Doe anyone have an enclosure for their router that does not utilize dust collection? My main goal is to keep the noise to a minimum by building the enclosure but then adding dust collection would increase the noise almost negating the purpose of the enclosure.
My other idea was to use a Fein Turbo I but I am not sure if that is capable enough of handling the dust collection by itself or if I would still need a cyclone type collector as well.
Anyone have any suggestions?
Can’t you build an enclosure for the vacuum as well?
@Intohouse well mainly because of space constraints. I could definitely get away with just the vacuum, but enclosure wont fit under the table. I was wondering if the Fein Turbo would do ok without an enclosure, and if I still needed a cyclone collector?
Personally, I have two large dust collectors in my shop. A 2HP Industrial cyclone for my 4"+ machines and an Oneida Dust Cobra for my smaller tools and CNC. The industrial is designed to run continuously, whereas the Cobra runs when being used. I wear ear protection (Isotune Pros) at all times when in my shop. Frankly, the dust collectors don’t bother me at all. They are a steady drone that just blends in. I don’t think you really need to worry about the dust collector unless you don’t want to be wearing any protection.
@GJM no ear protection is the goal - I will be using this in a townhouse and have a solid plan for an enclosure that won’t produce noise remotely close to shop vac level.
The vac setup is my biggest hurdle which is why I am looking into the Fein Turbo I
@rlabar1288 Got it. So all you have to do is get all of your neighbors to wear ear buds! Easy! 
There are a lot of good threads here on soundproofing while assuring appropriate air flow.
Exactly !
I’ve read through a lot of threads to be honest, haven’t found exactly what I was looking for
I ran my enclosure without dust collection when I first made it. Honestly any enclosure you have come across can be built without the dust collection feature, normally it is just a hole cut somewhere for the hose to run through.
Mine is just made of plywood with a 1x1 lumber frame, which is just what I had lying around. Nothing fancy at all. It’s in a shop room within my basement and when running if I’m upstairs I hardly hear it. I don’t have any sound deadening material so with that installed you most likely wouldn’t hear it at all upstairs.
As far as the feign vacuum goes I use a similar setup with just a bagged shopvac. It works great but I found myself going through a lot of bags due to the amount of chips entering the bag. I added a dust deputy with a 5gallon bucket to catch the larger chips and the shopvac bag collects the fine dust.
@hkyswim did you notice if the router was getting hot during longer cuts with the enclosure and no air flow? Probably my concern - just heat build up and breaking down the rotor and shortening its life
Someone else might be able to speak of heat that a router makes but I don’t believe they put off much, I touch it all the time for tools changes and isn’t hot to my hands to the point where I would be concerned. My enclosure is for an xxl. It’s 2ft high from the bench, 4ftx4ft wide though so there is a lot of air space in there.
It’s also not built together with the bench top, I ended up building it later. I left it unattached so I could lift the enclosure off if I wanted to cut a very long piece or needed to do maintenance that I would need to get to an awkward spot.
Wish I also used my machine for cutting the door window pockets and such for a better look but I was new when I did this and didn’t fully think it through design wise. It works for what I need though so never decided to fix it up.
Just wondering…Would it fit above the enclosure?
@Intohouse not enough ceiling height
@hkyswim I definitely plan on building the enclosure higher for added air space. And I might do a 3/4 hinge on the entire enclosure in case I need access to the router or whatever
I think I’m leaning towards the festool ct15, possibly enclose it and then use a cyclone right next to it. Probably my best solution
The Fein should handle the dust collection. You should consider a dust deputy especially if doing MDF which will plug up the filter. I have the Makita router and if I don’t have the dust collection going, it gets up to 90 degrees in the enclosure - not router temp, ambient.
Despite advice from several people on here, I went ahead with my design for an enclosure - not dissimilar to @hkyswim’s - but it didn’t take long for me realise the error of my ways, when I kept banging the back of my head on the top frame.
As I was also having difficulties with dust extraction due to the limited headroom, I redesigned the roof from this (with a roof)…
…to this…
…and now I don’t get any headaches!
EDIT: The power lead for the router will follow the hose too. I just hadn’t done that when the photo was taken.
@NewToThis so you wound recommend a taller enclosure to account for the dust control
Hose?
Yes.
Originally, it looked like this…
…but the hose kept getting tied up with the router and the Z stepper motor, so I had trust issues with the original setup.
The new configuration (and better, more flexible dust hose) is much better.
Of course, mine’s in a shed, so the sound it maes isn’t an issue.
This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.
