# Router Lift and Miter Track Positioning in New Table



## Loganville Tiger (Dec 23, 2012)

Will be basing the router table top to an Incra 27" x 43" - with a_ little_ tweak here in there in the final dimensions. Table will be 2-layers of 1/2" MDF with Formica sitting atop a cabinet section. How far should the center line of the router lift be from the left edge? And with that said, how far off the left edge should the miter track be? Is there a general r_ule of thumb_? I have the Incra LS Fence and all material have been purchased to get it done. Start cutting the carcass for the cabinet next week.... :icon_smile:

Thanks for the help and advice!!

LT


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

Mine measures 20" wide x 27" long. The router bit is 8 1/2" from the front and 11 1/2" from the rear. Mine is a cast iron Bench Dog Pro and has machined slots to allow locking the fence toward or away from the cutter from the rear. Personally I would reverse those dimensions and favor more space in front of the cutter to support the ends of longer workpieces when making rails or other pieces held at right angles to the fence. Not a huge deal, just something I would do different.
The miter gauge slot is 3" in from the front edge.


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## jschaben (Apr 1, 2010)

Loganville Tiger said:


> Will be basing the router table top to an Incra 27" x 43" - with a_ little_ tweak here in there in the final dimensions. Table will be 2-layers of 1/2" MDF with Formica sitting atop a cabinet section. How far should the center line of the router lift be from the left edge? And with that said, how far off the left edge should the miter track be? Is there a general r_ule of thumb_? I have the Incra LS Fence and all material have been purchased to get it done. Start cutting the carcass for the cabinet next week.... :icon_smile:
> 
> Thanks for the help and advice!!
> 
> LT


Personally, I like the router centered. Everything is a tradeoff. The further back the less fence movement you have but the more front support you have...... verse visa by moving it forward. Same goes moving left and right. You sacrifice infeed or outfeed support depending on which way you go.
As far as miter slot position, most comercial jigs that depend on the miter slot are unusable if the centerline of the miter slot is more than 6" from the centerline of the bit. :smile:


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## Loganville Tiger (Dec 23, 2012)

woodnthings said:


> Mine measures *20" wide x 27" long. The router bit is 8 1/2" from the front and 11 1/2"* from the rear. Mine is a cast iron Bench Dog Pro and has machined slots to allow locking the fence toward or away from the cutter from the rear. Personally I would reverse those dimensions and favor more space in front of the cutter to support the ends of longer workpieces when making rails or other pieces held at right angles to the fence. Not a huge deal, just something I would do different.
> The miter gauge slot is 3" in from the front edge.


Your 20" dimension - is that feed direction? My dimension on the table I have planned is 30" going that way. Width of the table top will be 47 to accommodate the router fence. My first thought is to mount the router bit center line @ 15" in the 30" direction? Whats the opinion on more/less on one side than the other in the in-feed/out-feed? Thinking I don't want to offset much to the out-feed direction as not to lean over the table to see my work.






jschaben said:


> Personally, I like the router centered. Everything is a tradeoff. The further back the less fence movement you have but the more front support you have...... verse visa by moving it forward. Same goes moving left and right. You sacrifice infeed or outfeed support depending on which way you go.
> As far as miter slot position, most comercial jigs that depend on the miter slot are unusable if the centerline of the miter slot is more than 6" from the centerline of the bit. :smile:


Got it - 6" from center line of bit max. But how far from the table edge looking from the in-feed/out-feed direction from the left to center line of the router bit? Is there a min/max I should be working with? 

Can you tell I have not built one of these things before? Thanks for the help guys.

LT


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## jschaben (Apr 1, 2010)

Loganville Tiger said:


> Your 20" dimension - is that feed direction? My dimension on the table I have planned is 30" going that way. Width of the table top will be 47 to accommodate the router fence. My first thought is to mount the router bit center line @ 15" in the 30" direction? Whats the opinion on more/less on one side than the other in the in-feed/out-feed? Thinking I don't want to offset much to the out-feed direction as not to lean over the table to see my work.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hi LT - Maybe I'm not understanding your question correctly but the miter track needs to run the full width of the table, about 6" from the bit centerline. :yes:


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

Another important consideration that you might want to mull over would be the fence. Are you planning to mount your fence in a t-track? I recently built a router table and didn't put enough thought into my track locations. If I end up building a fence, I won't have a problem--but I will probably have to modify a purchased fence to work with my tracks.


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## d_slat (Apr 10, 2012)

Phaedrus said:


> Another important consideration that you might want to mull over would be the fence. Are you planning to mount your fence in a t-track? I recently built a router table and didn't put enough thought into my track locations. If I end up building a fence, I won't have a problem--but I will probably have to modify a purchased fence to work with my tracks.


is there a standard placement for this? I am going to be building mine soon and this statement definitely has me intrigued.


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## Phaedrus (Jan 18, 2012)

d_slat said:


> is there a standard placement for this? I am going to be building mine soon and this statement definitely has me intrigued.


There doesn't seem to be a standard distance between. It might be easiest to have the fence of choice in hand before cutting the grooves for the T-track to lay in. My foible is extra dumb because mine aren't even equidistant from the router bit. One side is about an inch closer! Yup, I am still kicking myself over that slip up. I am still not sure how i managed that one. Many of the fences out there that are based on right angles pieces of aluminum have slotted holes, making the placement flexible and potentially even working with my setup. One of the things that is putting me off about the Freud SH-5 is that I would probably have do some serious modifying to use it--though it is on sale on Amazon again for just under $100....

Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX using Woodworking Talk


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## Sorrowful Jones (Nov 28, 2010)

I am not sure I am understanding the question completely but here is a couple of pics of mine. The miter track is a bit over 5" from the centerline of the table.


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## Loganville Tiger (Dec 23, 2012)

Sorrowful Jones said:


> I am not sure I am understanding the question completely but here is a couple of pics of mine. The miter track is a bit over 5" from the centerline of the table.


Yes Mr. Jones, that is what I was looking for. By other post (and your picture) it seems +/- 6" is the what the miter track should be from the C/L of the bit. I may be swatting gnats - but how far is the C/L of the router bit to the left edge of your table as you have your picture? 

Santa was good - came down the chimney with with a nice present....


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## Sorrowful Jones (Nov 28, 2010)

The top of my router table measures 43" X 25". There was no special significance to those measurements other that it looked like a good size for my cabinet, and that I happened to have a piece of 3/4" plywood that I could double to obtain those dimensions. The centerline of the bit is dead center of the top.


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## Loganville Tiger (Dec 23, 2012)

Thanks for all the input!! I read the directions for mounting the Incra fence and all dimensions were given except for center line placement of the router - so emailed Incra:



> Our tables have 12" from the short end of the table to the centerline of the router plate (in other words, measured perpendicular to and across the miter channel), and this works exceptionally well for general woodworking. Increasing the distance between the router and any of the operator's edges of the table will progressively hurt the ergonomics & comfort of using the table. Increasing any of these distances to 18" is a pretty uncomfortable reach for most people.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> ...


Pretty much sums it up.


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