Can it be Done?

Here's a question from left field.

I was thinking about building a router table. I already have a router table, but it's not great. Let me see if they still make it. Hmm...I can't get into the Sears site because it's down for maintenance. Okay, it's an aluminum Craftsman job with a funny ribbed surface. It's maybe 15" deep and two feet wide, and it stands on steel legs so it's at waist height. I had no idea what I was doing when I bought it. I suppose it's okay for small work.

Taunton.com has plans for a breakdown table which is supposed to be very good. You attach the rear to a workbench, and legs drop down to support the front. I thought it would be fun to make one. But I've been reading all sorts of confusing stuff. Pat Warner, the router obsessive, claims router plates are no good. He says that if you want to do good work, you use a plain old MDF table with a hole for the bit to poke through. And the Taunton design has a plate.

On top of all that, I now have room to re-erect my old computer desk in the garage. This thing happens to be MDF topped with melamine, which Rockler's site says is the best possible crap for a router table. I was planning to give it away. So now I'm wondering--this is the question--should I try to turn this thing into a router table?

It's about 1 1/4" thick, which is kind of a lot. But that should make it very stable and flat. I'm not sure how thick a table you can get away with. Maybe I'd have to rout out a thinner area for the router to attach to. I don't know how well MDF responds to router bits.

I'm also not sure how I'd put a miter slot into it. There has to be a way. Other people use MDF.

If I could work it out, this might be a good solution to more than one problem. Since building my workbench, I have realized I really need a surface to the right of it to put tools on while I'm using the main bench. I could hang my router from the desk, put it to the right of the bench, and use it as a regular table when I'm not routing. It's five feet long, which would be a blessing when using it as a table, and it should give plenty of support for long pieces when routing.

Or I could give it away and start from scratch.