Rockler Dust Collector for Rockler Dovetail Jigs

As intended, the dust collector did it's job very well, significantly reducing the dust and clean-up when routng dovetails on my Rockler Docetail Jig. I did have two problems, one was annoying, the other quite troublesome. The first problem was the sliding plastic air dam - the inside track popped out the very first time I tightened the front channel - I will re-glue and try again on my next project. The second problem was that once the collector is in place, as others have noted, you can not access the front screw on the stop guides without backing off or and almost removing the collector. My first solution was a 90 degree screwdriver, which allowed me to keep the collector installed, but still had to back off quite a bit to reach. My second solution was to replace the phillips head screw with a hex head 10-24 screw so I can use a thin open end wrench to make the adjustments.

I gave this product a poor rating because although I fundamentally it does what it was built to do, it's a very poor design. I'm more than a little amazed ou have to uninstall it every time you use it. Unless of course you plan to use wood that never changes from one project to another. If your plan is to cut dovetails on stock exactly the same size every time, then you're good. But if like me, you plan to do different things, plan also on uninstalling the unit from the jig every time you have to do a new set up. have to say, if given the choice to do it all over again, I would not have bought the package with the dust collector included, as I feel the jig itself works very well. But I'm betting this dust collector will sit on a shelf in my shop for the remainder of its' life, and I'll have to resign myself to the fact that I threw put good money after bad. /p>

Very simple to install, and what a difference. No chips in the face, no chips to clean up. All the chips and sawdust go into the dust vac system hopper. Wish this had been available years earlier. This is one of the best ideas for woodworking since the router was invented. Great product.

The only problem I had was that my jig is an older version and has the clamp handle placed in the center of the axel, which puts the knuckels in the middle of the collector, so after a fiew joints I got wise and drilled and tapped the axel so that it is as the new jigs are shipped. I only needed to do the front axel, as the top handle is fine in the center of the jig.

Works well at keeping the area clean but is a problem when installed and trying to set up the jig...need to remove in order to mark the depth of cut when doing through dovetails...I am going to slot the dust collector so I can remove it without have to totally unscrew the clamp.