# Table Saw dust colllector



## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

I've been procrastinating about doing this for years. I finally got tired enough of cleaning the shop only to have saw dust on the floor immediately after sweeping. Actually got this idea from my neighbor a few years ago. 
I'm close to done, ran out of time tonight. I think I'll use it for awhile to see how it works, I may build another hopper on the back side of the box to catch dust blowing out the back.


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

Good start! I've seen some folks with contractor type saws enclose the back with plywood leaving gaps for the drive belt and the motor mount to protrude through. I saw one guy who put a dust port on the back plate to hook a vac or dust collector to catch the bulk of the stuff.


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## hawkeye10 (Feb 18, 2015)

Jim Frye said:


> Good start! I've seen some folks with contractor type saws enclose the back with plywood leaving gaps for the drive belt and the motor mount to protrude through. I saw one guy who put a dust port on the back plate to hook a vac or dust collector to catch the bulk of the stuff.


That is what I did Jim. Collecting dust from a table saw is hard to do. At least for me.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

Thanks Jim. I cut some parts out on the CNC tonight, but ran out of bolts, so I'm done for today. I'm adding a couple feed rollers on the back. More later


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## OldDon (Feb 19, 2018)

My old Craftsman is getting a second stage of dust collection added to it. Years ago (before Sears imploded) I purchased a plastic dust collector kit from Sears that included a lower sloping collector plus two panels to somewhat close off the back side of the saw. I put a layer of MDF under the saw, with a center hole for the sloping collector. The collector has a 2.5" outlet that my shop vac hose fits into. Now I am working on a better solution for the back side of the saw since the plastic plates weren't made to fit my saw exactly. Plus want to use plastic foam (or something?) to seal the opening the the front angle indicator travels through when adjusting the tilt.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Table saw is THE most dificult*

Dust collection relies on either of 2 things 
!. gravity (most common) OR 
2. high volume air movement (least common)

Unless the dust is in suspension in the moving air, and sucked away immediately, it will fall out due to gravity and down the sloped panels and into the dust port at the bottom. Shop vacs and most home dust collection systems do not move a large enough volume of air to be effective at getting the dust out of the table saw cabinet. You are truly "collecting" it rather than evacuating it. :sad2:
Closing off the sides and rear and under the table holes helps .... maybe. If you seal it off too well no air will flow through it. You can not evacuate an enclosed container, you will collapse it or just reach a point where no air is moving in or out, like putting your hand over the suction end of the shop vac.

This is why the table saw is so difficult. Modern table saws have blade shrouds which you can attach your shop vac to directly without it falling down into the cabinet (the best way so far) .:smile2:
Covers over the top of the blade are also very effective if attached to shop vac. This is what I did on my Sawzilla in addition to a plate on the bottom attached to a 4" PVC pipe and flex hose to my Jet DC unit. It woks OK, but doesn't get all of it... not enough volume of air moving through the saw. :sad2:

No easy answers for older table saws. JMO.


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

The bottom pan (I called it a belly pan) I made for my saw has a vac attachment port at the very bottom. It's normally plugged as my saw has a blade shroud with a vac port attached. Occasionally, I plug the ShopVac into the belly pan port to clear the pan. The rest of the saw cabinet is closed except for the throat plate and the front tilt/height adjustment quadrant, so very little escapes the saw. The front quadrant actually serves as the air inlet for the dust extraction air flow.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

As I sometimes do I gave the table saw more thought & decided to add a vac system to it, along with the miter saw and another gate to plug in hand tools like sanders, etc. I have a jet vac in the CNC room that was installed in the 90's and still works, so I bought the same model # for the table saw. 
By the middle to end of next week, all the parts should be here to build the vac system for the shop, upgrade the CNC room's system with a dust separator and re-plumb it along with a dust boot that hopefully will work a little better than what I had. 
Install a new 3 ph inverter for the CNC spindle
add a 4th axis on the CNC and redo the cable support for the CNC. 
Work is building up steam for the season, so I expect this will be a long term list. I get these ideas and then wonder how I'm going to get it all done. Anybody else suffer from this affliction?


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## Maylar (Sep 3, 2013)

I have a bag that hangs under the saw, attached to the base with velcro strips. It has a 2-1/2" vacuum port for a shop vac. I sealed the back side where the motor hangs with a cardboard cover. Works pretty well.


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## OldDon (Feb 19, 2018)

woodnthings said:


> Dust collection relies on either of 2 things
> !. gravity (most common) OR
> 2. high volume air movement (least common)
> 
> ...


Thanks for the tip about sealing the saw too much. Buying a better saw and "real" D.C. system isn't in the cards. 

At this point there's little worry of sucking the saw flat. :wink: The back is wide open and while the underside is more or less sealed off with MDF, gets it's shop vac suction via the sloped collector, the saw isn't sealed to the MDF nor is the collector tight to the MDF since it has a few gaps due to it being distorted old plastic. Lots of places for air flow!

A lot of the saw's dust output seems to get flung out the back side and if I can cause it to bounce off a new rear cover and drop that would be fine with me. So long as I can increase from the present ~50% of the saw's dust collected I'd be happy. Plus if the rest of it more or less now stays in or near the saw that would help with clean up. I also have a cheapie ceiling hung WEN dust filter unit that helps with the floating stuff.


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## OldDon (Feb 19, 2018)

Maylar said:


> I have a bag that hangs under the saw, attached to the base with velcro strips. It has a 2-1/2" vacuum port for a shop vac. I sealed the back side where the motor hangs with a cardboard cover. Works pretty well.


I like what you did to your saw! I hope to have mine sealed much like you did to it.


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## _Ogre (Feb 1, 2013)

i did something similar to maylar on the back of my craftsman ts. used 1/4 luan and cabinet door magnets to hold it in place. it needs to come out if you angle the blade but it really cuts down on the dust coming out the back

a 5 gal bucket hanging under my table saw is all i have, no vac port


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## OldDon (Feb 19, 2018)

You guys have saws that are "square" in shape. I like the idea of magnets and a flexible cardboard or thin laminate since opening has curved sides that need to be sealed against. 

My Craftsman has the older "Art Deco" case (chrome front, curved sides) and the supplied stand is larger than the saw's bottom footprint by about 4" per side. The saw bolts to two cross members on the legs assembly and not to the legs directly. So putting a MDF board under the saw was easy. It also left me with a storage flat area to put tools on while it's in use.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

Decided to add a Jet Vac to the table saw & Miter saw. I have a Jet Vac on the CNC in another building so went with the same unit. I'm adding a dust separator to both units, built them today.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

I had to design a logo and engrave it on the plywood top.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

I cut circles out of scrap aluminum sign material for the top & bottom. I'll attach a ground wire to one of the ready rods to slow down the static.


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## _Ogre (Feb 1, 2013)

fancy smancy 
i need to get one of those cnc router thingys
i see slats under the table, do you run the router on a cnc plasma table?
do you run mach3, candcnc & sheetcam on that?


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

_Ogre said:


> fancy smancy
> i need to get one of those cnc router thingys
> i see slats under the table, do you run the router on a cnc plasma table?
> do you run mach3, candcnc & sheetcam on that?


The CNC is a ShopBot, but the frame is DIY. It's a dedicated Router CNC running on Aspire. I depend on it for a lot of different projects. Pretty handy.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

​


pro70z28 said:


> The CNC is a ShopBot, but the frame is DIY. It's a dedicated Router CNC running on Aspire. I depend on it for a lot of different projects. Pretty handy.


It's slow going this time of year,(that work thing gets in the way). I did make some headway though. I got the platform made, complete with a floor sweeper upper. Designed for that last bit of dust I can never get. I've used it several times and it's proving to be pretty handy.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

I ground the center divider out of schedule 40 couplers so sewer couplers would slide all the way through. Glued lugs on the couplers to make quick couplers so I can take the barrel out of the loop for dumping.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

I've had a hopper with a 30 gal trash can under the miter saw for years, but never got around to building a hood. The coroplast panels are held in place with magnets so I can slide them out of the way or remove them for miter cuts. So far it's working great. More to come, when I can find the time. Still have to wire the remote switches at each saw and a few other odds & ends.


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## kentucky tom (Feb 19, 2017)

pro70z28 said:


> I've had a hopper with a 30 gal trash can under the miter saw for years, but never got around to building a hood. The coroplast panels are held in place with magnets so I can slide them out of the way or remove them for miter cuts. So far it's working great. More to come, when I can find the time. Still have to wire the remote switches at each saw and a few other odds & ends.


I've got a HF dust collector. I bough a 30 gal fiber drum for $5 and added a their separator plate. Works equal to a cyclone and catches the large and small particles of dust prior to going into the harbor freight 4" dust collector. Got the best of both , big chip and dust rarely makes it to the 5 micon bag. Much easier to empty the drum that to futz with the HF holder for the cloth bag. Use 4" drainage pipe and fittings with 4" flex hose for vacuum distribution.

Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk


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## Mad (Dec 9, 2017)

OldDon said:


> My old Craftsman is getting a second stage of dust collection added to it. Years ago (before Sears imploded) I purchased a plastic dust collector kit from Sears that included a lower sloping collector plus two panels to somewhat close off the back side of the saw. I put a layer of MDF under the saw, with a center hole for the sloping collector. The collector has a 2.5" outlet that my shop vac hose fits into. Now I am working on a better solution for the back side of the saw since the plastic plates weren't made to fit my saw exactly. Plus want to use plastic foam (or something?) to seal the opening the the front angle indicator travels through when adjusting the tilt.



OldDon... do you mind posting some photos of your old saw and the first and second stages of dust extraction you have made for it?


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## OldDon (Feb 19, 2018)

Mad said:


> OldDon... do you mind posting some photos of your old saw and the first and second stages of dust extraction you have made for it?



Will do. I'm in the process of tear the saw apart. On hold due to lack of time this week since I'm the commander of our American Legion post and this is a busy week for us plus I've got family arriving for the holiday weekend. But I will post ASAP.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

Got a little more done over the long weekend. Still have a punch list of things to do. Back to real work tomorrow, but it's getting closer.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

pro70z28 said:


> Got a little more done over the long weekend. Still have a punch list of things to do. Back to real work tomorrow, but it's getting closer.


Finished up the little punch list things today. On to the CNC now.


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

Very nicely done! Neat design work.


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## intrepid (Sep 24, 2017)

Looks really nice and well sealed up. Seems like you should be able to collect 95%+ of the dust. Have you tested it out? Just wondering from other posts I have read before of maybe the motor overheating on prolong heavy cuts. However, with your large collector system, maybe you have enough cfm flow to keep it cool inside.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

intrepid said:


> Looks really nice and well sealed up. Seems like you should be able to collect 95%+ of the dust. Have you tested it out? Just wondering from other posts I have read before of maybe the motor overheating on prolong heavy cuts. However, with your large collector system, maybe you have enough cfm flow to keep it cool inside.


The exhaust for the vac is right next to the motor, just enough clearance to move the motor for angle cuts, so the motor probably has more fresh air moving by it than it did before. I rarely do prolonged cutting, it's usually a board or 2 or 3 and then it gets pushed back in the corner. 4 screws and the inspection cover under the feed rollers comes off, if it would be an issue or if maintenance is needed. 
I ran a few boards though to test. It doesn't catch it all of course, especially since it has a 0 clearance plate, but if I keep the blade height down it's acceptable. At least I don't have to sweep up after every use like before and the airborne dust is way less. Airborne dust is something I should have addressed years ago, but late is better than not at all I guess. When customers come by and look at the saw, I tell them I'm trying to cut down on the amount of dust in the air, probably isn't good to breath. They agree, then admit they haven't addressed the dust issue either.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

One last shot of the control panel. I cut this out with the CNC & engraved it with the laser.


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## Carl10 (Feb 3, 2017)

pro70z28,

Nice job on the double top hat build. The more I see things like that the more I justify in my head a CNC machine (-: One question is to why you put the the cyclone inlet at the bottom of the cylinder. Your separation will greatly improve if it is at the top of the cylinder. The idea is to start the swirl at the top with incoming debris, as the debris hits the wall and slows, then falls into the outer lower slot. Meanwhile the swirling incoming air will continue to swirl down and the clean air will stop towards the bottom of your vortex tube and then changes direction and goes up the vortex tube and out. Ideally the vortex tube should end below the inlet for all of this to happen. Right now it does not look like the upper cylinder is doing anything for you and the bottom of the vortex tube is even with the bottom of the inlet tube. Flipping the cylinder over and putting the inlet at the top should improve your performance.

Hope that helps,

Carl


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

Carl10 said:


> pro70z28,
> 
> Nice job on the double top hat build. The more I see things like that the more I justify in my head a CNC machine (-: One question is to why you put the the cyclone inlet at the bottom of the cylinder. Your separation will greatly improve if it is at the top of the cylinder. The idea is to start the swirl at the top with incoming debris, as the debris hits the wall and slows, then falls into the outer lower slot. Meanwhile the swirling incoming air will continue to swirl down and the clean air will stop towards the bottom of your vortex tube and then changes direction and goes up the vortex tube and out. Ideally the vortex tube should end below the inlet for all of this to happen. Right now it does not look like the upper cylinder is doing anything for you and the bottom of the vortex tube is even with the bottom of the inlet tube. Flipping the cylinder over and putting the inlet at the top should improve your performance.
> 
> ...


Yes, in hindsight I should have built it that way. If I built one again I'd build it with the inlet at the top. This way, a little dust hangs up at the top until I turn the vac off, but that seems to be the only downside, the dust ends up where is't supposed to and it has plenty of suction, so it will probably stay this way.


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## kb7kuh (Aug 17, 2018)

I saw this on E-Bay. Fairly cheep so I will give it a try.


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## pro70z28 (Feb 26, 2018)

Got a start on the Vac upgrade for the CNC. The paying job got in the way though so this is all the progress I made.


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## OldDon (Feb 19, 2018)

Mad said:


> OldDon... do you mind posting some photos of your old saw and the first and second stages of dust extraction you have made for it?



Sorry for the long delay - life got in the way.


Here's a couple of jpg's of the opening with my saw removed. I made the hole in the particle board about 20 years ago when I first bought the saw and installed the dust chute kit from Sears. There's a flat plastic piece (not shown) that's supposed to go on the back of the saw to close off the large opening. The kit was made for newer saws and so the plastic plate doesn't work on my saw. I'm adding a H.F. caster kit so I can roll the saw around. Then I hope to improve how the dust drops into the chute. At present there's a large lip under the saw (see saw outline) that still collects too much sawdust.


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