Small Round Base Plunge Routers . . .

[Steve Lee]

Hey guys,

I am so anal about my shop and dust that I have stopped using my usual collection of routers in that space now.

It is like running a nasty router in my living room since I have PC's, audio equipment, machine tooling, etc in there and I keep vacuuming and dusting instead of just polluting the place while wearing a dust mask.

I have central dust/chip collection exhausted to the exterior without chip collection or filters now because that is an expensive and futile effort from my not insignificant experience/expense.

I am looking for a small round base plunge router in the 1 HP range that has dust collection for cutting out rebates for non-round drivers/connector plates/port flanges.

Any advice or direction welcomed.

[JRT]

This alternative solution might be of interest:

https://www.oneida-air.com/universal...-accessory-kit

[JRT]

Perhaps DIY some similar attachments to custom fit your routers and bits. A 3D printer could be useful in this.

[jhollander]

I run a Dewalt 618 as it has the dust collection hood/ port. I looked at the 612/ 611 but couldn't tell if it had the dust port. I'm pretty anal about dust collection and this does a good of connected to my hepa shop vac. For round overs I've had good luck with routeing in a large card board box connected to my modified Jet DC.

[djg]

I'm a dirty pig.

[tvrgeek]

I found a vac ( I love my Fein) to work far better on a hand held router than a DC. But, I also find it is best to just do my cutouts outside. At least we can buy KN95 masks again! I have a DIY ambient filter that helps clear the air and MERV 13 on the HVAC. But, still mask up as you are close to the work.

Bases like above may be fine for the round over freehand, but for the cutouts/circle jig they won't work. My Ridgid has a top mount dust pickup but it forever seems in the way. My Tirdon on my router table port works better, but has to be augmented by the fence port. I do my round overs on the table as I don't like to spin more than a 1/2inch radius bit free-hand.

I am currently upgrading my DC system to all 6 inch ductwork and will test if there is enough CFM to pull from a 18 x 18 hood for "area" collection Sort of doubt it, but giving it a try. I will be doing something similar for my miter saw. I have a suspicion I will need to go to a 3 HP DC. I don't have the power for a 5 HP which is what Bill Pentz suggests by real life testing is what it actually takes.

Thought about exhausting my DC to the outside into just a LP box, but too hard to maintain HVAC and humidity if I am pumping 1800 CFM outside. So adding a cyclone to my single stage as MDF can clog the canister in just a few cuts. ( likely the 6 inch Oneida unless I replace the whole thing) Oh yea, I have a ClearView cyclone on order for the Fein as their HEPA bags are expensive. I then wont fret about using it for cleanup and my sanders.

All a real pain. No actual real total solutions for dust collection. As clean as I want it, I still open the bay door and use my leaf blower to dislodge all the dust from my shop about once a week.