Home DIY

SE23, happy to travel though.

Dammit, you should have a PM from me.

The intended victim:

Underneath:

I was intending on using the (whatever this part is called, slide plate?) base plate as a template for the holes:

The router has been dropped at some point so the foot-plate is warped, so I want to get this part bang on in order to give me the best possible chance of getting the router squared up to the table- then it can live there for the rest of its life.

Just get a decent lip-and-spur drill bit (one with a pointy bit on), put your victim on a level surface and drill nice and true into correctly marked out points - even with a drill press you're only as good as your marking-out.

Oh shit it's metal so ignore that bollocks. Mark out with something scratchy, centre punch it and use a nice sharp drill bit. The machine screw threads will be coarse enough to give you a bit of play anyway.

I don't get it. Is the 'intended victim' the plate to which you want to screw the router base?

Joe- yes.

OK, so all you need to do (as Dug points out) is to accurately mark on the router plate the points to drill. What is the router base plate made out of? Another possibility would be to clamp the two together on a pillar drill then using a small bit pass through the mount base into the router part then you know you are drilling in the right location.
Dammit - unless you get any better offers, why not come and do it yourself at my work?

Joe- yes, my intention was to clamp the plastic foot-plate (brown thing) to the phenolic insert (black/yellow/red thing) and then drill through one into the other.

I'd be very happy to pop by your work if ok.

This is what it should look like when all together:

It should be fine to drop by next week. I'll check on Monday and let you know.

Bonza- cheers.

Hi guys .. just a quick question - anyone know where I can get some scaffolding for free/cheap? I have no idea.

I want to build something like this

The black (steel?) part is the bit you want to drill right?
I've just seen this or I'd have offered a drill press -although you might find it just as easy with a hand drill and sharp HSS bit, the size of the black plate may make a drill press unusable unless it has a really deep reach.

For drilling accurately in steel;
Mark really carefully using a scribe/compass point/blade/scratchy thing
Dent with sharp centre punch right on the cross scribed mark
Drill with v small sharp bit at low speed
Check hole is centred on scribed cross, if not correct (easier said than done)
Increase size -maybe in stages, until you get to the correct diameter.
Always use cutting oil.

Personally though I wouldn't fuss it too much, clamp the phenolic base plate from the router onto the router table and use that to start your holes off with a bit that fits the mounting holes, remove the phenolic then drill with a smaller bit, then increase the size.
If you drill your holes oversize they should absorb any inaccuracies.
You will have to countersink the holes to stop the bolt heads interfering with your work pieces.

Also as the router is bent, when you have got it mounted, fit the longest straight cutter you have or ideally a piece of 1/2" rod into the collet and measure for square with an engineer's square from the table. You can adjust for square with thin washers on the mounting bolts between the router and the table. Fit mounting bolts SECURELY and use some loc tite.

Hi guys .. just a quick question - anyone know where I can get some scaffolding for free/cheap?

There's a few companies that sell 2nd hand scaffolding. They will probably be your best bet for paying for exactly what you need. Whereabouts are you? I can maybe point you in the direction of one.

Another option would be to chat to some scaffolders. They'll likely sell you some for cash but odds are they'll be selling their firms gear and you would therefore be recieving stolen goods.

Finally, you could try a couple of scaffolders' yards. They may have some old gear for sale, especially for cash monies.

Scaffolding isn't cheap.

Just buy something already made for the job ?
http://www.powerhouse-fitness.co.uk/strength-equipment-1/squat-racks-and-stands.html

the size of the black plate may make a drill press unusable unless it has a really deep reach

Just looked at the pic of the complete table and realised the above is rubbish, you'll easily get that into a drill press.

Hi guys. I'm up in north west London, NW9. There are quite a few building sites around here, I had a wander in to one on friday and had a quick chat with one of the tradesmen on site. I told him what I needed, showed him a drawn up a sketch of the squat cage - he said he would give me the poles for free if there wasn't a CCTV camera pointed directly to where he was, haha! I will try again and be a bit more discreet this time.

I've just been looking at prices online. By my reckoning I need 18 couplers to fix to the frame. scaffoldingsupplies.co.uk does them for about £2.50 each. So i'm looking at £50 for the couplers alone, that's not including carriage. You're right I didn't think it'd be that expensive ..

I looked around for a ready made cage and the absolute cheapest I can find is £180 on ebay. A lot of the bid auctions are flippin' miles away and collection only, and they rarely come up on Gumtree.

If I can get the everything I need for under £100, I think it might be worth going the DIY route. It's also a bit more customisable as I don't have that much space, I can angle grind the scaffolding to the size what I need (2.1x1x1 would be ideal). I've been using squat stands for the last 18 months but I want something a bit sturdier.

Just looked at the pic of the complete table and realised the above is rubbish, you'll easily get that into a drill press.

I used a hand-drill to do this earlier today, it was fine.

Hi guys. I'm up in north west London, NW9. There are quite a few building sites around here, I had a wander in to one on friday and had a quick chat with one of the tradesmen on site. I told him what I needed, showed him a drawn up a sketch of the squat cage - he said he would give me the poles for free if there wasn't a CCTV camera pointed directly to where he was, haha! I will try again and be a bit more discreet this time.

I've just been looking at prices online. By my reckoning I need 18 couplers to fix to the frame. scaffoldingsupplies.co.uk does them for about £2.50 each. So i'm looking at £50 for the couplers alone, that's not including carriage. You're right I didn't think it'd be that expensive ..

I looked around for a ready made cage and the absolute cheapest I can find is £180 on ebay. A lot of the bid auctions are flippin' miles away and collection only, and they rarely come up on Gumtree.

If I can get the everything I need for under £100, I think it might be worth going the DIY route. It's also a bit more customisable as I don't have that much space, I can angle grind the scaffolding to the size what I need (2.1x1x1 would be ideal). I've been using squat stands for the last 18 months but I want something a bit sturdier.

Another solution is kee klamp:
http://keesystems.com/fittings/kee-klamp.html

Might run a bit pricey, again. Depending on which fittings you use and the size. There is a load calculator somewhere online for this stuff so you may not need the diameter to be as large as scaffold tube...

I used a hand-drill to do this earlier today, it was fine.

are you going to square up the router with washers or something?

Yeah- that's an interesting one actually as the router is held to the plate with 2 bolts, so the scope for using them to even the router up is limited.

Might have to use shims, not sure yet.

I need to get the correct screws from Clerkenwell tomorrow before I start fiddling around:

Another solution is kee klamp:
http://keesystems.com/fittings/kee-klamp.html

Might run a bit pricey, again. Depending on which fittings you use and the size. There is a load calculator somewhere online for this stuff so you may not need the diameter to be as large as scaffold tube...

Cheers, I'll look in to it when i'm asking around. I wondered what that fixing was called, after I saw this pic

Such a gorgeous set-up! If I had that I'd be set.

KeeKlamp isn't cheap either. I usually get it from these people http://www.fhbrundle.com/ They used to be N London but moved twice and are now out Dagenham way.

Used scaffold will do the job and save a bit. You could try Deborah's in Thorton Heath although there's probably someone nearer to you.

Yeah- that's an interesting one actually as the router is held to the plate with 2 bolts, so the scope for using them to even the router up is limited.

Might have to use shims, not sure yet.

Couldn't you use one of the other bolt holes which secures the phenolic base plate?
Last time I made a router table I ditched the phenolic I think to maximise depth.
Your table looks like it'll be great. Until we got a spindle moulder all we had in the workshop was an MDF box with a router bolted to it and a home made back fence. It still gets used sometimes.
Watch out though spinny sharp things are sharp.

I have taken off the phenolic plate in order to maximise the depth range that I have to play with.

That's an idea re the other mounting holes- I shall see if that would work.