for conical screw heads.
	WITH inside The holes for the clamping strips are drilled to Ø 15 mm. The M8 nuts will be hidden here. Additionally, an auxiliary groove is machined using a round file. It will allow you to press the rods more tightly.
	The bolts are in place. The nuts are tightened. They will hide in the prepared holes. The assembly and disassembly process will not require much time. The bolts will always be in this position.
	Now all the elements are easily installed in their places. No additional adjustment is needed.
	The tabletop can be tried on the table. Therefore, it is first laid with the working surface down. You will need to turn it over to see how it fits on the machine.

	The revolution is easy. The tabletop is installed in its place.
	She stood level with the main table circular saw. If you recess the cutters, then the additional part will not interfere with the work of cutting parts. Important! The manufactured device did not in any way deteriorate the properties of the main machine on which installation was planned.
	Cutting out the windows and milling out the auxiliary space inside the tabletop weakened it noticeably. Therefore, reinforcement will be required. To increase the strength of the manufactured attachment, it was decided to use additional bars. They are cut to the required size on a sawing machine.
	Having cut out the longitudinal and transverse bars, they are screwed to the tabletop. They are pre-lubricated with glue and then fixed with self-tapping screws. All holes are pre-drilled with a Ø 3 mm drill and then countersinked to fit a self-tapping screw Ø 8 mm. Galvanized wood screws are used.
	Having placed the tabletop on the machine, you can see that the rip fence will not be able to move along its guides. The design of the tabletop itself needs to be improved.
	The surface to be removed is marked. This type of removal can be done using a router or two passes on a circular saw.
	Having completed the preparation, the tabletop is put back in place. To make it easier to work at this stage, the router and accessories were removed from it.
	Once the excess has been removed, the rip fence can be moved around the entire table. It was decided to use it as a clamp for milling. You will only have to slightly modify the auxiliary elements.

Manufacturing a lift for a milling tabletop

	Several need to be made auxiliary elements, which will help move the router up and down. The type of elevator being manufactured is shown.
	By turning it over, you can examine the features of the device. Supports and levers are visible. We need to figure out what and how will work here.
	The arrow indicates a fixed stand. It bears the main load from the tool. Therefore, there are special requirements for it. It should be strong enough. It will have to counteract the weight of the router, as well as the return springs that are installed on this tool.
	This arrow points to the axis. The lever can rotate relative to it. The router itself “hangs” on this lever.
	The design of the lever has a peculiarity. There is a radial convexity here. It rests on the part of the router where there are no ventilation holes. Additionally, it has a thickening in the plastic case, so pressure will not violate the integrity of the instrument’s structure.
	The bar shown contains a nut. If you rotate the screw, the block will move. A bracket is placed between the lever and the block. Steel loops are installed at its ends. They allow you to adjust the dimensions of all elevator parts.
	Another important element. It contains the head of the bolt. It rests on a bearing. Therefore, it can be rotated in any direction without much effort.
	The main support post will be cut from plywood 20 mm thick.
	To ensure that the stand does not move in any direction during operation, it is reinforced with additional gussets. The result is a product that resembles a rocket. All that remains is to assemble such a device.
	The “rocket” will be installed on one side of the existing window.

	To make the bracket, plywood with a thickness of 20 and 10 mm is used. Outer plates made of ten-millimeter plywood are screwed to the lever. The joint planes are first coated with PVA glue.
	A bearing housing will be installed on the back side of the window.
	Before assembly, the surfaces of the “rocket” supports are coated with glue.
	Support legs are screwed long screw(75 mm).
	Holes for additional fasteners are drilled on the back of the tabletop. This strengthening is justified; the resistance of the router springs reaches up to 200 N (20 kg).
	Four more screws are screwed in, the length of which is 60 mm. Attention! When installing self-tapping screws on the front side, the holes must be countersunk.
	The block is drilled through. A Ø 10 mm drill is used.
	Here you will need to install a drive nut. To prevent sharp edges from damaging the block itself, drill holes Ø 2.5 mm to a depth of 1.5 mm.
	The nut is pressed into place. To do this, a block with a nut is placed between the jaws of a vice and squeezed until the nut is finally seated in place.
	The part gets the desired look. The nut is firmly fixed to the block. The strength is sufficient for the normal operation of this element of the elevator structure.

	To install the bolt head, you need to drill a hole with a diameter of 20 mm. Here, a socket head will be used in the future, so the hole is prepared with some margin. The drilling depth is 16 mm (19 mm thick chipboard). Important! Plywood 20 mm thick is installed underneath. Therefore, the strength of the structure will not be compromised.
	After drilling a blind hole, a through hole is drilled. Its diameter is 8.5 mm. This is where the bearing and bolt will be installed.
	A nut is placed between the bolt head and the bearing. A closed bearing is used, into which chips and dust cannot enter.
	Turning the tabletop over reveals a long bolt (180 mm). It needs to be fixed so that it can rotate.
	The washer is installed, and then the nut with the fluoroplastic insert is tightened. The installed fluoroplastic will not allow it to unwind. It does not fit tightly, there is a gap of about 0.5 mm. It will allow the bolt to rotate and transmit forces in any direction.
	There is a gap between the end of the bolt and the lever that needs to be filled. You need a bracket and overhead hinges.
	Regular hinges are not enough; additional strips will need to be installed.
	The length of these strips is selected.
	Self-tapping screws are screwed into the block. Loops will be put on them.
	Once put on, the loop will not be able to remove itself from the screw head. The existing groove in the hinges is narrower than the hole, onto which the hardware cap is placed.

	All that remains is to assemble the entire elevator structure. All structural elements, which were mentioned earlier, have been manufactured.
	By installing the tabletop in the machine window, you can check the functionality of the elevator structure. A screwdriver is used, into which a 13mm socket head is installed. By starting rotations in one direction or another, the cutter moves up or down. Using a measuring tool, you can set the depth of milling grooves on parts.

Manufacturing of devices for rip fence

	An additional element is cut out of the block. It will serve as a guide for milling.
	On drilling machine half of the circle is selected. The cutter will “hide” in it.
	The attached fragment is ready. All that remains is to secure it to the rip fence.
	The easiest way is to use pistol-type clamps. They fix the attachment element. You can mill grooves or quarters.
	The milling tabletop is ready for the machine. It expands the functional properties of the basic machine.

A similar removable tabletop can be installed in any suitable cabinet. Then you will get a separate milling machine, made at home. This device is characterized by the greatest simplicity and reliability.

The designs of tables for routers may be different. Various masters equip their devices with various types of elevators. Even the stops, depending on the needs, can have their own design. You just need to choose the one that will be convenient for doing a certain job.

Some professionals use different types stops The choice is determined by the type of cutters used and the purpose of future parts.

The video shows an option for making a table yourself to place a router.

A milling table can significantly increase work efficiency and productivity. There are many models available for sale for a wide variety of hand routers. However the price finished products very overpriced. It is much more profitable and interesting to assemble the table with your own hands. You don’t need any expensive materials or difficult-to-use tools for this.

General information about the design of the milling table

The milling table can be installed on a workbench or on a specially assembled separate table. The product must have a rigid structure and good stability, because During operation, a very noticeable vibration will be created. Be sure to take into account the fact that the router will be installed from below the countertop and absolutely nothing should interfere with it. No additional elements are installed there.

The design of a homemade table includes a mounting plate, due to which the router will be attached directly to the table. To create a plate, use durable, high-quality material: plywood, textolite, sheet metal, etc.

A recess is created on top of the tabletop for the plate. The plate itself is fixed using self-tapping screws with a hidden head. The router is secured with screws with the same hidden head. Additional fixation of the plate can be done using clamps.

To conveniently turn on the router, a button is attached to the table. Additionally, it is recommended to install an emergency shutdown button of the mushroom type. If you have to work with blanks large size, equip the table with upper clamping devices. For even greater convenience and accuracy, the table is equipped with a ruler.

For self-assembly For a router table you will need the following tools:

1. Electric jigsaw. If you don't have one, you can get by with a hacksaw.
2. Plane. Preferably electric.
3. Chisel.
4. Sander. If you don’t have it, you can get by with a block of sandpaper, but processing with them will require more time and effort.
5. A screwdriver or drill with a screwdriver function.
6. Electric drill with a set of drills.

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Initial stage of table assembly

Explore your workshop and choose a location to install your future router table. Determine the most suitable product design. Tables are:

1. Aggregate. At their core, they are a side extension of a standard saw table.
2. Portable. A very convenient and ergonomic desktop option.
3. Stationary. It is installed separately and assembled specifically for the router.

If your router table will be used infrequently, or you have to work outside the workshop, opt for a portable option. If you have enough space, create a separate table. For greater convenience, it can be equipped with wheels, which will allow you to “move” to another place if necessary.

You can assemble a small structure and install it on an ordinary table. You can take a chipboard of a suitable size and install a guide on it. The guide in this case is a board of relatively small thickness, secured with bolts.

Take 2 clamps. Make a hole for the cutter. This will complete the main work. However, if the machine is your main working tool, you need to approach the process more thoroughly and create a convenient and reliable table, which will be comfortable to spend time with.

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Preparing the bed and tabletop

The bed is the stationary part of any milling table. At its core, it is a frame on supports with a tabletop on top. The material of the frame is not particularly important. Suitable for wood, metal, chipboard, MDF. The main thing is to ensure the required rigidity and maximum stability. The dimensions of the bed are also not critical. Select them taking into account the size of materials you most often have to process.

The lower part of the frame should be deepened by 10-20 cm in relation to the front overhang of the tabletop. Dimensions, as already noted, select to suit your needs. For example, to process the ends of facade blanks and door trims, you can make a bed 150 cm wide, 90 cm high, 50 cm deep.

A very important characteristic in this case is height. The optimal value is 85-90 cm. It’s good if you can equip the bed with adjustable supports. They will allow you to compensate for uneven floor surfaces and change the height of the milling table if the need arises.

To make a homemade table, you can take an ordinary kitchen countertop made of chipboard. A 26 or 36 mm thick plate with a wear-resistant plastic coating is used. Thanks to the plastic, the workpiece will slide well on the tabletop, and the chipboard will take on the task of dampening vibration. As a last resort, you can use laminated chipboard or MDF with a thickness of at least 16 mm.

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What do you need to know about the mounting plate?

A mounting plate must be fixed near the place where the router sole is attached. The best material is considered to be durable and at the same time thin. The most commonly used material is sheet metal. A more convenient and equally durable option is textolite (fiberglass). Usually this is a rectangular plate 4-8 mm thick. It is necessary to prepare a hole in the center of such a plate. Its diameter should be the same as the diameter of the hole in the base of the router.

The base of the router is usually equipped with standard threaded holes necessary for attaching the plastic cover. These holes secure the router to the mounting plate. If there are no holes initially, make them yourself. You can use another method of attaching the router, for example, with metal clamps. Holes for securing the plate are created closer to its corners.

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Step-by-step instructions for assembling the table

First you need to secure the tabletop to the finished frame. A plate is placed on a pre-selected location on the tabletop. Take a pencil and trace its contours. Next, you need to take a hand router with a 6-10 mm cutter and select a seat in the tabletop for mounting plate. It should lie flush, i.e. create a perfectly flat surface with the tabletop, as if it were a single whole.

The seat should have slightly rounded corners. You can round them using a file. After adding the mounting plate, take a cutter with a thickness slightly greater than the thickness of the tabletop, and make through holes in the tabletop exactly according to the shape of the router sole. You don’t have to try too hard; perfect accuracy is not required at this stage. At the bottom of the tabletop you need to make an additional cut for the dust collector casing and other accessories that you plan to equip your milling table with.

The work is almost complete, you just need to assemble everything into a single product. Place the router from underneath and screw it to the plate. Secure the plate to the tabletop with self-tapping screws. The screw caps must be recessed, otherwise they will interfere with the work process. Finally screw the tabletop to the frame.

In order to increase convenience and safety, you can equip the design with an upper pressure roller device. This addition will be especially useful when processing large workpieces, such as door trims. The clamp design has no complex elements, so you can make and install it yourself without any problems.

A ball bearing can be used as a roller the right size. The bearing is installed in a holding fixture. The device itself must be firmly fixed at the required distance from the surface of your countertop. This way you will ensure constant tight pressure of the workpiece being processed to the surface of the tabletop as the product passes under the roller. Thanks to this, the accuracy and safety of the work performed will be increased.

Woodworkers treat their router table with respect. And there is a good reason for this, as such designs can improve productivity and workflow efficiency. Now it's not a problem to find suitable models tables for hand routers, but they are obscenely expensive. But making a milling machine with your own hands, without spending a lot of money on a branded table or buying a cheap Chinese equivalent and throwing money down the drain, is within the power of every business person. This requires an electric motor of suitable power, a guide structure and a table.

Purpose of the milling table

Working with a manual milling cutter involves performing operations to move the machine along a rigidly fixed surface of the workpiece being processed. This is not always convenient. And therefore, they often do the opposite: the router is permanently attached, and the workpiece moves. In this case, they are already talking about a design called a “milling table”, and not just about a “hand router” tool.

Milling tables quite often make it possible to achieve results that were previously only available to professional furniture workshops that had milling machines. With their help, cutting shaped holes, cutting grooves, making joints, processing and profiling edges, as well as cutting shaped holes is done accurately, easily and safely.

The great advantage of this design is that using a milling table for a manual router, you can process various materials, such as wood, chipboard, MDF, plastic, etc., make splines and grooves in wooden parts, connect parts using tongues and tenons , create decorative profiles and chamfer.

The milling table can also easily be used as a woodworking machine. All you need to do is secure the tool on a workbench or in an electric drill stand. It is not at all surprising that a large number of companies rushed to satisfy the indomitable appetite of woodworkers, producing a fairly wide range of milling tables, as well as accessories for them. Homemade milling tables, however, are sometimes not inferior to branded ones in terms of their own characteristics.

Milling table design

You can use the surface of a workbench to install a hand router, or you can make a separate table. The table has a rigid structure and is well stable, because the milling machine causes quite strong vibration during operation. You should also take into account that the router is attached to the bottom of the tabletop, and it is important that nothing interferes with it. Therefore, there are no additional elements in this part.

The mounting plate is used to attach the router to the table; it is made of durable and high-quality materials. For this purpose, textolite is used, metal sheet or plywood. Usually exist on the sole itself threaded connections, for reliable fastening of plastic masonry.

A recess for the plate is present on top of the tabletop, so that the latter is recessed flush. The plate is attached to the countertop with self-tapping screws that have a countersunk head. To attach the sole, a hole is drilled, and the plate hole is duplicated in the tabletop. The router is attached to the table using countersunk screws. If there are no holes in the sole for attaching the plate, they can be drilled independently, and clamps can also be used.

There is a button attached to the table, which is used to conveniently turn on the router; it is also possible to install an emergency mushroom button for your safety. For more comfortable work and more secure fixation large workpieces the table for a manual router can be equipped with upper clamping devices. Also, for ease of measurement, it is customary to attach a ruler.

Getting started

It is best to start the process of making a structure for a manual router by determining the location of the future table in the workshop. First of all, you should have a clear idea of ​​what kind of milling table you need: a side extension of the saw table (aggregate), tabletop (portable) or separate (stationary).

If you have to work using a milling table only occasionally, or outside the workshop, you need to think about a portable option; it can be hung on the wall or removed to save space. If there is enough space, then maximum convenience will be provided by a free-standing milling table; it can be placed on wheels and then placed where it is convenient. A portable or free-standing router table can be set up to perform an operation and left for a while without interfering with other tools, devices and machines.

Possible as simple device build a low structure that can be placed on a regular table. You can take a sheet of chipboard and attach a guide to it. According to the drawings of the table for a manual router, it may be an ordinary piece of board that is not very thick. Next you need to secure it to the bolted connections.

To do this you need to take two clamps. Next you need to make a hole for the cutter. That's all. If a milling machine is your main tool, then you need to make a solid and convenient milling table, because you will have to spend a lot of time at it.

Bed and table top

The bed of any milling table is a stationary part, that is, it is a frame on supports that has a tabletop on top. What the frame is made of is not significant: welded steel structure, MDF, chipboard, wood. The main and main task is to ensure its stability and rigidity during operation. Also, the dimensions of the bed are not critical, and should be selected depending on the dimensions of the parts being processed.

To prevent the machine operator from tripping over parts of the structure, the lower part of the frame needs to be deepened (like the plinth of furniture) by 100-200 millimeters relative to the front overhang of the tabletop being used. For processing door trims and the ends of facade blanks for the frame of a homemade table for a manual router, we can recommend the following dimensions in millimeters: height - 900, depth - 500, width - 1500.

An important parameter, perhaps, is the height; it should be in the range of 850-900 millimeters, since this height is optimal for working while standing. It is quite good when the bed has adjustable supports; with the help of such supports you can compensate for uneven floors, and also, if necessary, change the height of the table.

Inexpensive and good option The countertop for a DIY milling table is a regular kitchen countertop based on chipboard with a thickness of 26 or 36 millimeters, which is covered with wear-resistant plastic. The workpiece glides well on the surface of hard plastic, the standard kitchen countertop depth of 600 millimeters is very convenient to use, and chipboard dampens vibrations quite well. For the countertop, in extreme cases, MDF or laminated chipboard (chipboard) from 16 millimeters are suitable.

Table mounting plate

Due to the rather large thickness of the kitchen countertop (at least 26 millimeters), and in order to maintain the entire amplitude of the cutter's reach, the design of the router provides for the use of a mounting plate near the place where the base of the router is attached to the table. This part, despite its small thickness, is characterized by quite high strength.

The plate is often made of metal, but fiberglass (textolite) is still more convenient in processing and is not inferior in strength. The PCB mounting plate is rectangular piece 4-8 millimeters thick, with a side of 150-300 millimeters, in which a hole is made in the center with the same diameter as the hole in the sole of the router.

The milling cutter base usually contains standard threaded holes, which are intended for fastening the plastic cover. By means of them, they are attached to the mounting plate of the router. If suddenly there are no holes, you need to make these holes yourself, or secure the router in another way, for example, using metal clamps. To attach the plate to the tabletop, you need to drill four holes closer to the corners of the plate.

Milling table assembly

First of all, a tabletop is temporarily attached to the finished frame, as shown in the video about tables for a manual router. The mounting plate is placed on a pre-calibrated place on the tabletop, and its exact location is marked with a pencil along the contour. Using a hand router with a small cutter diameter of 6-10 millimeters, a seat is selected in the tabletop for the mounting plate, such that it lies flush, that is, ideally with the top surface of the tabletop.

We must also not forget that the seat of our plate will not have right corners, but rounded ones, which means that we will need to use a file to round the corners with the same radius of the textolite mounting plate. After the mounting plate has been attached, you need to use a router with a straight cutter thicker than the tabletop to make through milling of a hole in the tabletop according to the shape of the given router sole.

This operation does not require special precision. But you need to be prepared for additional material sampling from the bottom of the tabletop, for example, for the dust collector casing and various other devices.

Now everything remains to be connected together. We start the router from below, screwing it to the plate, and then use self-tapping screws to fasten the plate to the tabletop. We make sure that the caps of the fastening elements are recessed securely, and they should not cling to the workpiece when sliding it along the tabletop. Finally, we screw the tabletop to the frame.

Upper clamp

For additional security and convenience, it is possible to equip the structure, according to the drawings of the table for a manual router, with an upper clamping device made on the basis of a roller. This is especially necessary when working with large workpieces, for example, such as door trims. The design of the clamp is very simple.

Ball bearing suitable sizes, for example, can serve as a roller. The bearing is mounted in the holding device; it can be rigidly fixed from the surface of the tabletop at the required distance. This will ensure that the workpiece is constantly pressed tightly against the tabletop when passing under the roller of the workpiece.

Drive for a homemade machine

If you are planning to design a simple homemade milling machine, you should pay attention to the electric drive. An important factor is its power. For a machine with shallow sampling of wood pieces, a motor with a power of 500 watts may even be suitable. Still, such a machine will often stall, so it will not justify either the time or the money saved on the purchase of a low-power engine.

Thanks to observations, it is clear that the best option is a motor with a power of 1100 W or more. A 1-2 kilowatt motor will allow you to process wood as usual, as well as use any type of cutter. Electric motors, both stationary and drives, are suitable here hand power tools such as hand cutters, drill, grinder.

Another important factor is turnover. How more quantity rpm, the more uniform and cleaner the cut will be. If the engine is designed for a regular household network of 220 volts, then there will be no problems with the connection. But now it’s three-phase asynchronous motor you need to connect according to a special scheme - star-delta, which guarantees the maximum possible output in this situation, as well as a smooth start. If you connect a three-phase electric motor to a single-phase network, the efficiency will be lost in the amount of 30 - 50%.

Security Issues

After making a table for a manual router, you need to say in conclusion about the main thing, that is, about safety. We strongly recommend making a protective screen for the cutter similar to the samples for industrial milling tables. It is also necessary to equip the machine with the so-called “fungus”, that is, an emergency stop button, placing this button in an easily accessible place, and also to prevent accidental pressing of the start button.

After this, it is recommended to highlight working area, since around the cutter is the most dangerous place. If you change the cutter reach height quite frequently, it makes sense to think about automatic or manual device lowering and raising the router. The design of a homemade milling machine can be improved over a long period of time, depending on the tasks being solved and the designer’s imagination.