Been sloooooooowly working on a router table.

This is the fence.

This is the split part I was attempting to describe. It's a bit on the thick side, but the pieces glued up perfectly true and square. Might need to fill the open ends to keep them from getting wood chips inside. I haven't cut the hole in the fence for bit clearance and dust collection yet. I'll need to cut some slots in the fence to attach the split fence parts.

Couple of points: First, Attach some sort of suction to the ends of the split fence. Take advantage of the opportunity to extract sawdust from right near the bit. Second, cut two, 4-inch slots in the L bracket one near the bit, the other near the end, on each side of the bit, and line up the split pieces. Then drill holes for bolts to go through the back of the split pieces, through the slots for adjusting width.

The one thing you don't have is some escape for trapped sawdust. Normally you would trim a corner off the bottom of the fence in wood. So you might use a straight piece of 1/8th aluminum below the fence trimmed slightly less than the width of the square pieces.

To remove sawdust from behind the fence, you will still need to cut an opening in the L bracket large enough for the larger bits to fit in and high enough for most bits to fit through. This might require that you reinforce the inside edges of the L bracket so it stays rigid.

None of this is hard to do, but helps explain why most shop made fances are made of wood.

Funny you mentioned using those for dust extraction. I was thinking about that but haven't come up with an idea for connecting a hose to it because of the tubing diameter. It's 1 1/8"
I'll keep that in mind.
This 1/4" aluminum is for the reinforcements you mentioned. I'll use JB Weld and also drill and tap it in place using machine screws.
I'll use 1/4 20 screws to fasten the movable fence sections and add some knobs to tighten them with.
I appreciate the input.

I didn't use the architectual. I like more meat.
Gaining a bit on it. I put neoprene washers behind the metal ones
Can't decide on knobs, so nuts for photo op. It opens to 2 1/4" but a 2" slot cutter is the widest thing I could imagine needing. The router is Porter Cable 690, so I'm not making cabinet door panels with it. ;D

ranman said:

Just some computation.
Applying the vac idea to the two lower sections of tubing, and using a 1" ID hose connected to each side..... that would be equal 1/2 the cubic inches or flow of my Sears shop vac hose. It's one of those "6.5 hp " wonders of the world 16 gallon shop vacs.
...anyway, those two small hoses on the fence would equate to 1/2 the flow, so that would require a smaller opening in the fence for the be rest of the dust collection...... More important for a smaller hole strength wise for the fence because it's 3/16" wall thickness. 1/4 might have been better... Oops, too late to go back.

Click to expand...

Don't forget to get a chip collector or dust separator in line between the tool and the shop vac. Here's a picture just in case. Without the chip collector, the shop vac filter will clog in minutes.

Here's what I came up with. Put on my face mask, sprayed wd 40 inside and out and the blade..... and went to town.
....slowly and carefully went to town.
Cut a couple of 45's in some aluminum tubing, bent them into 'L''s. These are to fit inside the split fence ends for my vac to attach to.
I cleaned everything with acetone, roughed up the seam edges then applied JB Weld and made the bends and clamped them overnight.
I made aluminum gussets or supports to strengthen the outside edges.
I got the hose ends from a dead upright vacuum. Those fit tight, but added some RTV silicone to seal the connections.

The fit of this tubing and the fence tubing was sloppy. That was a good thing. I lined a couple inches of the fence tubing with the fuzzy side of Velcro. Makes a nice seal for the 'L's to slide into.
The suction connections can be slid in aiming to the rear or straight down.