Why use a palm router table?

If your work requires precision while working with small pieces of wood or making intricate components, then a palm router table is invaluable. The table provides stability and accurate levels of adjustment to be able to create really fine cuts. Smaller components are fiddly and the table also offers an extra safety dimension as pieces can be handled more easily with featherboards and a push stick.


Take it to the edge

You can treat edges on a palm router table with a cut as small as 0.1mm. To plane an edge straight, the rear planing fence has two sections; a fixed outfeed and an adjustable infeed fence. It's possible to adjust the fence as finely as 0.1mm by offsetting the infeed fence. The diagonal sliding fence works on a 10:1 ratio, so moving the fence by 10mm produces a cut of 1mm or sliding the fence by 5mm adjusts by just 0.5mm.

Cut as small as 0.1mm

How to use the palm router table as a thickness or width planer

To rout a piece to a uniform thickness or width, change the rear planing fence with the rear featherboard fence. Using the planing width operating lever again this works on a ratio of 10:1 so moving the lever by 5mm, this results in the fence moving by 0.5mm in or out.

Rear featherboard fence on the palm router table

Top Tip!

One of the great aspects of this fine adjustment is that you can make really thin strips of wood for model making and decorative veneers. Use double sided sticky tape to fix the strip to a larger piece of wood and use this as a support to then reduce the thickness.


Master miniature mouldings

A real benefit of the table is being to create your own mouldings quickly and safely. Using featherboards and a push stick, you can pass really small pieces past the cutter to create miniature mouldings. This is faster than using a router by itself as there isn't the need to clamp the board and narrow boards are much more difficult to shape without a table. Different sizes of cutters can also be used by changing the table insert to create a range of decorative mouldings. If you need to adjust the height of the cutter the router bit is easy to move up or down with a simple lever. Once in position there is also micro adjustment to set the exact height.

Create miniature mouldings

Portable palm router tables

Another unique advantage of the palm router table is the way you can set up and take it anywhere. The table can clamp securely to a bench or worktop up to 60mm thick. Combine this with its small size which makes it easy to carry to work where you need to.

Router table clamped to a workbench