Dust Collection for Old SS Routing System

gepaine · Post by **gepaine** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:17 pm

About 6 years ago I bought a used SS Routing System and am now finally getting around to using it. (It is no longer sold by SS.) It has an over-table arm for mounting a router, and you can mount another router under the table. I would like to know if anyone has come up with a good way to collect dust from the under table router. Apparently SS never addressed this issue by offering an accessory to enable connection of a vacuum hose to the under table router. Does anyone have a solution for this problem?

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 10:09 pm

gepaine wrote:About 6 years ago I bought a used SS Routing System and am now finally getting around to using it. (It is no longer sold by SS.) It has an over-table arm for mounting a router, and you can mount another router under the table. I would like to know if anyone has come up with a good way to collect dust from the under table router. Apparently SS never addressed this issue by offering an accessory to enable connection of a vacuum hose to the under table router. Does anyone have a solution for this problem?

Yeah - a couple of methods of dust collection for the under-table router.
The first, (not necessarily the best or worst) would be from Shopsmith. Dust collection is from the top.
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The next system is home made.
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Dust collection is from the rear of the fence.
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gepaine · Post by **gepaine** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 1:06 am

Thanks for the ideas, but due to the presence of the over-arm router and associated dust collection for it, the only workable method for dust collection from the under-the-table router is a method that collects the dust from below. The following one from Rockler is the right type of design, but unfortunately is not compatible with my SS Routing System (nor can it realistically be modified to fit):

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page ... wn%20under

Maybe someone has a home-made version of the Rockler dust port.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:10 am

You could build a box attached to the underside of the table that encloses the router. Put a hole in it for the dust collector hose and a door in front to access the router when needed.

gepaine · Post by **gepaine** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 10:59 am

Art,

That seems like a good idea. Maybe instead of a door, I could attach the box with clips of some sort so that I could drop the entire box when I needed to access the router.

Should I be concerned that all that dust circulating in the box might block the air passages of the motor and cause it to overheat?

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 2:26 pm

Hi gepaine! - Sorry! Don't understand! Must you have both an overhead and under table router attached at the same time? What's the advantage?

Could you post a photo of your system?

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 3:11 pm

Gepaine, perhaps another hole or two for ventilation might be in order to ensure there isn't too much restriction on the vacuum system and that would also pull off any excess heat. But to be on the safe side, just keep an eye on things and make adjustments as necessary.

gepaine · Post by **gepaine** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 8:49 pm

Charlese,

According to the Shopsmith owners manual, most if not all operations could be performed using the above-table router, but some operations may be easier if done using the under-table router. I have not used a router table before so I can't speak from experience; however, I have 3 routers so two can be permanently attached to the table and the 3rd can be used for freehand operations. The advantage seems to be that I can quickly switch between table-mounted routers without having to move a router from above to below the table. It would save setup time.

Even if I didn't have two routers attached, I would still need a way to collect dust when the router was mounted under the table. Maybe the above table dust port would do an OK job, but I'm sure the addition of a port mounted directly to the lower router would improve dust collection.

I tried to post a picture, but there does not seem to be a way to insert a picture into a post. The site wants me to provide a URL for the image, but I don't have one to provide.

SDSSmith · Post by **SDSSmith** » Tue Feb 08, 2011 9:32 pm

My dust collection system is crude, a dust collector hose clamped to the table when performing under table routing. If I was going to do something, I would probably incorporate dust collection into a fence. I would rotate the arm to the side so there was no interference with the overhead router and the fence. With the arm rotated you can also use the other optionsuggested by charlese.

Ron309753 · Post by **Ron309753** » Wed Feb 09, 2011 6:01 am

Gepaine,

I believe I have the same table system that you have, and like Chuck I have a shop built fence for under the table routing, and as Rob suggested dust collection is built into the fence. That's also the dc solution for almost all commerical table/fence systems. I will post some pictures of the fence as soon as I find out who took the camera!

Sincerely,

Ron309753