I’m pretty sure this configuration is safe and it never felt as squirrelly as it looks. The only issue I ran into was occasionally the workpiece would push the throat plate down and snag on the lip of the table preventing me from pulling back out of the cut. Which forced me to stop the saw a few times.
I’m a freak about safety so if anyone thinks any part of this is unsafe I’d love to start a dialog about it. I feel like I can always strive to be safer in the shop!
Or possibly just share some of your own frankenjigs.
Looks fine to me. Understand the hazards and minimise the risks.
I made a router table out of a plunge router and a workmate when I was first getting in to woodworking, that was scary and in hindsight not my brightest moment.
I agree 1000% risk mitigation is the name of the game. That router table sounds terrifying but I’m glad you’ve still got all your fingers. Routers are spinning balls of death and I distrust them even on the soundest of setups.
That’s a healthy distrust.
I recently watched the bearing of a flushtrim router bit disassemble while routing 2" acrylic and I puckered so hard I could taste what color underpants I was wearing.
I’ve had a few 1/8" router bits snap off while doing inlays. Puckered real tight every time, even though they just stuck into the wood