Cast iron extension table for table saw/router setup

[greatscott]

I currently have a Jet table saw with full 52" rail and table which also doubles as my router table, which is a Bench Dog cast iron extension table). My current setup is the Bench Dog router table replaces the right wing and the remaining extension table is melamine. My plan is to move the router table to the end of the extension table instead of being just right of the blade.

Is there any company that makes a full extension table made of cast iron? Or maybe mate multiple extension wings together to fill in the space? What have others done with wanting to move their cast iron routing table to the end of their extension table? Were you successful in aligning cast iron wing/melamine table/cast iron router table successfully? Any help/thoughts would be appreciated before I begin this journey.

[JGrout]

IMO/E I think I would take a few minutes and cut a hole in the melamine extension table to set the router up in and use it for a project or two.

I never saw the point of a cast iron top for a router setup and have successfully used the above for yrs without once regretting the decision.

[Del Hilburn]

I purchased two extra cast iron saw tops and used them for the extension wings.
I then cut a hole for a router plate in one side
Here is how it came out

[Steve N]

I agree with Joe, especially if you have long rails as you do. Keep the Cast tops with the saw, and extend to the right a board mounted to the rails. Matters little what you use, but melamine, or Formica covered MDF, Ply, or MDO board to replace the cast you speak of. You can easily make it strong enough to hang the router, and support any work you want to do on top of it. Easy to attach to the rails, and simple to have many types of fences from plain, to Incra adjustable. After you have sourced the needed stock/hardware, it is an easy afternoon project.

Good video for making space for your router


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0FREeHxsms


Part 2


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0cku9C0Azg


Part 3


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZtrjIKxiAA

He had melamine ply for the base, and switched to plain ply for the under support part, but also stayed with straight ply for the table insert. I would use something that offered less resistance, like melamine, Formica. This is not a tough project.

[arw01]

I did exactly this with a sawstop extension wings a few months ago and the basically same size General cast iron router table top. There is approx 5' of cast iron from the left table saw wing to the end of the router table top.

Ended up needing legs out there to keep the table from being a bit tipsy.

I got along for years with a laminate on double up plywood, but eventually the laminate gives up and you have some lifting someplace.

It's a pain on the cast iron for the rust, even a hand print will sometimes rust with the bio film and heavy coat of paste wax.

Someday I intend to buy a Jessem master fence and it's master slide, up the side mounted rail mounts for it. But I like I can use a magnetic whatever any place on the table.

I am more aware of what I put on the table so as not to scratch it vs the old laminate top.

[ifermon]

I had a similar situation. A Jet Table saw w/ rails and wanted to get an iron router table at the end. I've got a *very* small space for my workshop.

I ended up with a SawStop table and Jessem lift. Getting it level and securely attached turned out to be a bigger pain than I thought. 

To hopefully save time for the next person here's what I did that worked great:

• Marked the underside of the rails at the corners of the router table and cut-up phenolic wing (the one that came w/ my table saw)  
  
     
  
• Removed the powder coating and had a friend weld tabs to the underside
  
• Drilled holes and tapped them so that I could put in a bolt 
  
     
  
• Used the bolts to precisely adjust the table height 
  
     
  
• Secured the iron router table to the rails using existing holes towards the end of the rails, but only was able to get one bolt per side. The second set of holes didn't match up and I can't drill into metal that precisely (I know this because I've failed at it many other times). The holes in the tabs had a fairly large margin of error compared to exactly matching up new holes in the sides of the rails with the holes in the router table. 
  
     
  

Because the underside screws end up taking most of the weight (I chose beefy M12's x 1.75) the one screw per side is more than enough to hold the table in place. 

The big challenge for me was to get the three sections perfectly level with each other. Having the adjustment screws underneath allowed me to do just that.

[Lumber Yard®]

Way to kick the tires on a 5 year old thread. LOL

[GeeDub]

Or maybe mate multiple extension wings together to fill in the space?

Here's a hybrid saw I once ran in the shop.  It arrived with the wrong wings.  This was when Orion was first starting to provide the 'zipcode' saws badged as Craftsman.  they were just getting organized at the time and managed to send me a couple of wrong wings before I got the right ones.  I drilled and bolted them all together.

   

I have always had my router wing, and eventually an attached table, on the left as I enjoy the common feed direction and shared infeed and outfeed clearance.