Thanks, Eric, for explaining the insert.  I have plenty of cedar and poplar, which I think I'll be using to do this.  Great idea.

I forgot a picture yesterday that mat be helpful to some.



The magazine states that you can cut 3 grooves the length of the set screws so that they can be used as a tap to thread the post to hold the set screws. I have a 3/8-16 tap and I am using a bench block to square the tap to the hole. It doesn't matter if you use a tap or a grooved set screw be sure it is square to the hole.  You could drill a 3/8" hole with a drill press it some scrape and use it for squaring.

I will be busy with other things this morning but will be in the shop this afternoon.

Good tip Eric.

Thanks Dewey,
The first thing I did on this project was to layout the base plate. Than cut it to shape and drilled the holes.



Here a 7/8" hole was drilled for a bronze bushing that will help support the 3/4"-16 threaded rod that will move the lift.



here the bronze bushing is pressed in base plate. The table insert plate has a 2" hole in the center, so I turned a 2" diameter plug to locate the base plate to the insert plate.



the holes from the base plate was transferred to the base plate. The four holes forming a square around the center holes are for the router that was mounted to it.



The base plate is screwed to the post with 1/4" lag screws and the insert plate is screwed to the post with #12 round head screws, the holes are counter bored to recess the head.

Everything is screwed together in this picture. With the clamp block in place there is a little binding and will need some adjusting. With tomorrow starting a holiday weekend I may not be able to work on it again until Monday.

If anyone has any questions let me know. (if your question is why I may not get to work on it over the weekend you are probable not married or don't have a honey do list))

LOOKS REAL GOOD!

Eric, just out of curiousity, how much does this beast weigh?

Good question Dewey, and the answer is 8 lbs. as you see it on the bench add another 9 lbs. for the router. Plus a 12" length of 3/4 threaded rod and couple of washers and nuts. I would say that finished about 19 lbs.
The table insert is 3/8" polycarbonate and should hold that weight. The table top is 1" MDF and the insert is supported by a flange 1" wide.
With the surface area of the 2 posts and the 1" flange the polycarbonate should hold that weight with no problem.

thanks Eric, good info to have. I'm really enjoying your project, but then I don't have to dust and sweep your shop when you are done.

Great job on your project.  HOpe to see how it works when you get it in place. 

I was able to put a bandaid on one project my wife had for me, one of our young geldings had chewed through a 2x6 on the front of his stall. I patched it and will do a good fix on Monday. Also one of my wifes Grandsons came up for the weekend so he help her with what she wanted me to do.

Now where were we on this project.
After the runners and guide tracks were cut I started applying cut polyurethane and after a few coats slipit was applied.
I found out that the parts were fitting a little too tight. So I cut 1/32" off the back of each guide track, this gave some room for adjusting.
while we are on the subject of adjusting all the mounting holes to hold the post to the plates were drill 1/32" oversize and used pan head screws to mount the the insert plate to the post and counter bored the holes for the heads.



As part of checking why there was binding the post were check to see if they were square to the base.



The thread coupling was ground so that there was a sharp edge in which to scribe a line around the coupling. Also the corners were ground to a sharp point.



Next the threaded rod was cut to length and a 5/8" hex was filed on to the end of the rod.



After the rod and coupling was mounted to the base plate, and the clamp block lowered to it a line was scribed around the coupling.



The lines were in darkened and the corners were connected to find the center.



 The coupling is 1" across the flats so a 1" hole is bored in the clamp block.
 The plan is to put the clamp block back between the post and to lower the block down to the coupling and with the threaded rod exposed enough and nuts on ether side of the coupling and block I am hoping to use the nuts to press the coupling with the sharped corners in to the block

To be continued

Looks like you'll be routing with ease in no time Eric.

Sorry for not getting back to this sooner, the computer problem is taking a lot of my time.
Broaching the coupling into the clamp block did not work. If it had be solid wood and not plywood I think it would have worked. So now I am doing what the plans suggested to file the corners and epoxy the coupling to the block.
Will get back to this as soon as possible.

Great project Eric - awesome step-by-step! Keep up the great work!

Finally got the lift finished and mounted, had to cut some notches in the flange so that it could be slide in from the top. There is a project that I would like to start over the weekend that will have some routing and I will be able to give a report on the lift at that time.



I made inserts that fit in the center that have center hole from 1/4" to 1 1/2" to handle different size bits.



There seems to be plenty of clearance for the router to move up or down and there is about 3" clearance between the lower nut and the shelf.

Eric, I may have missed it, but what are you using for a handle to adjust the lift? Nice job by the way, would love to see a vid of it but we'll take your word on how smoothly it operates.

Sorry Dewey I should have been clearer. The third picture down in the group of pics above shows 5/8" hex on the top of the screw for use with a socket. A ratchet or speed wrench can be used

Posted By efmaron on 01-05-2012 01:51 PM
Sorry Dewey I should have been clearer. The third picture down in the group of pics above shows 5/8" hex on the top of the screw for use with a socket. A ratchet or speed wrench can be used

Thanks Eric, wasn't sure if you had purchased or made a special handle or not. 

Eric, you did a fantastic job on that lift, and your step by step was awesome! Cant wait to get your review on how it worked!

GREAT JOB!

Maybe Bob and Eric could team up to do a blog-fest

So super!  Thanks for educating us.