Richard Stottman is a woodworker and creative genius. He has come up with a
number of good products — and they all are in use in my shop. The Saw-Aid is a
push shoe that I have used for years simply because it gives me the best control and feel
of the workpiece being cut. Beth is using it at the right.
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And
it was over 3 years ago that I first used the Stots Dovetail Template Master. It is a cool
product that has helped me make dovetail jigs for a variety of uses including a blanket
chest.
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The Stots "Dust Sucker & More" sounded like an intriguing
product so I asked Richard to send me one for testing. He did and Andrea was in the shop
to help me.
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One of
the main uses of the new product is to use it with the router table as a vacuum pickup and
starter pin. The instructions say to use the starter pin hole (arrow.) This would
have been nice, but I didn't have the correct size bolt for this CMT table so I opted to
drill a new 1/4" hole. That was easy to do and didn't leave any unevenness in
the plate.
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It didn't take time to fasten the Dust Sucker & More with a 1/4"
bolt and a couple of nuts. The product is fastened at the pivot point (arrow) and is loose
enough so that the unit can swivel out of the way as the cut progresses.
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The
Dust Sucker has a nice storage area for router bits of all shaft sizes and a place to keep
the wrenches and other items.
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To
put it to the right test, I cut a piece of 1/2" walnut and screwed the template for
the serving trays that we made last year. I purposely left more "waste" around
the profile. Andrea carefully eases the end into the cutter using the fulcrum point of the
Dust Sucker.
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What you
don't see is how effective the dust sucking is. I have the shop vac connected to the unit,
and it seems to get most of the dust ejected from this operation
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Shaping
the tray end worked very well. When we did a dozen of these trays last Christmas, we did
use a starter pin and caution, but the saw dust went everywhere. The regular fence was
always too far away to collect the dust. This setup seemed to get most all of it.
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I borrowed the three illustrations at the left from Richard's webpage of "Plans, Jigs
and Tips." Use the link below to go there. He has some great ideas. The three at the
left are those that I will assemble this next week, once I can get some new MDF pieces.
Rather than use just the sheet material, I often go for some of the specialty pieces
— in this case the stair treads. They are a little bit thicker and seem to have
better edges.
My thanks to Richard for the Dust Sucker & More and all of his good
ideas.
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