“The palm router is super useful, but a little scary.” That’s how I felt about it.
If the bit catches the wood too aggressively, it can kick back (the tool jumps toward the operator) — using one always made me a bit nervous.
So this time I built a router table.
Routing that I used to do handheld is now safer and more accurate.
This article covers:
・What a palm router can do in the first place
・The benefits of a router table
・How to build the router table
About Palm Routers
What a palm router can do
A palm router is a power tool that shaves wood.
It enables operations a saw can’t do — like cutting grooves — which makes DIY a lot more fun.
You can swap in different bits depending on the operation.
The two most common router operations are “groove cutting” and “edge profiling”:
Real-world router examples
Examples from past DIY projects.
※ These examples were done without a router table.
Groove cutting (no table)
This was a groove cut into a guitar neck for a fitted part.
I ran the router along a wood guide to cut a straight groove.
(I have a Japanese article on building the DIY guitar — English version forthcoming.)
Edge profiling (no table)
Here’s a roundover edge cut with a “roundover bit with bearing”.
The bearing rolls along the edge of the workpiece, leaving a profiled edge like the photo.
Compared to no roundover, the piece looks much more elegant.
Doing the same operation by hand with sandpaper would be a real chore.
(These photos are from the legs of a DIY bedside table — Japanese article available; English version forthcoming.)
Side note about palm routers — they’re loud
The palm router is great, but the one thing I think people underestimate is how loud it is.
You really can’t tell from DIY YouTube videos.
The first time I fired one up I worried I was bothering the neighbors.
(I’ve gotten used to it now… maybe my neighbors haven’t.)
I try to use it during the day. If you live in an apartment or close to neighbors, this is worth thinking about.
What’s a Router Table?
The examples above were done by holding the router and moving it across the workpiece.
A “router table” inverts that: the router is fixed under the table, and you move the workpiece across the table.
Benefits of a router table
More stable cuts
With the router fixed and the workpiece moving, you have much more control. More accurate than handheld.
More efficient for batch work
For example, “I want to chamfer 10 pieces of square stock.” You just slide each piece across the table — quick, mindless, consistent.
The router’s bit height is set once. After that, every piece gets the same depth.
Safer
When you’re handheld and the router catches, you can lose grip in a kickback — scary and possibly dangerous.
When the router is fixed, that risk drops significantly.
My DIY router table (finished)
Here’s the router table I built.
(The workbench it sits on is off-the-shelf. The router table itself clamps to it during use.)
The router mounts to the underside of the table:
Turn the router on and slide the workpiece along the fence.
Groove cut:
Build steps below.
Building the Router Table
Preparing the table top
For the table top:
300 mm × 600 mm × 13 mm thick glue-laminated panel from the home improvement store.
I originally planned to use plywood, but the home improvement store didn’t have any flat (non-warped) sheets in stock. The glue-laminated panel section had what I needed at the same price, so I went with that instead.
Remove the router’s stock baseplate as shown. The “tube that holds the router body” mounts to the underside of the table.
Drill the table top with the same hole pattern as the router’s baseplate so the router clamp can be screwed in.
I’m using flat-head (countersunk) screws.
Counterbore the holes with a larger bit so the screw heads sit flush.
(If they stick up, they get in the way during routing.)
The router clamp tube is mounted.
The router body slides into it like this:
Building the fence
I wanted ~40 mm × 40 mm square stock for the fence, but the home improvement store’s square stock was warped — not usable as a fence.
So I glued together two 60 mm × 24 mm glue-laminated panels to make the fence:
I cut a relief notch in the fence so the router bit has clearance:
Started by drilling out a rough opening with a drill.
(The masking tape on the bit is a depth marker so I drill consistently.)
Cleaned up the shape with a chisel.
Used the router itself for the final cleanup of the relief shape.
Like this:
Fence done.
Mounting the fence to the table
Install threaded inserts (“oni-me” inserts — driven into the wood to create a screw socket) in the table top. I used 4 mm diameter ones.
These let me screw the fence down.
The fence is too thick for the screws I’m using, so I thinned the area where the screw heads will sit:
Used a Forstner bit on the drill to bore the seat.
Now the screws fit:
Done!
Test Run
Time to actually rout some grooves on the new table.
Groove cut. (Quite a few burrs on this first attempt.)
Sanded the burrs off.
Stable, accurate cut on the new router table. Looking forward to using this on real projects.
The router is great but the kickback risk always made me tense. The router table makes it noticeably safer.
Related Japanese article: Easy palm router upgrade — wider acrylic baseplate (English version available in this batch).
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