Question about dust collection on a router table

[Wayne Jolly]

I am building my own router table and have progressed to the point where I need to add the dust collection. I am trying to keep things slimmed down in the back so it will stay closer to a wall for when it isn't being used. This design (the one on the right in the screenshot) would only protrude out from the back about 3" instead of about 5" if I were to put 4" fittings on the back. And just having the 4" fittings exposed directly on the back, there is more likelihood of damaging one when moving the table to the wall. Since there is a 2" overhang for the table top, that would be only another inch or so from the wall. I am curious if a plenum system on the back, such as in the screen shot attached, would work. This is a really simple Sketchup drawing. The parts of the plenum that extend on the right and left sides of the table back would have a 4" port on the front side for attaching to my Jet DC-1100 dust collector. Each one of the 4" ports would have a blast gate to close off the side that is not in use. There would be two 2" holes in the back that would collect from the router compartment, and one on the top of the plenum for a hose to go up to the fence, also with a blast gate for when I am not using a fence.


Your thoughts??

Wayne

P.S. The area of a 4" circle is about 12.5 sq inches. the area of three 2" circles would be about 9.5 sq in, and the area of three 2.5" circles would be about 14.7 sq in. If the plenum had a rectangular cross section of 6 x 2.5 that would be 15 sq in.

[George Bokros]

Why not come out the end for the dust collection connection?

[johnny means]

I don't see anything good about a bunch of unnecessary ducting on the outside of the cabinet. The goal is the shortest route to your DC with the least interruption. Looks Rubesque to me.

[Bill Graham]

Router motors exhaust the cooling air through the bottom so the chips naturally blow upwards on a table, I'd suggest dust extraction through a hood on the fence. You'll need something like a shop vac, not a lot of flow but high suction. And an inlet for the cooling air in the base.

[Ole Anderson]

Yes, the back of the fence is where you see most bits throwing dust and chips, so you need to have good collection there. You don't need a 4" connection there though as the chips are fairly well contained, it's not like you are trying to collect the dust from a MS. On this one, the under table area acts as a plenum and a 2.5" top hose plumbed back to the lower area works very well. Here I think high suction is more important than volume so I don't worry about a lot of arbitrary holes for make up air that rob static pressure. So this one can snug within 2.5" or so of the back wall.

[Mike Chalmers]

I have a table top from RT-1000. It features a dust collector in the fence, and then down through a hole to underneath the table. That is how they exhaust collection from thier cabinet, which I did not buy. I also bought a Triton router, which has a dust shroud on the rotor itself. I hook this to a shop vac with a Dust Deputy.
Works very well. The shroud on the router works very well, it made a big difference on the amount of chips/dust on the floor from the old router. Built in lift is very nice as well.

[Wayne Jolly]

Thanks for the replies -

George - A 4" port coming straight out the end would mean an additional two or three inches in the depth which I would like to avoid.

Johnny - Are you talking about the picture on the left? It do kinda look a little Rubesque don't it? I had already decided I didn't like that one either and I am more interested in the simpler plenum on the right.

Bill & Ole - Definitely using extraction on the fence when I am using a fence. But when not using a fence . . .

Mike - I looked at the RT-1000 and I don't think I care for it either. If not using a fence then there is a big gaping hole in the rear of the table. I can see some advantages to it in some circumstances, but I think I like a nice big flat clear table better.


I don't have too much to lose, so I think I might try it anyway. I have some scrap plywood that I am thinking about tossing ("shop panels" from Lowes that were utter garbage.), so I can use it for this. If I don't like it . . . no big loss. If I do like it then I can make one out of some better materials. I think that since this is router chips/dust (low mass and relatively small quantity as compared to something like the thickness planer), that my dust collector will certainly provide enough air flow and probably enough suction to get the job done provided there isn't too much loss of efficiency. Plus clean lines.


Thanks,

Wayne

[Mike Wilkins]

I would suggest coming from the end of the router table cabinet. My router cabinet has the 4" connection coming out of the left end of the cabinet, as you are facing the unit. I can easily push it up against the wall if needed, with only an inch or so of overhanging top to stop it. I have the Woodpeckers fence with the
2 1/2" dust port, connected with a short length of pipe to a Y-branch. This branch has both 4" and 2 1/2" connectors. Nothing fancy inside the cabinet where the router and lift is located. Simple works better each time.