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Dust Free Router Table with a Free Lift

Been asked again about my Router Table which also an extension of my Table Saw, so I decided to make a post for it.

The table is basically made out of melamine sheet with an exception of the top that is two ¾ sheets of MDF glued together and laminated with Formica as it is much stronger and almost scratch proof than melamine.

The Router Fence is made like the top but out of a single ¾ MDF sheet. It's fully adjustable and it mounts with two clamps on my Table Saw Fence.

When I was building this table Dust Extraction was something that puzzled me a lot, as I wanted it to be as dust free as possible. The idea was to extract the dust directly from the source and that's from under and over the router bit.
Over the bit it was easy and a standard procedure as you can see from the image.
Under the bit my approach was to fit on the router its dust collection accessory and hook that to my outlet from inside/under the table.
I never expected it to be so efficient… I can say it is almost completely dust free, and what escapes is some minor dust underneath it and very little on the top. I would recommend this solution to anyone building a new router table.
Though I will point out that the routers dust extraction accessory limits your bit height so an extension collar is a cheap solution to that.

Then I had the issue with the router lift. My router as you can see is the powerful DeWalt DW625EK plunge Router - 240V and it's quite heavy to lift by hand. The micro adjustment worked fine (such a slow procedure) but you still needed to lift it up to approximate height before adjusting it.
My solution was either to get a plunge router lift which is not available here, had to import it and it cost so much (shipping it's a killer) that I didn't want to spend all that money or find a way around the problem. So I ended up with a cost free solution from my router lift as you can see in the photos. A quick lift with a lever idea and a Fine adjustment with simple bolt and knob… it works like a charm.

So here you have it a dust free router table with a zero cost router lift.
Not fancy but efficient.

Thank you
Stelios (AKA Steliart)

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Although I made myself router table also, I always like to see someone else s ideas and solutions. Very nice and proffessional built, with very interesting and very well made accessories and features.

- majuvla
Hey Ivan, Thank you my friend
 

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