Rockler Steel Router Cabinet (Re Design)
Rockler Steel Router Cabinet (Re Design) from Jay Owens
Rockler Steel Router Cabinet (Re Design)

This is a steel cabinet for a router table. This is a re design of an old Rockler product of the same name. It is meant to be the premium base in the Rockler router table line. The original cabinet functioned well as a router cabinet, but the aesthetics were very out of date given our current product line, it was difficult to assemble due to the amount of different types of screws and room for screwdrivers or drills, and it was slightly challenging to move around the shop, because there were only 2 casters and it had to be moved like a wheel barrel. This new design focused on solving all of those problems. Like all other Rockler products in my portfolio, while I was the primary designer. These were developed in collaboration with a small team of designers and woodworkers who all help make these products a success.

The original cabinet functioned well as a router cabinet, but the aesthetics were very out of date given our current product line, it was difficult to assemble due to the amount of different types of screws and room for screwdrivers or drills, and it was slightly challenging to move around the shop, because there were only 2 casters and it had to be moved like a wheel barrel.
While ideating I focused heavily on aesthetics and simplifying the amount of components.
This cabinet assembly is very simple. There are only 3 different types of screws, that are all self tapping, and because the screws are noticeably different from each other, it is obvious which screws go where. The hardware on this cabinet is also meant to be part of the design, so all of the screws are accessible from the outside of the cabinet. There are some screws on the inside as well, but working in conjunction with our instruction writer we made the assembly as such that these components are put together before being inside the cabinet.
Solving the portability issues, there are 4 locking casters that can be unlocked for easy movement.
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Rockler Steel Router Cabinet (Re Design)

This is a steel cabinet for a router table. This is a re design of an old Rockler product of the same name. It is meant to be the premium base in the Rockler router table line. The original cabinet functioned well as a router cabinet, but the aesthetics were very out of date given our current product line, it was difficult to assemble due to the amount of different types of screws and room for screwdrivers or drills, and it was slightly challenging to move around the shop, because there were only 2 casters and it had to be moved like a wheel barrel. This new design focused on solving all of those problems. Like all other Rockler products in my portfolio, while I was the primary designer. These were developed in collaboration with a small team of designers and woodworkers who all help make these products a success.

Jay Owens
Industrial Designer Minneapolis, MN