# DeWalt dw744



## Steve27205 (May 6, 2018)

Does anybody know the best way to dust proof a DW744 table saw. I have a cyclone dust collector hooked up to the blade discharge but I am still getting sawdust everywhere from all the openings.

Steve27205


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Try a shop vac instead*

A typical table saw with all the slots and holes and an open bottom, is very difficult to extract the dust from. Your saw however, has a shroud around the blade with a 2 1/2" outlet for a shop vac. Instead of trying to extract the dust from the entire cabinet ... almost impossible, the shroud concentrates the suction. Theoretically, it should work just fine, but I don't think the cyclone has enough velocity to work properly, where as a shop vac will have that greater velocity. Try it.

https://youtu.be/WTLxRPn_hv0?t=181


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## Steve27205 (May 6, 2018)

My shop-vac is hooked up to the blade shroud. I guess my question should have been “can I seal off the openings so the sawdust drops down into a enclosed recepticale


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

Steve, I have the discontinued DW746 saw hooked up to HF 2 1/2" dust collection. Although the Dust collector had improved the mess created under the saw it still requires that I vacuum underneath and around the saw after using. I often thought about trying to enclose the area around the blade guard under the saw to limit some of the open space around the guard. The problem I see with doing this is, because the guard swings with the blade, so whatever is used...has to be flexible/very durable, yet allowing good airflow in order to work. I would also be interested in what others have done, and how much improvement was realized for their effort.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Here's my 'theory"*



Steve27205 said:


> My shop-vac is hooked up to the blade shroud. I guess my question should have been “can I seal off the openings so the sawdust drops down into a enclosed recepticale


You can't entirely seal off the cabinet, you need air flow. Sawdust which is not in the airflow stream will fall to the ground or into the cabinet bottom. It is now difficult, if not impossible to suck up because it's not in the air stream. 

In order to evacuate a saw cabinet you need gobs of air flow CFMs, which shop dust collectors can't make, not enough HP and not large enough impellers to move that much air. The more you seal off the cabinet, the more you restrict the air flow. Seal it off too well, and you could theoretically collapse the cabinet IF you can enough power/vacuum. 

Capture as much dust from right around the blade by enclosing it with plastic, cardboard, sheet metal and tape. You can always make a over the blade suction cover. I have experimented with this approach and it does work well. I used a separate shop vac for mine and the Jet 1 1/2 HP dust collector from below. I can never get all the dust from the corners of the cabinet. This is tough to do..... :|


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

My table saw is somewhat similar in that it has a shrouded blade connected to a 2 1/2" vac port. It has an open bottom and the blade vac port moves with the saw blade in tilting. I closed off all of the openings in the saw cabinet except the blade throat and the front quadrant where the tilt/elevation wheel protrude through the cabinet. For the bottom, I made a belly pan to close off the bottom and it has a 1 1/2" port for cleanout. I made it from corrugated cardboard and hot melt glue. For the back of the cabinet where the big port sticks out, I made an articulated cover to close off that quadrant. It's made from 1/4" plywood. My ShopVac has plenty of draw to collect nearly everything the saw produces. Here's some pictures of the two items.


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

Nice solution Jim.


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## Jim Frye (Aug 24, 2016)

gmercer_48083 said:


> Nice solution Jim.


Thanks. The cardboard belly pan was a mockup to see if the shape would work. It did the job so well, I never got around to making one from sheet metal. I ended up soaking the cardboard with 50/50 polyurethane until it was completely saturated. Then I sprayed it silver to more closely match the saw cabinet and stand. That was over 20 years ago and it still looks like the pictures.


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## _Ogre (Feb 1, 2013)

pretty ingenious jim


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