Manufactures
Product Description: Your solution for router table: dust collection and router bit storage.
Manufactures
Product Description:
Your solution for router table: dust collection and router bit storage.
Store all of you router table tools such as collet wrench, pencil, ruler, bearing oil, and more. Keeping them on the top of the router table makes them easy to find and saves you the frustration of searching for that "lost tool". You can connect 2-1/2" and 2-1/4" hoses directly. Connect 4" & 1-1/4" hoses with adaptors.
Initial Impressions
The Dust Sucker & More! is neatly packaged
,
and comes with written instructions. The Stots web site contains free video on how to attach the
Dust Sucker & More! to a router table as well as it's many other uses.
The production quality of the videos are a noticeable step up since Stots
earlier products. You can also download free PDF files of written plans for making
a small portable router table, an edge jointer, and a variety of fences. It's a
BIG plus to the overall value of the Dust Sucker & More!.
There are a number of clever features in this product,
such as the inclusion of three different sizes of shank holes to store router
and multi tool bits
.
Another smart move is the dust hose port on top. It can accept either a
2.5" or a 2.25" hose without the need for an adaptor - if only all dust
collection hose fittings were so easy
.
Delta, PC, DeWalt, and the rest can learn from this!
Construction: Rating 5/5
The Dust Sucker & More! is made of a very thick,
heavy duty plastic. The lid is polycarbonate - very sturdy. I did give it a
drop test, intentionally knocking it off of my router table onto a concrete
floor - the result was not a bit of damage
.
The lid stays on tight, really tight. You really need to hands to open the lid to get at anything inside which if you have one had bust and need to get to something, you'll have to free up the other hand.
Use: 4.75/5
One of my problems is I have more router bits than places
to put them so I was very anxious to finally have some extra bit storage room.
This is where I ran into my only problem with the Dust Sucker & More!,
the depth of the bit storage won't hold XXLarge land tall bits
.
The one bit I use for 80% of my router table use is an extra long flush trim bit
as a router table edge trimmer, but at least I can store the bit in one of the
deeper front compartments
.
Ideally, you can attach the Dust Sucker & More! to
your table using a bolt which doubles as a starting pin, but I took the easy way out and just clamped it to my
table using a couple of quick clamps - it took seconds
.
Here's a better picture showing the clamps
.
Since the Dust Sucker & More! seems to be the ideal solution for all of those situations where a traditional router table fence is only in the way, I decided to use it during a dovetail cutting project. I set the Dust Sucker & More! up at what seemed to be a good distance away from the bit and deepest point the workpiece would reach, hooked up my Rigid shop vac (no adaptors - yes!) and went to work cutting the joints into the Brazilian cherry stock.
After completing the cuts in the
initial piece I turned everything off and checked the Dust Sucker & More!
to see how well it did at collecting shavings. My initial reaction wasn't very
positive after I pulled out all of these shavings left behind
.
Fortunately, I've used Stots products before and they've all been very good so I
thought something else might be the problem.
I checked the shop vac hose to make sure there were no blockages and it ended up being clear. Next, I went to the shop vac itself and checked the filter and chip storage space. Sure enough, the filter was caked with nasty fine particles and resembled something like warm bread dough. On top of that the chip container was almost full so I emptied the container and cleaned out the filter and set everything back up again and cut the second workpiece.
This time around the Dust Sucker & More!
did a fantastic job at picking up the chips
.
And as you can see in the upcoming pic, there was next to nothing left behind
.
I can blame "operator error" on the first round of trouble.
I've also used the Dust Sucker & More! as an impromptu dust hood for some hand sanding and even on my drill press table. It worked great in both occasions. the only issue is if you want to use it with a 4" hose you'll need to purchase a separate adaptor.
Value: 5/5
This is where the Dust Sucker & More! really shines - it's a great product for the money. I remember when I started out in woodworking I was looking for a low cost quality solution to building a router table fence and dust hood for my first router table. At the time, there wasn't anything on the market like the Dust Sucker & More! so I ended up buying a set up from Rockler (which I still use and is only o.k. at best).
At $50.00 the Dust Sucker & More! is well worth the price. Using it as a simple dust hood the way I did above would have made it a worthwhile purchase but the sheer variety of uses makes it worth twice the price. I also like how easy it is to add a router fence or make an edge jointer with the included instructions and plans, even novice woodworkers will have a low stress time making these great add-ons.
I've already got my extra bits stowed away in the enclosed space and a shelf on the side of my router table to hold the Dust Sucker & More! when it's not in use.
Conclusion Rating: 4.9/5
Disclosure statement: The Stots Corporation provided these products to promote this review.