Dust Collection Add-on For My Old Router

[James Combs]

I have a couple routers, a newer Bosch mounted in a table and an old(70s vintage) Craftsman. The Craftsman is my go-to for manual routing of items too big for the table. It did not have any sort of dust collection connection on it and I wanted to use it as a surface planner using a sled and rail arrangement but didn't like the idea of all the dust and chips flying all over the shop.
Here is the solution I came up with.

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I started with two pieces of a 2x2 Holly tree spindle blank about 6” long. The second piece is a backup and is actually more as a counter balance on the faceplate to prevent vibration then a spare but…
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After a couple or three iterations of turning and fitting I got the piece to fit into one of the side windows at the bottom of the router.
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Once fitted I found that it wasn’t quite long enough for its intended purpose so I had to add a little to an end. I stepped(rabbeted) both pieces and then drilled and glued in ¼” dowels through the steps to reinforce the joint.
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Using a 1” Forstner bit I drilled two side beside overlapping holes from the long end through to the center. I then use and 1-1/8” F-Bit to drill an opening on top to allow installation of a piece of 1.125” copper pipe. Before gluing in the copper pipe I cut the side out of it to allow air flow from the block through the pipe.
Previously to using the Forstner bits I clamped the block in place and use the routers edge guide mounting holes(shown in later pics) to locate a ¼” drill bit and drilled a hole through the block where I glued in a ¼” piece of SS drill rod as a locating/guide pin.
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Here the pipe has been glued in with CA(super-glue) and the sides of it sealed.

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(More in next post)

[James Combs]

Shown here is the first trial fitting of the glue up to the router. The left hand router guide mounting hole is just visible on the left below router handle.
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Using a piece of scrap aluminum that already happened to have a ¼” hole in it I made a mount for a second piece of ¼” SS drill rod to use as a second locating/guide pin. The SS rod is CA’d into the aluminum. The mounting of the aluminum guide holder took some trial and error shimming and re-shimming to get it to perfectly line up with the guide holes but once it was aligned I put a bead of CA around its edges to make sure it does not move.

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Here is a good view of both guide rods inserted into the router guide mounting holes. There is a threaded #8-32 hole at 90* to the mounting holes. This will be used to secure the dust pickup in place by tightening a screw against the SS drill rod.

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After everything was a nice slip fit I cut all but about 4 inches off the copper pipe and installed a length of vacuum cleaner wand pipe I had from an old vacuum cleaner, I had four sections so one want be missed. The wand was tapered inside and the copper pipe and wand were cut so that the two were a slip fit except for the last ½” of engagement. That ½” made for a forced engagement and keeps the wand in place very nicely.

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Now all that was needed was some masking of the copper(tape) and SS rods(soda-straws), some black spray paint…

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(One more post will complete it)

[James Combs]

Reinstall the vacuum wand, attach a vacuum hose from my shop vac and there it is.

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The first use of it was in making the router sled I mentioned earlier.

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The sled and router will be used to flatten the top of this coffee table. You can see one pass already. The dust collection worked great. I didn’t have to wear a mask like I usually do. (Note however, it was not perfect and missed chips and dust have been cleaned up before this pic was taken. The change was that the excess(not vacuumed) chips and dust stayed close to the project and didn’t go flying all over the shop.)

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That's all folks.

C&C appreciated.

[James Combs]

Thanks for looking Bob. A couple years back mine threw off one section of the commutator. I initially fixed it by super gluing the section back in place and re-soldering in a new connecting wire. Then I smooth everything out on my metal lathe. It worked great for about five minutes until the CA got hot and melted. I found an identical one on eBay listed as parts so bought it for about $20 and replaced the armature with it and another minor broken part in the depth dial assembly, now it seems as good as new.

Again thanks for looking and posting.

[Randy Rose]

An innovative solution and very cleanly executed.