Router Table Dust Extraction.

[gazt42]

Hi all. I have just finished a homemade router table and am trying to set up dust extraction. Having already used the set-up during construction I managed by connecting up an old house vac to collect chips from the back of the fence. This collected well but needed emptying every few minutes. My large Axminster dust extractor is already fully utilised by the table saw, planer and thicknesser so I am thinking of getting a second-hand extractor of some type specifically for the router table. My query is what spec do you think I need for this application. 2nd hand ones seem to have air flow from between 500 and1150m3 per minute, is this enough or does it even matter? Or is the HP what I should be looking at? Planning to attach extraction on fence and via dust box under the router lift, the fence port has a 63mm outlet dust box size outlet not yet decided. Any help and suggestions welcomed. Thanks.

 

[Sideways]

Use a high pressure vacuum cleaner type on the fence as the dust is thrown off the cutter at high speed and you need high velocity air to catch it and pull it through the relatively narrow space in the fence around the cutter. At 63mm the fence port is oversized, don't be influenced by that just adapt the port to the vac hose.
Below decks, the router motor blows strongly "up" towards the cutter. This will create a cloud of chips around the cut area. If your router has a dust shroud there, hook it up and use it with a (2nd) vac leaving the router body to work in fresh air as it's meant to.
If it hasn't, then people do seem to like putting routers in boxes and closed cabinets. If you go down that route my advice is to use a high volume low pressure extractor which will take away chips but won't overpower the natural fan cooling airflow through the router. You should also ensure the box has an air inlet in line with the air intake on the end of the router, or at least opposite where you are extracting from.
To get air out of a box you need to let air into the box, and the holes need to be of comparable size to get the best flow...
The makers are finally getting their heads around basic physics after decades - check out the very latest box from market leaders Jessem over on the woodworkers workshop site. That incorporates plumbing to feed the router motor with fresh air froom outside the box.

In a kitchen with all the doors and windows closed, turn on the cooker hood fan and listen.
Then open the kitchen window.
You'll hear the noise of the fan change as it stops labouring, stops trying to get air out of the room while none can get in....

Boxing up a router doesn't make it work better at clearing chips from the cut, it just saves most of the sweeping up.