The router table insert

When I posted about how I’d started to build a router table insert for my old Bosch POF500A router using a cheap IKEA chopping board, I didn’t know then how I was going to cut the centre hole for the bit to come through.

In the end, I simplified my original thoughts and used just one straight bit and the chamfer bit. The straight bit was the ½” one, which I inserted and, using the plunge function, slowly drove through the board. Being nylon, the board will melt rather than cut if pushed too hard.

This cut a very clean hole quickly, which happened to also clear the bearing on the end of the chamfer bit. This being the largest bit I possess and am likely to use in this table insert, this was inserted and driven through the board. I had to insert it with quite a bit of shank showing in order to cut all the way through.

The first job it was used on was the rounding over of the edges of the parts of the legs for my modular model railway, which proved to be very much quicker than clamping each piece to the work bench and routing it.

Here’s a very quick and dirty video of the router table insert in action. Note that I do not yet have the multifunction slab into which it’s destined to go, just a crappy old WorkMate clone.