Router table adapter base plate

[0002] 1. Field of the Invention

[0003] The invention relates to a router table adapter base plate for affixing various router models and configurations to a router table.

[0004] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0005] Electric routers are used to handle a wide variety of woodworking tasks. A typical router includes an electric motor mounted inside of a housing having handles by which the router may be held and manipulated manually. The motor shaft has a collet which accepts a tool (also called a router bit or cutter); a base is attached to the housing that surrounds the cutter such that a portion of the cutter protrudes from the base when the cutter is brought into contact with the work piece. The cutter rotates and removes a small volume of the work piece each time a cutter blade engages the work piece, which is achieved by applying force between the router cutter and work piece in the direction of a cut. The base may be adjusted in parallel to the rotating axis of the motor, and the relative position of the base and cutter can change while the tool is in use by “plunging” the tool into the work piece.

[0006] Although routers are often operated by keeping the work piece stationary and moving the router relative to the fixed work piece in a free-handed manner, the router may also be mounted in a table having a wide surface to work on in an inverted position, with the cutter projecting up from the table through an opening. With the router in this stationary operating position, the work piece may be moved relative to the fixed router thus permitting an accurate manipulation of the work piece.

[0007] Such work tables are known in the art. These work tables include some mechanism for mounting the router in a fixed position with sufficient rigidity to prevent the router from moving. This mechanism typically includes either holes drilled directly in the table in a position such that the router may be fastened to the table, or it includes a base plate to which the router is fastened, with the base plate then being attached to the work table.

[0008] An example of a base plate used in this manner can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,038 which illustrates attaching a router to a baseplate, with the assembly being fixed to a work table. In this arrangement, the router is suspended with the baseplate positioned within a hole in a router table top just slightly larger than the baseplate and resting on a lip or ledge below the top surface of the table top equal to the thickness of the baseplate.

[0009] One difficulty in utilizing routers in this manner with a work table is that there is no universal standard for mounting routers. Positions of attachment mechanisms tend to vary not only from manufacturer to manufacturer, but even within a given manufacturer, depending on the size or other characteristics of the router.

[0010] In order to accommodate different router configurations, various techniques have been employed. For example, according to the Craftsman Router Adapter Plate for Industrial Router Tables: Instructions for Assembly and Installation of Your Model No. 171.25333, January, 1997, a template having concentric circles of various sizes printed on it is attached to the router adapter plate using tape. The router is placed on the adapter plate with the template on, and the location of the base plate mounting holes are marked using a pencil or felt tipped marker. Holes are then drilled at the previously marked hole positions. The template is then removed, and the router is attached to the base plate with screws going through the holes that were previously drilled.

[0011] While this technique permits a base plate to accommodate any router that has been designed with attachment screws/holes, it involves a substantial amount of work on the part of the purchaser. First, it requires that the user have a drill with the correct size drill bits on hand. Second, it requires time and effort to properly drill the required holes. The positions must be properly and accurately marked—while using the template provided is a helpful aid, it is by no means foolproof. Erroneous hole locations could still potentially result—these would be difficult if not impossible to correct. Also, the holes may be required to have a particular countersink to work properly. Purchasing the necessary tools to complete the job result in greater incurred expenses. Furthermore, this process would have to be repeated for each and every different router configuration that might be used.

[0012] In order to eliminate the step of users drilling the holes themselves, adapter plates have been created which can accommodate various router configurations. For example, the Craftsman Router Universal Adapter Plate for Assembly and Operation—Owner's Manual for Model No. 171.25326 provides an adapter plate that is pre-drilled and slotted to accommodate a number of different routers. Although the holes and slots are pre-drilled in this adapter plate, however, various mechanism are utilized by it to minimize the number of holes and slots in the plate. The use of slots to accommodate router configurations of varying sizes does allow flexibility, but results in a mounting that is not as solid as one that exclusively used holes. There is a small degree of play in the router that results from the use of slots—this results from the inherent strength and stiffness of the material from which the router plate is manufactured. Also, the additional material removed from the adapter plate to make slots, as opposed to holes, results in a weakened plate design over one that uses only holes, and is not as durable. Although the strength could be increased with other techniques such as using stronger material or making the plate thicker, these techniques would result in an increased material and production cost.

[0013] Furthermore, this design requires the use of additional countersink bushings in order to accommodate the various types of countersinks present on different router models. These countersink bushings increase the cost of an adapter plate over a design that doesn't require them, and make the plate more difficult to install.

[0014] For these reasons, it is desirable to have a router adapter base plate that can be quickly connected to a router and provides a strong mounting for the router when the plate-router assembly is mounted on a table.

[0015] The invention is based on a strong slotless router adapter plate that can accommodate a large number of different routers and that minimizes the effort required by a user to attach to a router and minimizes cost.

[0016] This object is achieved by a slotless router base plate having pre-existing holes for a large majority of the routers presently on the market present in the router plate at the time of purchase. The inventive base plate has no fewer than six hole groupings, with each hole grouping having at least two holes. Since these holes are pre-existing at the time of purchase, there is no need for the purchaser to drill any holes themselves, make use of any templates, perform the proper countersinking/counterboring, or incur any additional costs associated with adapting a router plate to a particular model router. Furthermore, the inventive base plate requires no slots, which can result in a poorer mounting and structurally weaken the base plate.

[0017] The hole groupings in the inventive base plate were selected based on extensive market research to accommodate the vase majority of routers on the market today. Broadly, the invention identifies the selection of groups and holes required to accommodate various routing configurations, but narrowly in that the precise locations of the holes, as well as the sizes and shapes (i.e., counterboring, countersinking, adaption with an inset to accommodate a nut or other fastening device) are provided.

[0018] An additional embodiment provides for an identification of holes to the hole patterns to facilitate fastening the plate to a particular router model; these identifiers may be provided as a relief within the base plate itself for durability, but may also include surface etching, painting, or some other permanent way of providing identification for the holes.

[0019] Furthermore, the inventive base plate containing the hole pattern may be round, but is not limited to the round shape. Any other appropriate geometric shape may be used, or the inventive hole pattern may be created directly in a router table to hole a router.

[0020] The invention, together with further advantages, is explained in greater detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0021] FIG. 1 is an orthogonal view of a router base plate being used to attach a router to a router table;

[0022] FIG. 2ais a top view of the router base plate and showing the hole pattern used to mount the router base plate to the router table;

[0023] FIG. 2bis a section view of the mounting holes illustrated in FIG. 2a;

[0024] FIG. 3 is an orthogonal view of the top of the router base plate showing all of the hole pattern groupings;

[0025] FIG. 4 is an orthogonal view of the bottom of the router base plate showing all of the hole pattern groupings;

[0026] FIG. 5ais a top view of the router base plate showing only hole patterns A and AB;

[0027] FIG. 5bis a section view of the holes in hole patterns A and AB;

[0028] FIG. 6ais a top view of the router base plate showing only hole pattern C;

[0029] FIG. 6bis a section view of the holes in hole patterns C and F;

[0030] FIG. 7ais a top view of the router base plate showing only hole pattern D;

[0031] FIG. 7bis a section view of the holes in hole patterns D and E;

[0032] FIG. 8 is a top view of the router base plate showing only hole pattern E;

[0033] FIG. 9 is a top view of the router base plate showing only hole pattern F;

[0034] FIG. 10ais a top view of the router base plate showing only hole pattern G;

[0035] FIG. 10bis a section view of the holes in hole pattern G;

[0036] FIG. 11 is a top view of the router base plate showing all of the hole patterns combined; and

[0037] FIG. 12 is a bottom view of the router base plate showing all of the hole patterns combined.

[0038] FIG. 1 provides an orthogonal view of the inventive router base plate 20 being used to attach a router 10 to a router table 14. The base plate 20 is fastened to the router by passing a fastening device through one of the base plate holes in a particular hole pattern grouping and into a hole in the router (exemplified by the screw passing through a hole in the hole grouping labeled “E” in FIG. 1, into the hole 12 in the router). The inventive base plate 20 may also contain hole group identifiers 22 that permit an easy determination of which holes should be used for a particular router model.

[0039] When the router has been fastened to the router base plate, forming a router-baseplate assembly, this assembly is then fastened to the router table. The router base plate has a hole pattern grouping H that lines up with an identically positioned group of holes 16 on the router table 14. A recess or inset 28 may be provided in the holes in group H to accommodate a nut 18, for example, that will permit a fastening device, such as a screw 17 to secure the router-baseplate assembly to the router table 14. Note, however, that this nut is optional, and that the baseplate itself may have some mechanism for receiving the fastener and holding it to the table, such as the holes in group H being threaded themselves. The mounting aligns the hole 15 in the router table, through which the router bit protrudes, with the large center hole 11, having an exemplary radius of approximately 22 mm or 32 mm, in the router base plate. The large center hole may have any appropriate radius to accommodate protruding router bits. In one embodiment in which the radius is approximately 22 mm, an inset 24 may be provided having a radius of approximately 26 mm that permits a guide bushing (not shown) to be attached. This inset 24 has a depth of approximately 5 mm from the bottom surface. An alternate embodiment in which the large center hole 11 is 32 mm, no inset is present.

[0040] The inventive base plate has an exemplary thickness of approximately 8 mm, although other thicknesses may be used, depending on the strength of the plate desired.

[0041] The router base plate 20 is represented in the figures by router hole pattern groupings (groups A, AB, C, D, E, and F) that serve to mount various router 10 models to the base plate 20, and by ancillary hole pattern groupings (groups G and H) that serve to secure the base plate 20 to the table 14 (group H) or to attach a guide bushing to the router plate (group G). The positions and shapes of the holes in the router hole pattern groupings are of primary importance, since these cannot be changed by the manufacturer of the router base plate. However, the positions and shapes of the holes in the ancillary hole pattern groupings are only of moderate importance since the manufacturer of the router base plate has some control over the table that the plate will mount to.

[0042] FIGS. 2aand 2bprovide exemplary locations for the holes used to mount the router baseplate 20 to the table 14. In this embodiment, three holes are provided, H1, H2 and H3, all of which have a center point distance R_Hfrom a center point of the large center hole 11. Note that the positions of these mounting holes are not as important as the positions of the holes required to mount the router to the base plate, as these need only serve to affix the base plate 20 to the table 14.

[0043] In the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 2aand 2b,the radius R_Hof the centers of holes H1-H3 from the center of the large center hole 11 is 68.25 mm, and each hole is separated by respective angles θ_H1,H2, θ_H2,H3, θ_H3,H1which are all 120° in this exemplary embodiment. The holes may be designed such that they can accommodate a nut having a diameter of D_2H, for example, 3.94 mm, by an inset to a bottom surface of the baseplate 20, on a side to which the router 10 mounts. The radius of holes H1-H3 on the upper surface have a radius of R_HU, that may, for example, be approximately 2.55 mm.

[0044] FIG. 3 shows an orthogonal top view of the inventive router baseplate, and FIG. 4 shows an orthogonal bottom view of the router baseplate, showing the positions of all of the hole groupings in relationship to one another.

[0045] The primary hole patterns for the inventive router baseplate are provided in the remaining FIGS. 5a-12. Unlike the holes in hole pattern H, the hole patterns in patterns A, AB, C, D, E, F, and G are precisely specified because they are based on various router models. Each of the hole pattern groups will be identified separately below.

[0046] FIG. 5aprovides the layout of hole patterns for hole pattern groups A and AB. Hole pattern A corresponds with, for example, Ryobi™ models R160K, R160V, R166 and R180 as well as Craftsman™ models 27500, 27510, and 27511. Hole pattern B (accommodated by the pattern identified as AB) corresponds with, for example, Ryobi™ models R175 and RE175.

[0047] The following parameters are identified with holes in hole patterns A and AB in FIGS. 5aand 5b:

[0048] FIG. 6aprovides the layout of hole patterns for hole pattern group C. Hole pattern C corresponds with, for example, Black and Decker™ models 7600 and 7604.

[0049] The following parameters are identified with holes in hole pattern C in FIGS. 6aand 6b:

[0050] FIG. 7aprovides the layout of hole patterns for hole pattern group D. Hole pattern D corresponds with, for example, Porter Cable™ models 690 and 6931.

[0051] The following parameters are identified with holes in hole pattern D in FIGS. 7aand 7b:

[0052] FIG. 8 provides the layout of hole patterns for hole pattern group E. Hole pattern E corresponds with, for example, Skil™ models 1823, 1835 and 1845-02, or Craftsman™ models 17504, 17505, and 17506.

[0053] The following parameters are identified with holes in hole pattern E in FIG. 8:

[0054] Note that the radius and countersink dimensions for holes in group E are identical to those in group D.

[0055] FIG. 9 provides the layout of hole patterns for hole pattern group F. Hole pattern F corresponds with, for example, Black and Decker™ model 7612, or Dewalt™ model DW 610.

[0056] The following parameters are identified with holes in hole pattern F in FIG. 9:

[0057] Note that the radius and counterbore dimensions for holes in group F are identical to those in group C.

[0058] FIG. 10aprovides the layout of hole patterns for hole pattern group G. Hole pattern G is provided to permit the attachment of a guide bushing to the router base plate.

[0059] The following exemplary parameters are identified with holes in hole pattern G in FIGS. 10aand 10b:

[0060] FIG. 11 provides the layout of all of the hole pattern groupings combined, as they would appear in an actual embodiment of the invention. This figure is provided to show the angular relationships of all of the hole pattern groupings with respect to one another.

[0061] The following exemplary parameters are identified in FIG. 11:

[0062] Note that in an embodiment where the hole patterns are provided directly in the router table, the router is simply attached to the table in the same manner as the preceding example describes attaching the router to the base plate.

[0063] These hole groupings provide a unique and nonobvious pattern for slotless a router base plate in that they accommodate the vast majority of routers on the market today, while at the same time providing a strong mounting for a router requiring little effort by a user to mount.

[0064] The above-described router base plate adapter is illustrative of the principles of the present invention. Numerous modifications and adaptations thereof will be readily apparent to those skilled in this art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.