Toolbox: Dust-Free Router

Router dust is a nuisance. On a remodeling job, it can strain customer relations; in the shop, it’s a respiratory hazard and a nasty underfoot lubricant on a slick slab. It blinds you while you work, fouls up pilot bearings and fences, and provides kindling for scorches on the edges of a router cut. For all these reasons, routers are perfect candidates for dust control systems, even with a low-volume collector like a shop vac. Surprisingly, though, dust collection on a router is a rarity, even as an option. Most of the available add-ons feature bulky adapters that draw dust and chips through extra-thick, oversized baseplates. These clumsy configurations seem to be designed as an afterthought, and typically curtail visibility