Make a Router Lift Out of Recycled Closet Door Rails.

Hello!

This is my first instuctable, and in it I will show you how to make a Router lift for your router table out of recycled hardware.

This is based on 3 closet sleds and rails, that are in tension.

Another thing, the design is very forgiving of small manufacturing errors

I´m also submitting it for the makebot contest, so if you like it, please vote!
Thank you for reading

You will notice that I don´t include a lot of measurements, this is due to the fact that it´s unlikely that you will find the exact same closet rails that I used (there really old).

Just follow along, using the stuff you have at hand and at the end of the day you to will have a recycled router lift (or a vertical lift for any other project you have)

Step 1: Finding the Closet Rails.

These are the rails out of our old closet door.

Step 2: Cutting the Bottom and Top Plates.

As you could see from the first picture, the list is based on a triangle. I did this because I´m still learning woodworking, and my miter cuts are still not that good, so I wanted a design that would be very tolerant of a little manufacturing error but that would still be rock solid.

The principle behind the design is that the router sled is actually held in place by the tension exerted on the sliders. Since there are 6 sliders in all, it has a lot of support and a lot of places to make fine adjustments.

Since it's a triangle I used a piece of scrape 1/2 inch plywood cut at 60 degree angle. 

Cut 2 of these. Now, I wanted this to fit under a standard router plate (9-1/4" x 11-3/4") so that means that the high of the triangle could not be over 9-1/4"

You can see 2 set of lines at each corner. the outer one is where the end of the rail reaches, and the inner one is the one where the sliders reach. These are important because that's the template for the sled.

Step 3: The Sled Part 1

This part is a bit complex, so I'll brake it down into parts.
On the tablesaw, use the miter slider to cut 2 identical pieces, based on the template you made from the top plate.

Step 4: The Sled Part 2

Now cut 3 pieces of plywood (or whatever you are had on hand). These are where the rails slider screws are going to fit into. This is also the place where the tension is exerted, so use strong material.  

From the pic, you can see all the hardware that came off the closet, and our little piece of ply

Step 5: The Sled Part 3

Assemble the sled, mark and drill the 2 hole for the screws.

Step 6: The Sled Part 4

Glue all the pieces of ply together and put a couple of screws in to keep it nice and tight. I used some clamps to help me keep thing together while I screwed them together

Step 7: The Sled Part 5

Now, you place your router on top, mark where you have to cut out the ply in order to fit the router into the slide

Step 8: The Sled Part 6

Now, the way we are going to move the router up and down is using a threaded rod, and the way to mechanically attach it to the wood sled is by using a kind of screw in nut (I don´t now it's name, but you can see it in the pic and i`m sure someone will now the name ant post it in the comment section)

I put it there because I wanted it as far away from the router as possible, but that it would not get in the way out getting the router in and out of the lift.

Step 9: Puting It Togeter 1

Now, we start putting it together. I cut 3 pieces of plywood to screw the rails into.

Do a dry fit and if everthing fits, screw the 3 plywood pieces to the bottom plate, and then screw the rails in place.

Step 10: Puting It Togeter 2

Attach the sliders to the router sled using the nuts and bolts. then place then all in the lift.

Step 11: Puting It Togeter 3

Screw the top plate in place and put in the threaded rod. I used a small metal plate that came with the closet rails that I did not use.

Cut the rod to size and place a nut at the top. This nut servers a double function; it keeps the rod in place and when you turn it, it moves the sled up and down.

Step 12: Place It in You Table and Enjoy!

I screwed the lift under a plywood faceplate in my table. It works great and i don´t have to remove the router and plate to make hignt adjustments in the router bit height anymore!

Thank you very much for reading!