hand held router dust collection

[kooshball]

I read an article in FWW a month back by Gregory regarding some heavy duty plunge routers. The only one that seemed to have any actual dust collection ability was the Festool. The price and size of that router may be more than I need at the moment so I am now looking at the Festool 1400 EQ router as an option.

The question is: how effective is the DC on this machine and are there any other less expensive, medium size plunge routers that have good DC performance?

Thanks!

 

[eyekode]

David, I have a DW621. Dust collection is fairly good with a shop vac. And for a hand held router it has plenty of power. You are welcome to try mine out .
Salem

 

[richlife]

Hey, David. I have a Bosch 1617EVS dual base router that I use for handheld work. With the dust collector hose attachment, it is EXCELLENT with either a shop vac or a custom attachment into my dust collection system. I use it most for deep mortising (sometimes 40 or 50 in a session). When complete, the mortises are always dust free and almost all the dust is captured (not in the air or on the floor).

Rich

 

[Joe Scharle]

Here's my experience:

Milwaukee 5619 (3.5hp)......not even an option! Make your own!
Milwaukee 5616 (2.5hp)......actually very good, and easy to mount/dismount.
DW 625 (3.5hp).....afterthought, but once in place does remove the big pieces.
Freud 2200 (3.25hp)....not easy on/off like the 5616, but does a good job
GNC 16...built into the base, but has a funny connector which is easy to misplace.
PC 690 (2.5hp)...both bases are semi-permanently installed, but right angle chute clogs easily.
Bosch 1617 (2.5hp)...good (best when it first came out) job, but the body on mine started scaling.
Bosch Roto-Zips (1.0hp) plunge bases...built-in and work well.

 

[Gregory Paolini]

I havn't had a chance to play around with a 1400, but a buddy of mine swears by it.

In that article, it really was just a case that the OF2200's dust collection was amazing. Most of the other's were OK, but the festool's blew me away.

For what it's worth, the Porter Cable 890 plunge base has pretty decent dust collection as well, and I use on regulary in my shop

-gp.

 

[SteveHall]

Don't forget Triton, all three have very good full dust collection shrouds. I have the 3HP one, which is usually in a table. But when I've used it hand held connected to a shop vac very little dust escaped. I usually use my PC 69x because it is lighter, but the dust collection is non-existent.

 

[kooshball]

Here's my experience:

Milwaukee 5619 (3.5hp)......not even an option! Make your own!
Milwaukee 5616 (2.5hp)......actually very good, and easy to mount/dismount.
DW 625 (3.5hp).....afterthought, but once in place does remove the big pieces.
Freud 2200 (3.25hp)....not easy on/off like the 5616, but does a good job
GNC 16...built into the base, but has a funny connector which is easy to misplace.
PC 690 (2.5hp)...both bases are semi-permanently installed, but right angle chute clogs easily.
Bosch 1617 (2.5hp)...good (best when it first came out) job, but the body on mine started scaling.
Bosch Roto-Zips (1.0hp) plunge bases...built-in and work well.

Thanks!

 

[KC7CN]

I read an article in FWW a month back by Gregory regarding some heavy duty plunge routers. The only one that seemed to have any actual dust collection ability was the Festool. The price and size of that router may be more than I need at the moment so I am now looking at the Festool 1400 EQ router as an option.

The question is: how effective is the DC on this machine and are there any other less expensive, medium size plunge routers that have good DC performance?

Thanks!

This is not exactly what you're looking for, but on topic non-the-less! I have the DeWalt 618 fix/plunge router kit. The plunge base has a vacuum port, however, in order to make it really work well, you need to use the small clear-plastic cover that clips into the base plate. :tinysmile_cry_t: WOW! DAMHIKT !!! I've had this router for about three years, and discovered this last week!

-Don