Has anyone improved the dust collection on Norm's router table?

[Roy Turbett]

Rick, Dick and Joe,

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try that. How well does your setup work with dados?

Roy

[Dick Mahany]

Rick, Dick and Joe,

Thanks for the suggestion. I'll try that. How well does your setup work with dados?

Roy

Roy, Mine works pretty efficiently with dadoes (although not as efficiently as in my table saw). I have used both spiral bits and straight edged bits with good dust collection. When routing groves and dadoes, I make sure to use a relatively large diameter ring on my lift so that there is plenty of room around the bit to release the chips. Obviously in this mode the fence dust collection isn't functioning, so the large aperture also helps in make up air flow in addition to the vent holes in the access door.

[Ole Anderson]

Also, you need the same area in holes in the door as you have on the hose. A 4" hose is 12.56 sq inches, that would require 16 1" diameter holes in the door. With my setup I had no door.

Hmm. If you have a 2.5" hose for the rear collection routed back to the box, and an adequate area around the router bit for under-table collection, you sure don't want another 16 1" holes on the cabinet to bleed off any suction you may have left. You need to maximize velocity (inches of suction) in the area of the bit if you hope to catch the dust and chips being flung by a 20,000 rpm cutting bit. Are you more interested in a clean box or dust collection at the bit? You can have both with the proper design of the box (front and rear of the box sloped steeply to the bottom) and some airflow sweeping across the bottom of the box.

[Roy Turbett]

Its been a while since I started this thread but I thought I'd post a solution I came up with by incorporating ideas from others. I never had an issue with dust collection for edge routing with a fence. The issue I had was with dados and edge routing without a fence. The problem I found with Norm's design is in regard to the size and location of the vent holes in the door. Since the holes were located directly across from the Y fitting in the back, the air flow was primarily horizontal and I wasn't getting any downward suction. I solved the problem by copying the design of a weber grill vent and placing it on the back side of the cabinet near the top. I also replaced the plexiglass door with 1/4" plywood and put a similar vent near the bottom of the door. When I'm edge routing with the fence, I close the vent on the back and open the vent on the door. This lets makeup air into the cabinet to keep the router cool and suction is directed to the dust port in the fence. When I'm cutting dados or edge routing without the fence, I close the vent in the door, close off the dust port in the fence, and open the vent on the back of the cabinet. This pulls make-up air from the top of the cabinet to the bottom and suction is directed to the Y fitting on the bottom of the cabinet and the baffle that is part of Norm's design helps create a cyclone effect. I can also control how much suction I get by adjusting the vents.

I'm also considering adding weather stripping on the inside of the inset door to give me even more control over the air flow by limiting the intake source to just the vents. You could also increase suction at the fence by putting a blast gate between the cabinet and Y fitting.

[Paul Wunder]

I am not experiencing the problems that the OP reports on my Norm table. I am collecting dust from both the fence and from the rear cabinet below the router. 2 1/2" collection above and 4" collection below with multiple 3/4" inch holes in the plexiglass door. Both hoses merge into a 6" pipe connected to my Clearview cyclone