My plan was to provide as much surface for mounting my router base as I could with the horizontal bars and to keep the base as close to the workpiece as possible, which is why I went for the L shape bars. I chose the U shape bars for the vertical to try and minimise friction and faults when moving the L shape bars around on it. The U shape ones were the biggest, sturdiest ones I could find - IIRC B&Q didn’t have tubes of the same heavy duty type when I was there, and what they had proved to be quite flimsy.
How were you planning on attaching the tubes to the upright sections? This part has bamboozled me a bit – I was going to just screw em down this time around and give it more thought afterwards. Also, what was your plan for connecting your router to the horizontal bars?
Haha! Yeah B&Q has got a way of never having what you need, but they always have what might work with a bit of fiddling and modding. But I have to say that I would give my monkey’s left testicle to be within a camel ride of one of those Home Depot dealies I hear so much about.
As for the maple, it came sawn down the middle for book matching but it was rough on all faces. I ended up taking it to the local joiners and getting them to give me clean jointing surfaces and to clean up the rest.