Assembling a lift for a milling table with your own hands

Every master who constantly deals with carpentry works knows how useful a milling table can be in this business. It allows you to perform a variety of operations previously available only for stationary woodworking machines using a manual router.

Diagram of the milling table.

However, the purchase of a milling table factory production requires considerable financial costs, so the manufacture of such equipment with their hands continues to enjoy steady popularity. This is not particularly difficult for people who often have to deal with woodworking. How to make it, there are many options.

One of the most complex, but also the most useful devices on a milling table is an elevator. It allows accurate milling of products without adjusting the depth of milling each time again, and reliably fixes the router in a predetermined position. Elevator for milling table, however, it is quite possible to make yourself, with your own hands. Most of its dimensions are determined by the individual outlines of the specific model of the router, which will be installed in it. The material for its manufacture can be wood or thick plywood, which is easiest, but if the volume of work is sufficiently serious, it is better to spend time and effort and make an elevator out of metal parts. This will greatly prolong its service life and reduce the time required for repair.

Fastening the elevator to the surface of the milling table

Scheme elevator for frezery.

First of all, a manual mill with a power of 850 W or some other, powerful enough is taken. It has in its design a thrust steel plate 3 mm thick, which is attached to it with the help of 4 screws on the working end. It is easily removed, and in its place put a wider the same thickness, which will be attached to the surface of the milling table. In this plate, it is necessary to pre-drill a round hole, the diameter of which corresponds to the largest of the used cutters, and flare its edges to eliminate burrs. It has 4 holes drilled in the corners for fastening the milling cutter and 4 holes in the corners for mounting on the table surface. This is done in order to maintain the maximum possible milling depth, because the thickness of the table cover is at least 15 mm, which already limits it sufficiently.

The elevator for the milling table is placed at its left edge and pressed against the guide line, along which the wooden blank moves. In order to prevent any movement of its movement, a 3 mm deep sample is made in the surface, corresponding to the size of the steel plate to which the router is attached. Its surface falls flush with the surface of the table, and all the heads of the mounting screws are hidden in secret recesses. This will make the movement of wooden blanks along the ruler completely unobstructed.

Assembly of the mounting frame for the router

Scheme frame milling table.

A welded frame in the shape of the letter “H” is assembled from a steel square profile tube with a cross section of 25 mm and a wall thickness of 2 mm. It can also be made of wood, but it will last a much shorter period, since the loads are quite significant. Two square steel plates with holes in the corners are welded to the upper ends. They rest against a plate fixed on the table on both sides of the hole, for which also holes with secret recesses are drilled in it. They are threaded with a tap, preferably M4. This allows, if necessary, to remove the elevator frame along with the router, without disturbing the surface plane of the entire milling table.

On the sides of the router there are two handles directed at an angle to its central axis. They are removed and two screws are screwed in their place, preferably grade M 6. In the side surfaces of the frame, longitudinal holes are cut into the inner and outer surfaces, the width of which is equal to the thickness of the screws. The screws through these holes are attached to the pusher, which allows you to securely fix the router in the frame. To prevent the fastening from loosening during the vibration, the screws are fixed with the help of lock-nuts. A hole will be drilled in the crossbar, through which the pushing screw will pass. The length of the holes should correspond to the height of raising the entire elevator. Restriction is necessary to avoid damage to the tool itself during operation.

Elevator Pusher Design

The device of the mill router.

In the fixed frame in which the tool is fixed, the movable frame is inserted in the form of the letter “P”, which is the elevator pusher. It is welded from a square metal pipe with a diameter of 20 mm, which has the ability to move freely inside the fixed frame. In the sides of the movable frame, two holes are drilled at an angle, through which screws are inserted, passing through the holes in the fixed frame to the tool itself. A hole for the pushing screw is drilled in the center of the crossmember.

The elevator pusher itself is a steel stud with a threaded thread cut through it. The thread pitch should be 1.5, it allows you to calculate the lift height of the elevator, without resorting to measuring instruments. 15 full turns will raise it by 2.5 mm. For a more secure fastening of the pushing screw over the hole in the movable frame, as well as from the opposite side, 2-3 nuts must be welded through which the stud will pass. During the operation of the elevator, the main load will fall on them, and if the length of the threaded connection is insufficient, then the thread may simply break. One nut for this purpose will obviously be small, pressure resistance should be maximized.

The pusher pin must pass freely through the transverse crossbar of the fixed frame of the elevator. It is fixed on both sides with a nut and a lock nut with a brass washer between them, which allows you to simply rotate around its axis. As a handle of rotation, you can take a metal plate 4-5 mm thick with two holes at the ends. Through one of them passes the stud, secured with two nuts on both sides, the other is mounted vertical handle, which is also fastened with a nut and locknut. A wooden or plastic nozzle, which freely rotates around its axis, is put on the handle shaft.

The entire system of such a homemade milling table is the most collapsible, which radically facilitates its maintenance and repair.

At the same time, the maximum use of threaded connections makes it possible to replace the failed parts of the elevator without dismantling its entire structure. In addition, the design of the router itself allows you to detach it from the base plate, which is attached to the surface of the table, unscrewing only 2 screws.

So the only inconvenience of the entire system is the need to bend under the table to activate the elevator. But it can also be solved by using an electric drive for this, the switch of which can be placed on the inner surface of the table cover. This design will significantly expand the capabilities of its owner.