This router table is nearing completion and it incorporates a shop vac into the cabinet for dust collection. There are three vacuum pickup points one beneath the router, one at the router bit, and another on the fence. The cabinet has sound proofing to lessen the noise and this includes a muffler chamber for the shop vacuum exhaust that channels it out the back of the cabinet. A single switch turns on router and shop vac plus there is a hot outlet on the back for a table top light. There are five drawers for tools and accessories. The cabinet is red oak with pecan raised panels on the two doors.
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That is a beautiful, innovative piece of work. It will be a pity to get it dirty.
Frosty
"I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922
Moksha,
that is not a router table.
That is a work of art.
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Beautiful work..
That is a very nice router table!
Great looking project. Just one warning: Be sure the shop vac can get enough air to cool itself. You might want to build in a biscuit fan.
Jigs-n-fixtures There are three 1 1/4 inches hoses pulling dust from various places on this router table; the shop vac has a 2 1/2 inch hose and the air coming through the vacuum is what I believe is cooling the motor. So, the three hoses are approximately the same volume as the original shop vac hose.
The exhaust ports and muffler chamber in the cabinet are far larger than the exhaust ports on the vacuum; so, I am hoping that keeps it all within the original design of the shop vac. This morning I finished up the drawers for holding the router bits one for 1/2 and one for 1/4 inch.. each is two layers deep and the small brass knobs you see in the picture is to pull up the first layer.
The higher end shop vacs do not use the vacuum stream for the motor cooling. Try running the shop vac and momentarily blocking the suction port. If there is still air coming out of the motor vents then it has independent air cooling for the motor.
They generate quite a bit of heat, and easily overheat if there is not sufficient air flow / exchange to keep things cool.
Your call, it's just lots less expensive to investigate it and make modifications now, than to burn up the shop vac, and have to make the modifications and replace the shop vac.
Dang man! You're making the rest of us look like pikers! My router bit holding "fixture" is an odd sized piece of 3/4 shop grade birch plywood, un-edged, unsanded, and unfinished. Needless to say, it has no brass cuppies to hold the router bits.
Yours is very fine work. Zolton* Some people say I have a problem because I drink hydraulic brake fluid. But I can stop any time I want.
Zolton, This is a step up from the pine 2x4 that held my router bits prior to the current new router table, it seems that when I get going, I over do things... my wife tells me that I simply do not know when to stop. The little brass cups come from Lee Valley... when I saw them in the catalog I weakened and bought them... when you have gone that far with a router table why stop? The shop is an excuse to make things which try out new ideas or skills; plus it displays a lot of different things that can be done with wood. So some of the cabinets and benches are a bit out of align with normal... Moksha
Moksha...
Excellent.. excellent.. excellent. And from the looks you still have room to put a kithchen sink on the side surface. But.. be sure to go with a high dollar brass one to match the other beautiful trim pieces. :>)
Regards...
Sarge..
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