Router dust collection - dovetail jig - a jig for the jig

[Greg McCallister]

Rather hard thing to collect dust on a router especially if you are using a dovetail jig. I set this up because I was playing with the jig (how else do you learn) my mistake was using MDF (well it’s cheap to play with). After destroying myself and causing a dust cloud all over my shop with the DC running plus overhead filtration (man did that gunk up fast - thank God for filter mask) I decided to build this. Not pretty but I found it works great and really stabilizes the router too. Here's the pics:

[Wes Bischel]

Greg,
Great idea! Your set-up looks exactly like mine (now that I got the router working again :rolleyes: ) Does the rig stay on the clamping bar? Or does it need to be removed?

Wes

[Greg McCallister]

Stays on the clamping bar and is adjustable for different thickness. The white spots are melamine glue not quite finished drying. It actually works great. Hooks up to a 4" port could be modified for a 2 1/2 port if necessary. NO DUST

[Al Navas]

Congratulations, Greg! You essentially designed and built something a little similar to the new Leigh vacuum and router support (http://leighjigs.com/vrs.php) that will be available in late Spring 2007.

Did you ever consider using the router vacuum attachment? I attach a photo below, from the Leigh web site. This is the one I have used for the last two years, and it does a pretty good job. But I think I will likely get the newer one when available, as I think I will prefer the vacuum hose collecting from the bottom.


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[Greg McCallister]

Al,
I did look at the attachment you noted but found it have few problems. It’s bulky and being that I was using my old Craftsman router (set up just for dovetail jig) it does not have guide slots in its base so I had no way to attach it to the router. What I also found just using the dovetail jig free hand is keeping the router square to the top. You end up balancing the router on half of its base and when going around the teeth you actually have more off then on. If you tip the router just a bit off square you end up with a bad joint. Although I am fairly new to woodworking, at least with a dovetail jig, I wondered why something like this was never incorporated in this type of jig. Simple in design but the main reason I created this was for dust collection but actually serves two purposes. Also note that you are not dealing with a hose attached to the router which makes it even more unstable. This is just a prototype I made in about an hour with a jig saw mostly and it cost me less than $12.00 to make. (Did leigh steal my idea :>)