PM2000 blade guard dust collection

[Mark Beall]

Please don't laugh too hard when you see the pictures, it's just a proof of concept :o

I'm in the process of redoing my shop and today while I was figuring out how to layout pipe for my new dust collector, which I hopefully will install soon, it struck me that it would be nice to have dust collection built into the blade guard on my saw.

I have a PM2000 saw and I do like the blade guard on it, you can leave it on for just about anything that is a through cut and it really doesn't get in the way. So, although I could go with one the replacement blade guards that has dust collection, I don't have any issues with it other than that.

The guard has a little window (about 7" by 3/4") on the top, which I guess is to be able to line up cuts with the guard in place, however I rarely do that (if I don't really care, I just use the measurement on the fence, if I do really care, I get the guard out of the way to see where the blade will really cut - window isn't generally that clean).

So I figured, hmmm, I wonder if I could hook up to where that window is and suck dust from there. Interestingly if you take a 4" duct and squeeze it down to 3/4", it's almost exactly the length of that opening, but I couldn't figure out how to attach that.

So I made what you see here (assuming I can figure out how to post a picture). The "riser" is the height it is so that the sides of the guard can still go high enough to clear the fence (which I find very useful). The transition from the riser to the 4" pipe is a little abrupt, but like I said, this is just an idea.

So, does it work? It actually seems to. I did a couple test cuts with the (old) DC hooked up just to this (not also to the port on the saw) and there wasn't any dust on the table after the cut.

So, I guess I posting this to see if anyone has done something similar, or maybe just to get a few laughs

mark
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[Lewis Cobb]

Hi Mark -

That thing does look a bit unconventional but hey, if it's sucking up the dust who cares :) One thought I had was does it reef too hard on one side of the blade guard with the weight of the hose etc. i.e. twisting the blade guard any ?

I have a PM2000 and have been pondering the over-blade dust collection for when I get a DC system set up and I have been thinking about the shark guard type of setup, but this does provide more food for thought. Keep us posted of the developments on this.

Cheers,
Lewis

[Mark Beall]

Hi Lewis,

It didn't seem that it was bending the support for the blade guard at all - it's a pretty beefy piece of metal. I'd probably suspend the hose from the ceiling to take most of the weight off if I decide that this isn't a really bad idea :)

One thing I did notice is that there was enough airflow that the part of the guard that comes down in the front was sucked up to the top of the guard when the DC was on. I was thinking that I'd put a couple of "bumps" on the bottoms of the side guards to let some air in there and see if that works better. Might need a spring behind that front part of the guard....

Next prototype will probably have a smoother transition between the guard and the hose, as soon as I figure out how to do that.

mark