Can we talk about how router table dust collection is never good enough?

I was at a shop in Portland last month helping a buddy tune up his setup. We ran a test cut on some maple and dust was flying everywhere, like a snow globe in there. It hit me that I've been blaming my router table for bad results when really it's the chip evacuation that's killing me. Anybody else fight with their fence design to keep the path clear?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_john1mo ago

83% of router dust is airborne within three seconds of startup.

the_tessa1mo ago

Tbh that 83% stat sounds made up but I feel it in my soul. So like, is the real issue that most fence designs just dump the chips straight down instead of pushing them into the dust port? I keep wondering if I should just build a new fence from scratch with a better angle on the pickup.