For my birthday back in May I bought myself a new router (Bosch 1617 2.25 HP) and new router plate from Incra. Today was the day to finally install them.
I had an “older” router plate installed on auxiliary wing on my table saw. The size of the new plate doesn’t match current opening, and as you can see it has seen some use. So the table saw wing needed to be replaced.
I chose to go with Phenolic Plywood, which I was able to find at my local Woodcraft. This stuff isn’t cheep, a ¾” x 24” x 48” was $59. It is a very nice grade of plywood, but I think Woodcraft has quite a markup on this stuff. I’ve seen full sheets for about $98. Dark green was my only color choice, but it looks pretty good.
The original material used on the wing, wasn’t quite ¾” and this plywood was right on ¾”. The plywood stuck up just a little above the cast iron top. I had to cut some recesses where it sat on the mounting tabs.
I just used a Forstner bit to remove about a 1/16” of material. It worked out nicely.
Next it was time to cut the opening. When I bought the router plate, I also bought a template for cutting the opening. When I installed the original plate, I had some difficulties. So I thought the template was worth the investment.
The template really did make quick work of cutting out the opening. I’m glade I bought it.
Once the rabbet was cut, I drilled holes in each corner of the material that needed to be removed from the center. I then used a jigsaw to remove the material, leaving the rabbet for the plate to sit on.
I set the depth of the rabbet to a little more than the thickness of the new router plate. That way there was no possibility of it being higher than the surface of the plywood. I then used the leveling screws to set the level flush with the top
The plate went in without much of a problem. Although, there was slightly too much play in the opening. Not much but just enough to cause a problem. In the upper left corner of the plate, there is an offset cam that locks the plate into the opening. Because of the extra play, the cam really didn’t engage. My solution was to add something in the corner to give the cam something press against.
The screw worked really well! The screw was adjustable, which allowed me to set just the right amount tension.
Even though I bought a router plate for my model of router, it didn’t have a hole for the above the table adjustment the router had. After locating the position of the adjuster, it was an easy task on the drill press.
Overall it was a pretty easy install and should a nice addition to the shop.
