Router Table Dust Collection

I love a lot of things about my new SawStop. One thing I especially love is how well it handles dust collection — not just the saw, but the router table too.

The router is enclosed in a box with a 4″ connector, and the hose splits off of that to a 2.5″ hose for the fence. It’s great, and does a wonderful job of corralling a lot of the crud that comes shooting off the router’s bit. So much so, that I decided to retrofit a similar scheme into my other router table.

There was lots of material on YouTube from people who have done this, or something similar, so lots of examples to learn from. I didn’t pick anybody’s in particular to copy; I just went to work.

First, to enclose the back of the opening for the router. I opted for a simple panel here, pieced together from 2 plywood cutoffs to exactly fit the cavity. My collection of 4-inch dust fittings was impressive, but one thing I didn’t have was a square port. I could’ve gone out and bought one cheaply, but I wanted to get it done quickly so I just cut a 3-7/8″ hole instead.

That allowed me to just plug in a 90-degree elbow, which will give me a straight run when I put it against the wall. I had some 1/8″ x 1″ scrap leftover from the dresser project, so I cut two pieces of that and made wings for attaching the panel to the router table itself. Pocket holes would have done as well, if I were into that sort of thing.

Note that the hole is high; that’s on purpose. When the dust collector is on, that keeps the bends in the hose to a minimum and also put the suction right behind the router; I figure that will help collect things straight off it.

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That hose is connected to a 4″/2.5″ ‘Y’ connector, just outside the picture, which then goes 5 feet to my dust collector. I attached a 2.5″ host to the smaller port on the adapter and ran that up to the router table fence. The extra length allows me to detach it at the fence side, walk about 6 feet, and attach it to my spindle sander or stationary belt sander. I may yet change my mind on this, depending on how well it does.

That takes care of the back of the table; I pushed it back against the wall and tried it out. It moved some air, but of course to actually collect dust and chips I would have to close off the front.

I wanted to see what was going on in there, and I needed to be able to get to the router to adjust the router speed, so I went with a 1/4″ acrylic panel instead of plywood. There were plenty of thin strips of mahogany (5/8″ x 1/2″ x several feet) also left over from the dresser, so I used a couple of those to put a frame inside the 16×16″ opening about 2 inches in, scuffing up the paint so I could glue them in place. I inserted the panel to test fit it, and then put a second strip at the top to hold it in place.

While that was drying, I worked on the door itself. First, I cut about 3/8″ off the bottom so there would be space to work it in and out of the opening and took just 1/16″ off one side so it would have enough room to fit easily in and out. Then I took a 1-1/2″ Forstner bit and cut three airflow holes in the front — these will provide air from the front and, with the opening at top back, create a flow that should take the fallen debris from the floor up to the hose and out. Finally, to make it easy to put the door in and take it out, I grabbed an extra drawer pull, shortened the screws with a hacksaw, and attached that to the front.

It works really well. The front door is super easy to remove — just lift a little and it slides right out — and to replace, so it will be easy to change the router speed with the bit size. When I turn on the dust collector it does exactly what I hoped, lifting the chips from the floor of the cavity and sending them out the back. And the extra connection at the fence, even with the long extra length of hose, still pulls chips from the bit area like a champ. This will be a nice upgrade. And a cheap one, since all I had to buy was the acrylic.

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