What the fence has to do
- Guide straight work with a flat, straight face on each side of the bit.
- Close up around each bit. Bosch sets its table's facings 1/4 in clear of the bit, closes them up for grooving, and sets the fence back so a bearing just protrudes for piloted bits. Sliding sub-faces do all three.
- Collect chips through an opening behind the bit.
- Carry the guard. Bosch's RA1181 overhead guard bolts to its fence. A replacement fence that cannot carry the table's guard is not finished.
| Part | Qty | Thickness | Width | Length | Material |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | 1 | 3/4 in | 5 in | 36 in | Plywood, one edge jointed straight |
| Back | 1 | 3/4 in | 4 in | 36 in | Plywood, a 3 × 3 in notch centred on its lower edge |
| Sub-faces | 2 | 3/4 in | 3-1/2 in | 16 in | Plywood or MDF, two horizontal slots each |
| Box top | 1 | 3/4 in | 3-1/2 in | 5 in | Plywood |
| Box sides | 2 | 3/4 in | 2-3/4 in | 3-1/4 in | Plywood |
| Box back | 1 | 3/4 in | 3-1/2 in | 3-1/4 in | Plywood, a hole for your hose fitting |
| Braces | 2 | 3/4 in | 3 in | 3 in | Plywood, each cut corner to corner into two triangles |
The base, 5 in deep, holds the sub-face (3/4 in), the back (3/4 in) and the 3-1/2 in box behind it. The sub-faces, 16 + 16 in with a 3 in gap, leave 1/2 in of the 36 in back at each end. Hardware: four carriage bolts with washers and knobs, glue and screws. Bosch notes that common 2-1/2 in hoses fit its table's port; size the box's hole to your own hose.
Building it
Making the fence
Cut and true the parts
Rip the base, back and sub-faces and joint the base's front edge and the back's face straight; a fence is only as straight as these. Narrow rips on a saw: table saw safety. Lay the sheet parts out with the cut list optimizer.
Notch the back
Cut the 3 × 3 in notch centred on the back's lower edge: the bit runs here, and chips go through it into the box.
Join back and base
Glue and screw the back to the base's top at 90°, its face 3/4 in in from the base's front edge to leave room for the sub-faces. Check square along its length — squares. Fit the braces behind the back near each end.
Build the box
Drill the hose hole in the box back, then glue and screw the sides to it and the top over both. Glue and screw the box to the back of the fence and the base, centred behind the notch.
Slot and fit the sub-faces
Cut two horizontal slots in each sub-face, bolt them to the back with the bolt heads recessed below the face, and fit washers and knobs behind. The slots let each face slide toward or away from the bit.
Mount the guard
Transfer the bolt pattern of your table's guard from its original fence and drill the back to match, so the guard sits over the bit exactly as before. If your table's guard cannot be fitted to this fence, do not use the fence.
Setting it up on the table
Clamp the base to the top at both ends. For an edge profile with a bit that has no bearing, the fence sets the depth; slide each sub-face to about 1/4 in from the bit, as Bosch does on its own table. For a piloted bit, set the fence back until the bearing just protrudes past the faces, and line both faces up with the bearing using a straightedge, as Freud's instructions say. For grooves, close the faces up so the work is supported the whole way. To joint an edge, shim the outfeed (left) face out as Bosch's 1/16 in shims do. If a cut also uses a miter gauge, set the fence parallel to the slot first. Then lower the guard, connect extraction, and feed scrap right to left before the work — setting up a router table.
Safety— Never behind the bit
Stock is always fed between you and the bit, along the faces — never between the bit and the fence, which Bosch's manual calls a fence trap because it exposes the bit and turns the feed into a climb cut. A wider fence opening is not a reason to change that.
A router lift: think before you build
A lift holds the router motor in a carriage under the plate and raises or lowers it from above the table. Commercial lifts are matched to particular routers by their makers. This page reviewed no lift maker's documents and offers no plan for a home-made one: the carriage would be the only thing holding a running router upside down, and Bosch's table manual already warns that motor vibration can loosen the router's fasteners and let it fall from the table. If changing height from below is the problem, check your router first: Bosch's 1617 adjusts from above the table with a hex wrench, and its RA1165 undertable base stays bolted to the plate. Lifts and above-table adjustment are described in router tables.
Dust
OSHA names exhaust ventilation at the source as the preferred control for wood dust. The box catches chips at the bit; keep the hose connected for every cut and wear respiratory protection too, since a port reduces exposure without ending it.
Before the first cut with a shop-made fence
- Fence faces flat and straight, checked with a straightedge
- Table's guard mounted over the bit as on the original fence
- Sub-faces set for this bit; bolt heads below the face
- Base clamped at both ends
- Extraction connected to the box
- Scrap fed right to left and checked
Bits for table work are in router bits and their speeds in the speed chart; handheld builds are in router projects; the family is mapped in the router guide. For holding parts while the glue sets on the fence, see clamps.
Sources
The fence is a BenchRoot design; no downloadable plan exists. Clearances and shim thicknesses are Bosch's for its RA1181 and are given as that maker's figures. No lift maker's documents were reviewed, and no home-made lift is designed here. Building the table itself is a separate project not covered on this page.
- 1.
RA1181 Benchtop Router Table Operating/Safety Instructions. Bosch, 2010.
Used for: The overhead guard mounted on the fence and used unless an operation requires otherwise; fence facings set 1/4 in clear of the bit; facings closed up for continuous support when grooving; the pilot just protruding for piloted bits; one or two 1/16 in jointing shims on the outfeed facing; never placing stock between bit and fence; trial cuts in scrap; motor vibration able to loosen the router's fasteners and let it fall from the table.
- 2.
RA1181 Benchtop Router Table. Bosch.
Used for: Common 2-1/2 in vacuum hoses fitting the RA1181's port directly.
- 3.
1617, 1617EVS, 1617EVSPK, 1618EVS Operating/Safety Instructions. Bosch, 2018.
Used for: The 1617's height adjusted from above the table with a hex wrench, and the RA1165 undertable base left bolted to the plate.
- 4.
Premier Adjustable Rail and Stile System (instructions poster). Freud.
Used for: Lining the infeed and outfeed fences up with a bit's bearing using a straightedge; the fence parallel to the miter slot when a miter gauge is used.
- 5.
Wood Dust: Possible Solutions. U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Used for: Local exhaust ventilation at the source as the preferred control for wood dust.
About this guide
Written by BenchRoot Editorial. How BenchRoot sources, checks and corrects its pages is set out in the Editorial Policy. If something here is wrong or unclear, the contact page explains how to tell us.