Router Table for a Dremel Trio

by pat42586

32K1514

Intro: Router Table for a Dremel Trio

I bought a Dremel Trio and it's awesome, but my cheap nerve began to itch when I saw router tables, so I figured it wouldn't be hard to make one for this little guy.  The lock next the trigger makes this possible, and in the future I will keep it on and mount a switch on the side.

Fair warnings:  The Trio is not to replace a multiple horsepower router, so don't think this will be the only router you need if you do a lot of projects.  Next warning:  You have to drill a hole through the metal base on your Trio, it won't affect anything and you can still take off the Trio and use it as usual. Hope you like it!

STEP 1: Materials and Tools Required

Materials (all types of wood are what I had in the garage, so they're not set in stone... er wood)

  1    3/4 inch Plywood 24" x 18"
  4    2x4 x 18"
  1    1x6 x 4'
  1    1x2 x 3'
  1    1x4 x 4'
  30  2" screws
  2    bolts to fit the Trio fence bolt holes
  1    1.5" bolt/washer/nut


Tools


  Table saw
  Drill   1/8, 3/8 bit
  Dremel Trio 
  Spade bits  3/8, 1/2, 1 1/4 inch 

STEP 2: Prepare Your Trio

First thing you have to do is ditch the plate on the bottom.  Don't get mad and break it, because I toed that line myself.  The trick is to first take the two small screws out (don't lose them if you want to use your Trio the way it was intended again) and then slide the plate about 1/8 inch forward.  Bring the two forward bits down and over two nubs, and then the whole thing will slide down and back.  See pictures for details.  You can remove the base from the Trio by removing the height adjustment screw, but be careful because the nut falls out when you do so.  Now you must drill a hole in the base around the M in Dremel with a 3/8 bit (or big enough for whatever bolt nut combo you have that will clear your plywood and the base).   

Next I was lucky enough to have two bolts that fit in the holes usually used to tighten the fence to the base, but you may have to buy them, or use ones skinny enough to go right through the bolt holes and use a washer and nut.  Either way now you have three screws and a flat base and you just need to prepare the table.

STEP 3: Prepare the Table

Now we have to make the holes in the table.  This is easy, just put the Trio on the table where you want it, then make marks through the three boltholes and where the bit would go through the table.  Now use a 1/8 inch bit to drill the four holes.  Next use your 1/2 inch spade bit to sink holes deep enough to hide your boltheads and washers (put the bolt/washer upside down in the hole to make sure). 

After you sink the holes the use the 3/8 inch (or whatever for your bolts) bit to widen the holes.  You can't do that before you sink the holes because the spade bit would go all crazy and the hole won't be circular.  Check out mine!  One's bad, one's good.

Now for the bit hole.  I used 1 1/4 inch, but in hindsight that might be too big.  7/8 or 1 inch should work fine.

STEP 4: Mount the Trio to the Table

This part's easy.  Put the Trio underneath the table and screw in your bolts.  Easy peasy!

STEP 5: Build the Legs

For this I simply screwed the legs to the table, making sure you countersink the screws.  Then I used the 1x6 and 1x2 to mount the braces.  Really simple, really sturdy.

STEP 6: Make the Fence

This part was easy too, but you need to put the Trio back together to route out the fence tracks.  The fence is a 24" 1x4 with a 16" 1x3 mounted to the back, with holes drilled in line with the fence tracks.  The tracks make it possible to have the fence go all the way up to the router bit, and as far back as you please. The knobs were another idea from Instructables.com.  Check out https://www.instructables.com/id/Making-Wooden-Knobs-on-a-Drill-Press/  for the instructable. 

Now you're done!  Let me know what you think!!!

4 Comments

mmohon 10 years ago

This is the exact thing I had churning in my head. Thanks for this guide. Have you done any cool projects or such with this? I'm tempted to try dove tailing some joins.

pat42586 9 years ago

Well since they pretty much stopped selling bits for the trio I refitted it for my skil router (just relocated the mount holes) but I've gotten a ton of use out of this thing, anything a regular router table can do, plus you can just nail straight into the table to do circles. Thanks for checking it out!