How to Make a Cut Out for a Router Table Insert
- 1). Set the insert on the router table surface to find the best location. The exact center of the table is ideal if you will freehand most of your work pieces. Positioning the insert toward the back of the table is better if the router will be used with a fence the majority of the time as it provides more support for the work pieces. Once you have decided on the position and made sure that nothing will interfere with the router body beneath the table, trace around the outside of the insert and set it aside.
- 2). Adjust the router bit depth to match the thickness of the insert plate.
- 3). Clamp a straight-edge or square piece of scrap wood parallel to one of the lines on table top at a measurement equal to the distance between the edge of the router base and outside edge of the router bit. Properly positioned, the straight-edge prevents the router from straying outside of the guide lines.
- 4). Plunge the router bit into the table surface and remove the material within the lines of the pattern. Move the straight-edge to each side as you approach the lines on each side of the cutout.
- 5). Draw a second rectangle 1-inch inside of the area from which you removed the material.
- 6). Drill a starter hole inside one of the corners of inner rectangle and cut out the wood inside of this area, leaving a lip that will support the table insert.
