Different Dust Collection for router cabinet....

[Bob Horvath]

Just thought I would let you know that I tried your method tonight by doing a rough mockup and it looks like its going to work well.Thanks for the lightbulb.

[Jim Heffner]

Just a suggestion here, my opinion only, I installed a vacuum/ dust collection port on the back side of the router table fence, right behind the
blade, you might want to as well. It collects about 95% of the dust right at the bit, very little, almost none gets into the cabinet itself. Jim Heffner

[Bill Huber]

I agree and I have both.
I use the one under the table the most but there are some cuts that I will open the gate on the top one as well. I don't open it all the way, just enough to pull out what the router is throwing in the port.

Here is my cabinet setup

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=65473

[Bob Horvath]

I have the same jessem top and fence with the port at the bit.When profiling an edge, most of the chips will go through the fence port.If you don't have a zero clearance plate a lot of chips end up underneath the router and the cabinet.While doing my test cuts, with both ports open, I had virtually no chips underneath the router.This way the router is not sucking any dust into itself.I ended up making the mockup a permanent fixture with a few brads and some glue.I'm having some camera issues at the moment and cant post any pics, but its virtually the same as Bill's.

[Anthony Whitesell]

Alan and Bill,

I have just finished my router table with a Rousseau 3002 and Bosch 1617EVS motor. I wanted to take it for a test run so I installed a rabbet bit at some random depth and grabbed a piece of scrap and tired 'er out. No fence, no dust collection, and I noticed something very interesting about the 1617EVS air flow.

The next time your in the shop, turn on the router, grab a hand full of fine saw dust, and drop it on top of the router. You should notice that it doesn't get sucked in from the top of the table, instead it blows all over table top and shop. The normal air flow for the router is from the top (by the switch and speed control), through the motor body (I presume for cooling), and then out the bottom.

I believe the problem with the Bosch motor in the enclosure is due to the fact that it was originally designed to be hand held and not in an air with lots of dust by the top of the motor. I saw somewhere that someone took a piece of DC hose and wrapped one end around the top of the motor and the other end to fresh air. Same concept as Bill's design but for different reasoning.

[John Hixon]

You could do the same thing with a strong point light source overhead,and trace the shadow on the material you will cut, or on something to make a template.

[Leo Zick]

interesting. ive found the opposite. most of my dust goes through the fence dust collector port, with only some chips falling below. i never made a dust port in the back of the table (mostly b/c i use a shopvac and dont want to tee it), so all the chips that arent caught at the table fall and sit below. ill take a pic and show you a month of accumulated dust, its not much at all.

my bigger problem is routing dados. the groove is a launchpad for all the dust to fly out of the left side of the table, so i have to try and hold a vac at the end of the piece im dadoing. lol.

oh one more question - do you have to reach under for tool changes, or does the lift allow for above the table? if under, do you have enough room?

[Anthony Whitesell]

As I only own two routers (an age old 1/4" only Craftsman and a Bosch 1617EVS), I can't say for sure, but I think the issue solved by Bill's design is specific to the Bosch.

The issue with the Bosch is the high airflow through the router motor. It causes the dust to be sucked into the motor and the switches causing all kinds of messy problems. Bill's design leaves the "air inlet" side of the router motor in fresh air while still sucking up any chips and dust that do happen to fall below the router.

I have definately noticed that it depends on the profile and cut that I'm making as to how much ends up below the table top.

[Alan Schwabacher]

I think most routers take in air at the motor and blow it out near the bit. That helps keep dust from being pulled into the motor. Some routers do poorly in a table because they do not have enough flow to keep dust from falling into the windings when the router is upside down in a table. The Bosch motor airflow is not a "problem", but a good feature. Any router will do better with the kind of dust collection shown in this thread, that keeps a pile of dust from growing under the router air inlet.

[Anthony Whitesell]

I think it is also a feature, but the amount of airflow combined with the design of the housing and switches do not make for a good combination when use in a router cabinet. I am also improving on Bill's design by making a 1" thick collar the same shape as the opening and then adding some foam between the collar and the router to dampen the airflow for more suction through the cabinet.

[Doug Shepard]

I know this is an older thread but I was recently pointed in this direction by a PM (Thanks Heather) and I'm not entirely clear on some things.

First off, I think maybe what's being referred to as up-draft vs. down-draft in the cabinet are being used for 2 different things? One for the direction of make-up air and one for the direction of the vac intake? I can't quite get a handle on what the intake and makeup air flow directions are for an updraft vs a downdraft setup.

Second - As near as I can tell, Bill's airflow direction and intake port orientation seem to match what Bill Pentz shows on his site (scroll down for the router table diagram) http://billpentz.com/woodworking/Cyc....cfm#DustHoods
so I think that's another confirmation to go from the side. Plus Bill Pentz caution note on that diagram.

Third - I'm not real clear on the whole makeup air topic at least from what I can see from commercially available ones. Woodpecker's metal cabinet doesn't show any ports or vents for bring air into the box
http://www.woodpeck.com/downdraft.html
I dont really find mention of this on the Pentz site either.

I'm still in the planning stage of a router cabinet under my TS extension and am a bit puzzled on how to set the central cabinet part up.

TIA

[Bill Huber]

I know this is an older thread but I was recently pointed in this direction by a PM (Thanks Heather) and I'm not entirely clear on some things.

First off, I think maybe what's being referred to as up-draft vs. down-draft in the cabinet are being used for 2 different things? One for the direction of make-up air and one for the direction of the vac intake? I can't quite get a handle on what the intake and makeup air flow directions are for an updraft vs a downdraft setup.

Second - As near as I can tell, Bill's airflow direction and intake port orientation seem to match what Bill Pentz shows on his site (scroll down for the router table diagram) http://billpentz.com/woodworking/Cyc....cfm#DustHoods
so I think that's another confirmation to go from the side. Plus Bill Pentz caution note on that diagram.

Third - I'm not real clear on the whole makeup air topic at least from what I can see from commercially available ones. Woodpecker's metal cabinet doesn't show any ports or vents for bring air into the box
http://www.woodpeck.com/downdraft.html
I dont really find mention of this on the Pentz site either.

I'm still in the planning stage of a router cabinet under my TS extension and am a bit puzzled on how to set the central cabinet part up.

TIA

I am not sure about all the technical stuff, I just know that the way I set my table up works for me. The main reason I started looking for something different was because of the switch problem with the Bosch. When I got to thinking about it I really don't think its that good for any router to pull in all the dust.

I use both top and bottom ports at times some of both and other times just the top or just the bottom. When I am doing a dado I don't use any insert and have all the vac on the bottom. When I am doing an edge profile I try and have a close to ZCI as I can and just use the vac on the fence.

I still get large chips in the bottom and I think that is from the Bosch just blowing them down there, but the dust is not there or very little of it.

I guess if I was going to install a router in the TS I would make the box something like the drawing below. I would have 2 gates so I could control the air flow to where I wanted it.

router.jpg

[Gordon Eyre]

Intresting discussion. I built Norm's router table a number of years ago and when hooked up to my cyclone dust collector I have not had any problems. It has a dust collection chamber under the table and one at the fence. I have very little dust or shavings that escape and the router motor is fairly clean at all times. About every month or so I blow off the router with my compressor. This has worked well for me over the years. I have a Dewalt router that blows some air out the bit end of the router and does not suck air into the moter. The chamber under the table stays clean except for a minor amount of wood material in the corners.