Router in table saw wing?

[kurt18947]

I did a router in my table saw wing as well. I started out using the table saw fence with an add-on router fence but made a second independent fence. I found myself moving the TS fence to attach the router fence then having to return to the previous setting too frequently. With the router fence in place I still have about 14" of rip capacity. It takes seconds to remove the router fence if required but I don't find myself doing that very often. Usually when I require capacity to the right of the TS blade I'm cutting panels which don't require router table use. Where I use the router table is for trim and drawers, neither of which require much capacity to the right of the TS blade.

[Hank Knight]

I've had a cast iron router table exension wing on my table saw for years, initially on a Unisaw and currently on a SawStop ICS. I have been very satisfied with it. I am using an early ediion of the Bench Dog router lift with a Porter Cable #7518 3 1/4hp router. On the few occasions when I needed more support for a wide workpiece, I did what I think Fred Hargis was talking about: I just moved the fence to the outboard side of the router bit and ran the workpiece through from the other (back) side of the saw. This way I had the whole saw table to support the workpiece. It felt a little awkward, but not unsafe, and it worked fine.

Depending on how your table saw is set up, you may be able to get creative with the DC for your router table. I was able rig my over-the-table DC for the saw to be easily re-routed to my router table fence to handle the above-the-table DC for the router. I split the below-the-table saw DC with a "Y" fitting and a blast gate and rigged it to handle the below-the-table DC for the router table. It works great. If I had a much larger shop, I would, of course, like to have a stand alone router table. But what I have has worked very well for me for a long time and it adds nothing to the footprint of the table saw. I have no complaints.

IMG_0169 by Hank Knight, on Flickr