Plate for Router table

Dan Thibert

Member
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183
Location
Leominster Mass
I am building a router table and one the of the items I purchased to accomplish this is a blank aluminum plate sold by Rockler for my Skill router.

I removed the plate attached to the router by 4 screws and plan on drilling 4 holes into the plate to attach the router.

My questions is: How can I best countersink the screws into the aluminum plate? I have some countersink bits, but they are specificly made for wood and I do not want to ruin them trying to drill into aluminum. Do I need to buy a countersink bit specifically made for metal? Suggestions for inexpensive way of getting this done?

Thanks
Dan
 
Dan,
A through-hole (zero-flute) countersink is about the best for any material. If this is what you have, don't worry about a few holes harming it. I use ours on everything from stainless steel, to aluminum, to wood.
 
Aluminum is fairly soft so they might be able to handle it, I don't know. Personally when I drilled my I just used 2 high speed steel bits. The first one was to drill the through hole. The second one, a very large 5/8" bit, was used to create the countersink. Clamping the plate into my drill press, so it wouldn't move, and then just changing the bit on the drill press worked great for me.
 

Yeah, don't use those. The zero flute looks like this:

06j5003s2.jpg

So you will be looking for for a countersink with an outer diameter equal to or greater than your required size. I do mine just a bit larger than required so that the screwhead sits a bit below the plate surface.

I have tried other type of countersinks in aluminum with varying result. The ones in the style shown have worked best for me. Lee Valley's seem to be a reasonable quality. Woodcraft's were poor in quality. Aircraft supply units are high quality and about the same price but don't quite match the common screwhead angles (100* vs. 82*) so they leave a gap around the screwhead and of course, the head does not seat properly to distribute pressure.
 
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