Make a router dust shoe

Start from a blank workpiece

Design your own router dust shoe

The animation below shows drawing an acrylic router dust shoe from scratch in Easel. A horizontal plate carries a separately bolted hose adapter and a brush, while an upright strip and two angle brackets attach it to the machine mount. Use 5 mm cast acrylic and separate M4 bolts, wide washers, locknuts, brush, epoxy and a sealing gasket. Assume a 70 mm router envelope, 50 mm outside-diameter adapter, 76 mm adapter flange with two fixing holes 64 mm apart, and a brush with 5 mm-wide backing and 40 mm free bristle length. These references are untested and do not establish compatibility with a particular router. Draw a 200 × 140 mm plate with 72 mm router and 52 mm hose openings, centers 75 mm apart. They give 2 mm diametral clearance at each opening and a 13 mm web. Center the flange above the hose opening and draw two 4.5 mm fixing holes on its centerline, 32 mm either side of the port center toward the front and rear. The 76 mm flange overlaps the 52 mm opening by 12 mm radially; fasten it to the plate with M4 × 16 mm bolts, washers and locknuts over a thin gasket, so retention comes from bolts rather than a loose push fit. Draw a 200 × 40 mm upright strip with two 20 × 4.5 mm mounting slots on 80 mm centers, their centerline 20 mm above its lower edge. Two separate 20 × 20 mm angle brackets with 15 mm hole offsets join it to the plate rear edge. Place plate holes 15 mm from that edge and matching strip holes 15 mm above its lower edge. Rest the strip’s lower edge at the plate top and bolt both bracket legs through the 4.5 mm holes with washers and locknuts. The mount-slot centerline is then 25 mm above the plate underside. For machine mounting bolts 64 mm above the work surface, set the strip at its slot centerline: the plate underside sits 39 mm above the surface. Epoxy the brush backing under the perimeter so its 40 mm bristles have 1 mm reference compression; check this at the intended cutting height rather than treating brush width as reach. With power isolated, remove the complete shoe at its mount bolts for bit access. Verify this static geometry, hose strain relief, all machine travel and actual brush contact on an unpowered mock-up; extraction, retention strength and motion clearance have not been physically tested.