My father and I recently decided that we wanted a router table. Rather than buying a full unit which would be expensive and take up precious shop space, we decided to build an insert that would mount to a table saw. I won't go into the details of the table build (perhaps in another post), but want to share the vacuum mount I made for the table.
In order to accommodate the router, an extension had to be made for the table saw fence (the bit needs to be able to go into a slot in the fence). My father constructed the fence attachment out of plywood and ground down some bolts to go into the t-slot on the table saw fence. Above the slot for the router, an opening was made so that chips and sawdust could escape.
This stopped the bit from getting clogged, but made a big mess; obviously a vacuum attachment was needed!
Yikes!
This seemed like a perfect 3D printing task, so I went ahead and designed a simple bracket that snaps into the slot on the fence and has a receiver for the vacuum hose. It is tapered and contoured on the inside to redirect the dust into the vacuum hose. All of the interfaces are simply friction fit, which proves to be easy and effective.
The inside is a little bit messy from support material, but it's only cosmetic.
As you can see, it looks quite nice mounted to the fence!
There's not much to it, but it sure works great. The suction is excellent and it completely removes all of the sawdust, making the router table much nicer to use.
Here are a few action shots. I promise the router was actually on for this (it's amazing how well a flash can freeze a fast moving object, eh?).
I'd post an after shot of the table but it looks exactly the same as before, no dust!
This is a great example of why it is handy to have a 3D printer, and shows that they can do more than make trinkets. I was able to make this attachment fit our vacuum and fence perfectly, and didn't have to buy any special adapters. A custom fitting for less than a dollar and an hour of work? That's a pretty great deal!