Powermatic PM2000 Table Saw Cabinet filling with dust

[Glen Butler]

I have tried a few different approaches to keep the dust from filling the cabinet of my PM2000 with little success. Now after seeing how clean the cabinet of my friends Delta is, I am a little frusterated. His cabinet has a pretty good slope inside to get the dust to the port. Mine is fairly flat but needs to be for the large 5hp motor to fit. Has anyone found improvements? Over time the dust just get so heavy inside it gums up the tilt mechanism.

[Chris Parks]

I have never seen your saw but check that the extractor is being supplied with enough air by removing the hose from the saw while the dust extractor is still running. if it speeds up it is not receiving enough air flow through the cabinet and you need to create that flow by openings within the cabinet. No air flow means no dust removal, pretty simple really. A zero clearance insert will restrict the air flow and this is often overlooked. You might simply have a blockage in the air ducting somewhere as well.

[Frank Drew]

Good point from Chris. Inside-the-cabinet geometry can affect dust extraction, but even if it collects inside, that's better than all over the shop, and it's easy enough to stick your dust collector or vacuum hose inside for a periodic cleaning.

[Jason White]

FWIW, some of the reviews I've read about this saw mentioned poor dust collection performance when connected to a DC.

Perhaps a solution might be to install a piece of wood, cardboard, sheet metal, etc. inside the cabinet slanting toward the dust port.

Jason


I have tried a few different approaches to keep the dust from filling the cabinet of my PM2000 with little success. Now after seeing how clean the cabinet of my friends Delta is, I am a little frusterated. His cabinet has a pretty good slope inside to get the dust to the port. Mine is fairly flat but needs to be for the large 5hp motor to fit. Has anyone found improvements? Over time the dust just get so heavy inside it gums up the tilt mechanism.

[Paul Ryan]

I have tried a few different approaches to keep the dust from filling the cabinet of my PM2000 with little success. Now after seeing how clean the cabinet of my friends Delta is, I am a little frusterated. His cabinet has a pretty good slope inside to get the dust to the port. Mine is fairly flat but needs to be for the large 5hp motor to fit. Has anyone found improvements? Over time the dust just get so heavy inside it gums up the tilt mechanism.


Glen,

How old is your pm2000, as far as I know it should have a blade shroud and a hose going to the port on the outside of the cabinet. If that is missing it would cause you issues. I know for sure all new pm2000's, come with the blade shroud and hose and no sloped cabinet. If it does have the hose and shroud, I would check the hose to make sure it isn't plugged. If that plugs up there really isn't any where for the dust to escape. I cut some dado's once with out my dc running but the hose attached and the internal hose plugged up.

[Leo Vogel]

The hose on my PM2000 that connects to the shroud around the saw blade is always coming off. Look at it and be sure it is still connected. It will fill the cabinet quickly if it is disconnected.

[Glen Butler]

Well I know the dust collector is good, as it keeps my 20" planer, and 8" jointer clean. I have tried dust collection with and without the shroud and with and without the cabinet hose. While it was better with the shroud and hose, it still was not great. Sounds like the PM2000 is just notorious for poor dust collection. I also doesn't help that they neck the hose down to 2 1/2". I will try cracking the cabinet door to see if more air flow helps. I seems that cabinet should have enough holes to pull air through already though.

[Jeff Monson]

Glen, I have the same issue with my pm2000, the lower part of the cabinet will get quite a bit of dust built up. Any dust that gets past the shroud will not get extracted and settle on the bottom of the cabinet.
I've just learned to live with it and every now and then I clean it out.

I'd sure be interested in hearing from anyone that has cured this issue though.

[Tom Hintz]

I had to twist the inner hose from the shroud to the outlet on my PM2000 a little to keep it from coming off when I raised and lowered the blade. But once I twisted it that little bit, it has stayed in place.
I also get some dust in the cabinet but not much. I stick the DC hose in there every other month or so and that takes care of it.

[Glen Butler]

I am in there pretty much every week. I guess it is just something I will have to live with. When cleaning up for the weekend I will just make that part of the regimen.

[Mark Beall]

I've seen a fair amount of dust in the bottom of my PM2000, a problem is that if the dust isn't caught in the blade shroud, then it can't be collected. I've considered drilling a new hole in the back, routing the flexhose from the shroud to that opening and splitting the 6" DC line to the saw to both places. Not sure if that would help or not.

mark

[Chris Parks]

Is it possible to build a sloping floor in the cabinet ala other saws? I sometimes wonder how much product testing actually occurs in some cases, in this one obviously very little.

[Andrew Schlosser]

I currently have a 4" hose to my shroud on my Sawstop, and it does a decent job of grabbing dust. In light of my recent inspiration to improve the shop dust control, I am seriously considering opening it up to a 6". I would guess that 2.5" does not move enough air/air at speed, particularly at the end of a 30' run of wye's and corrugated pipe to collect dust.

[Lance Norris]

I guess it is just something I will have to live with.
Glen... I disagree... My Delta cabinet saw had very poor collection until I did this mod. Now, its awesome...

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=76571

[Karl Brogger]

When it fills up, it creates a slope of its own. Unless you are really hammering through the material, then you're screwed. On the other hand look at it this way, the more that stays in the cabinet, the less you have to empty out of the dust collector.

[Kevin Groenke]

The sawstop cabinet saw suffers from a similar affliction. Definitely an oversight to design a shroud, but than provide NO means to capture dust from areas outside the shroud.

I adapted the port on the SS to a 5" which provides suction to the 4" hose to the shroud and to the base of the cabinet.
http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=836014#post836014

It's better, but still not great. The next step is to put a round-to-square transition so the the cabinet exhaust is level with the floor of the cabinet.

kg

[Glen Butler]

Glen... I disagree... My Delta cabinet saw had very poor collection until I did this mod. Now, its awesome...

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=76571


Thanks for posting this, I would have never thought to cut a hole in my saw. I will definitely look into this.

[Chris Parks]

If it were mine the original dust port would be left in the cabinet as an air inlet. I would then put a six inch port into the cabinet elsewhere but you may only be using 4 inch so put one of those in. The aim of leaving the original port as an inlet is to allow plenty of air INTO the cabinet, without air in air can't be drawn out and the air speed will slow down. Slow air speed means no pick up and you get the problem you have. Air speed + volume is god when it comes to dust collectors. In a case like this if you don't move it as it is produced the saw dust will compact and it won't ever be picked up.