Router Table to Nibbler Table

[astroracer]

I've had this Rodman Sheet Metal Nibbler for years. It works well and it gets used but it is a bit uncontrollable when hand held and only a bit better when clamped to the bench.




I saw a post on here on Homemade Tools where a guy built a box to mount his and thought that would be the berries. I never pursued it though, until yesterday.

I got to thinking, I don't need a huge box for this thing, just something big enough to be able to support the sheet I am working with. I thought a little table would be perfect. I have one of those Cheapish Craftsman router tables, aluminum top with sheet metal legs... Hmm.
I dug it out and took off the router and fence and started designing.
This is the underneath where the router bolts up.

I made a plug out of 1/2" plywood as a spacer.

Continued in next post.

[astroracer]

Drilled the three holes for screws and made a base plate to mount the nibbler to.

The notch at the top captures the bottom of the table, at the rear, where the blade guard/dust collector attaches. I wont be using any of that for the nibbler version.

With the base plate made and attached I got the mounts for the nibble made. This is simply two pieces of 3/4 lumber screwed to the base plate from the top.

This clamps the nibbler mounting head between the wood with that 3/8th's bolt. It is very stout, during test runs the nibbler didn't bounce or vibrate at all.

Continued in next post.

[astroracer]

Getting the drill motor attached was pretty easy. I chucked it up to the drive post on the nibbler and strapped in place with a piece of pipe hanger. Didn't even have to drill holes, they were both there.

Looking from underneath.

It worked well on a couple of quick test samples. We'll see how it does on a real world job.




This whole mess come out with 5 screws if I need to actually use the table as a router table.

[DIYer]

Thanks astroracer! We've added your Handheld Nibbler Mount to our Metalworking category,
as well as to your builder page: astroracer's Homemade Tools. Your receipt:

Handheld Nibbler Mount by astroracer

tags: sheetmetal, drill, router table, cutting, mount