We had decided last year that when it started to get too cold to work outside that we’d get some of the interior work done in the house. Even though we’re still watering the trees because it’s been so warm & dry, we decided that it’s time to replace the painted interior finger-jointed trim with some nice, stained wood molding.
Of course you know this means I want to make the molding ;) but I’ll need a router bit with a profile that suits Leigh… and I surely don’t want to have to route a house-worths of wood with my hand router. I figure I need a table router:
Step 1.
Remove the baseplate from your hand router and after drilling a hole in the center of the top of an old cabinet for the bit to poke through (and some mounting holes that will match the ones that held the baseplate on), attach the router to the underside of the cabinet top.
Since the cabinet top is thicker than the original baseplate, you’ll probably need longer screws.
Close-up
I also routed out half the thickeness of the cabinet top to allow the bit to poke through plenty.
From the top
Don’t mind the writing on the cabinet, it was salvaged from a renovation job. Notice the 3 counter-sunk mounting holes. In this image the angle iron rail for the fence is already attached to the sides. 
Step 2.
The cabinet seems a little low . It would be uncomfortable to have to do all that work hunched-over if I don’t have to. We can solve this by adding some legs.
Cutting some 2″x2″ angle so each leg is 3″ further out at the bottom make the base 6″ wider for stability and adding this 14″ to the bottom puts the working height at ~ 36″.
Step 3.
They say that good fences make good neighbors, but in this case one would also make for a straighter job. As you noticed in the previous images, some 2″x 2″ angle has been bolted onto each side of the cabinet, flush with the top. These will be the rails for the fence to slide on.
After laying the 22″ length of 1.25″ box tube *square* across the top, I welded a 7″ piece of 1″ x 1/4″ to the bottom, crosswise on each end. They slide along the outer edges of the angle to keep the box tube square. 
Now that the fence stays square to the table and is able to slide for different jobs (maybe a little stiff, but that’s better than toulouse, lautrec), we need a way to keep it in place.
This little piece of leftover scrap 1″ x 1/4″ about 4″ long will act as a keeper under the slide. The image shows the fence rolled-over so I can tack weld the keeper to the bottom of the slide.
Like this:
In case my terminology isn’t creating the right picutre in your mind, here’s a profile shot of where I am:
The slide is welded crossways to the bottom of the fence. The keeper is tack-welded to the bottom of the slide, creating a groove for the angle-iron rail to run in. The C-clamp is applying slight pressure to the tack-welded keeper to hold it tight to the rail while I weld the keeper solid to the slide.” 
The slide assembly for one side welded solid:
I know my inverted work leaves something to be desired, but I’m a homeowner who has a welder, not a welder who has a home. 
Testing for sufficient lockup.
The C-clamp applying slight force on the near side is testing to ensure that the far side sufficiently binds as well. I want to create enough tension with only one fastener to hold the entire fence in place, yet have it freely slide when loosened. 
Step 4.
Obviously, the drawers won’t go back in with the router hanging down inside the cabinet. If I were real good, I’d create a faux front door on hinges and attach the drawer faces to it for looks – but I don’t have any matching blue laminate laying around so I’ll just shorten the drawers instead:
Step 5.
I won’t call it finished, but it is usable. Extra points to anyone who’s been following along the posts these last few months and noticed that the old workbench made from pallets is gone. These cabinets came out of a doctor’s office and are heavy-heavy. I used the larger ones, the sink base & a solid core door for my new work area. This cabinet should also serve it’s new purpose well.
Not shown:
- Towards the end of the evening when I tested it out, I realized it was going to be a pain to pull the drawers out to adjust the height/depth for different bits. Not an “everyday” matter, but still not convenient so I drilled a hole in one side of the cabinet, made a longer adjusting bolt & added a “T” handle for ease of use.
Still to do (and post):
- Make an “over center” clamp to hold the fence in place without having to use other tools.
- Add an electrical outlet to the inside to plug the router into and a switch to the outside of the cabinet.
Since no permanent modifications were made to the router, it’ll take less than 5 minutes to remove it and re-attach the baseplate & adjusting screw for its originally intended hand-use if needed – and I can keep those original parts in one of the small drawers. 
