Collapsable router table?

[samualt]

Picture, if you would, a 4'x8' router made of T-slots. The gantry on this router is a straight beam on raised sides that can be removed (No donut style gantry). Each long 8' side is a rectangle that is very solidly anchored together. The only thing holding the two 8' sides together is 3 horizontal metal beams.

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Assuming that the gantry can be removed for storage:
What might be the best, most accurate, way to have the 3 horizontal beams collapse or be removed (So you could store the router table against a wall and thus save space).

1. I thought of hinges. But, it would take 3 hinges per beam. Hinges are not precision at all and have allot of play. The gantry needs the extended distance to be very exact. Hinges might not stand up to the weight of a sacrificial top and the boards your cutting. And, there would have to be a way to lock them in place. Not a very good or accurate design.
2. I thought about making the 3 horizontal beams into rectangles. These would then just slide down in holders attached to the 8' sides. But, I have no idea how to make precision holders.
3. Any other ideas? Has anyone ever made a collapsable router table? Do you think it could be done with any accuracy?

Yes, I know it's silly. I should just give up my parking space in the garage. Or, as an alternative, use an electric hoist to move it to the ceiling (This machine will only weight about 350 lbs.) It's just a thought.

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[High Seas]

WOW - can I get my GARAGE back too?
I've just been going through a "reconfigure" of my first router - I gotta send some pics I suppose - but the best thing is the T-slots give you all kinds of flexibility.
Why not just disassemble and of course on reassembly ya gotta square everything up etc - but the bits all fit into a box in the corner/attic/under the bench, etc.
Frankly, I'm also running out of wall space too. So I gave up the idea of hanging on the wall - now all that is left -- hang it from the ceiling as a unit I suppose and "beam it down" when needed. Another garage door opener I suppose and some blocks.
Jim
Maybe I need a bigger garage?

[sol]

Okay, this does not involve collapsing the central beams but... If the table itself is solid enough the legs are only there to hold the thing off of the floor. Hinge one side of the table to the wall so that the wall acts as the legs and helps to keep the unit from twisting. The other legs can hinge/pivot out of the way so the unit can ‘fall' against the wall and hang from the hinges.
I have done this with a panel cutter with good success ...but it does not weigh 350 lbs. either.
Brainstorms, like dumb looks, are still free.

[Pete Stenabaugh]

If you are going to make a router that comes apart, folds or what ever, you are asking for a world of work. Your table MUST be perfectly flat for proper routing. It does not have to be level, but it must be FLAT. This means that every time you set up your table, it will have to be roughly level, tight & rigid. When you are finished you will have to mount a face cutter, as wide as your router can handle, and then surface cut the entire table to get it FLAT, and equal distance in the Z direction at any location. This also means no casters, at least on the floor, shim the frame, or have levelling screws or whatever so the machine does not move around.

Here is a link to a local company here in Calgary that makes commercial routers: http://www.camtech.ca/ - they are NOT cheap by the way.

They have one machine called the spacesaver that tilts up vertically like a drafting table. In the vertical it is only 3 feet wide. But even with this, the same issue arises, every time you set up the table, you will have to machine the top. If you dont have it flat you will not get accurate results, but that also depends upon what you are machining.

One thought about having the router on a vertical plane, is that fixturing and clamping are a real pain the butt. Everything keeps falling and dropping off the table. It may be good for the sawdust falling down but that is about the only advantage I was able to see. In addition there is a good chance that your drive or guide mechanism on the bottom edge is going to be tough to keep clean.

Pete