# Using a shop vac for table saw dust control?



## ChuckBarnett (Jan 5, 2013)

Once again I post a question and thereby reveal my ignorance. I am in a pretty tight situation with 250 square feet to work with for a shop. I I think that a shop vacuum would be a slick way to control dust from my Powermatic 65 table saw. I could slip it under the right side extension table and plum it's two and a half inch hose into the 4 inch dust port out the back. I have no idea if this is effective for dust control. Any experience out there? 

Otherwise, I will have to figure out a way to connect to dust collection which I have yet to install in the shop. I don't see a hose coming down from the ceiling as a nice thing, or a hose on the floor to trip over as what I want.

Thanks, all.


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Yes that will work well except you'll probably have to empty it daily.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*The best way is ....*

If you look at the newer job site saws, you will find a blade housing under the table. It is cast or molded to contain the entire blade but allow for height and angle adjustments. This is the best way to collect the dust from a table saw AND to completely be efficient, an over the blade cover is also needed.

This is the general idea from an old Craftsman RAS:











The problem wityhout such a cover is you are trying to suck the air out of too large a compartment, the result being no efficiency. Cover the end of your shop vac with you hand and see how the restriction creates "more suction" apparently. The suction is actually the same, but appears to be greater when restricted. The same principle applies to the cover over the blade, under the saw. The dust will be concentrated to flow into the air stream rather than fly around inside the cabinet.


So, if your Powermatic 65 has such a system, you're all set. If it doesn't, and you want to improve it, think about how you could adapt an existing blade guard to make it work better. My Powermatic 12" Model 68 had very little under the blade containment, so I soldered one together using sheet metal, which made a vast improvement. That coupled with an over the blade suction arm made it virtually "dust free". Lot's of dust gets spit up from the blade's rotation as well as thrown down underneath. You should account for both issues.

:smile3:

FYI, shop vacs move a lesser volume of air, but at a higher velocity than a floor model dust collector, which moves a greater volume of air at a lower velocity.


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## mat 60 (Jul 9, 2012)

But does the shop vac filter gets full of fine dust fast..


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*depends ....*



mat 60 said:


> But does the shop vac filter gets full of fine dust fast..


 ?????

Are you asking that as a question? Here's what I've found. I have a shop vac connected to my radial arm saw. It collects the dust from a small box at the rear of the fence where most of the dust gets driven toward the dust port by the blade's rotation. That shop vac filter does get a lot of fine dust, but I don't have to empty it all that often, every 2 weeks or so. It seems to work fairly well even when the filter is full of dust.

I ALSO have a smaller shop vac sitting on top of the table connected to the 1 1/4" dust port on the RAS guard. These two shop vacs together get darn near all the dust that saw makes.

See at the rear of the blade where the dust has built up slightly?

 



A table saw would be quite different unless it has the blade surround under the table. The whole cabinet area would not direct as much dust to the shop vac and therefore the filter would not get as clogged as fast. The shop vac would be trying to extract the airborne dust floating around in the cabinet rather than directly discharged dust.... not as efficient.

My large Jet 1 1/2 HP DC is routed to collect dust from under the saw's sealed off bottom. There are still gaps under the table and cabinet and the holes for the tilt and height adjustments which I cover with magnetic sign material to seal them off. It does NOT get all the dust and I'm not sure why. I covered the motor opening on the side of the cabinet and even with the mag material on the other openings, I don't understand why there is not more dust collected. My saw does NOT have a blade surround under the table and that would make a huge improvement. 



Someday .... when I get around to it .... I may try modifying a blade guard like this myself... I donno?
My shop is dedicated for wood working, so there is some small amounts dust just about everywhere on horizontal surfaces or directly under the saws on the floor.

Dust collection is just about as much "luck of the draw" as actual science in my opinion. Not every solution works for every situation, since machines vary in construction and have different types and locations of dust ports.


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## Tony B (Jul 30, 2008)

I put a pegboard skirting around my table saw stand with an old drawer that slides underneath it. 
On a mid to large size shop, with decent ventilation, this is pretty much all you need. It really traps and catches LOTS of duct and chips. Much more than you would think. Sometimes I would dump it several times a day. Just pull out drawer and dump in a large garbage can. 

This set-up with a shop vac in small shop should work really well.


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Exactly!*

A dust bin under the table will "catch" a whole lot of dust and chips for sure. That's is the stuff that the shop vac didn't get and settled into the bin. That will work for most folks here, but it's not the same as "capturing" the dust which requires a whole lot of air flow. 

My set up with 3 saws coupled on the bottom with waste gates to a 4" PVC pipe is connected to the Jet and no other machines and it still doesn't work like I would expect....?


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## Sleeper (Mar 24, 2009)

I used this for years on my table saw until I bought a Harbor freight dust collector. Now I use it on my Miter saw. It works great and I do not need to clean the filter after each use.












I bought mine from Amazon, but there are other brands. http://www.amazon.com/Woodstock-W20...id=1454610234&sr=8-7&keywords=shop+vac+bucket


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## junkmansj (Oct 6, 2016)

Rockler Makes a Nice Cyclone Dust Right think I paid like $60.00


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