Make a Mini Router Table for a Trim Router for Woodworking
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Trim or Laminate Routers have been around for many, many years but there are very few manufacturers because they just aren't as popular as they could be, simply because they are small, low powered and limited to 1/4 inch bits only. But Trim Routers or Portable Routers can be a nice alternative in a woodworking shop for people who don't have full size routers. True, they are limited in their abilities, but with some add-on jigs and accessories, Trim Routers can be a useful item.
The main purpose of the "Trim Router" was back in the day when cabinet makers were building kitchen cabinets, a newly invented material was being used for counter tops and it was called Laminate. After the cabinets were made and installed, the counter tops and the back of the sheet laminate material were coated with contact cement and bonded together. The sheep material always stuck out over the edge so that it could be trimmed off even with the edge of the counter, and this was the original purpose of the Laminate or Trim Router. Since those days, counter top manufacturing has evolved and laminate trimmers are seldom used for the purpose they were designed, but there are still good uses for these smaller router versions.
Any router, full size or hand router, can do much more when it has the benefit of a router table. I would estimate that with my parter router and router table, at least 80 to 90 percent of what I do with that router involves using it on a router table, whether it's building doors, trimming wood of cutting rabbets or dados, so I expect the same would be for the trim router, which is why I decided to build this portable table for it ...
Read more: Make a Mini Router Table for a Trim Router for Woodworking
I do not know of any other working medium that uses more tips and jigs than woodworking. There are so many tricks and adaptions that can be made to make woodworking easier and safer ... the whole thing could be an industry of it's own.
