Older Unisaw dust collection

[Gary Radice]

I've been following closely Cary Falk's roller coaster experience with a dust collection shroud for the many older Unisaws. I've been struggling with the same problem. Dust collection is really important and a lot of us have these older machines built when that was a lower priority. Can we need to come up with retrofits or do we have to dump these otherwise great old machines to save our lungs?

What are we trying to accomplish here? To keep the inside of the cabinet free of dust and away from the gears and such, or keep the shop free of dust, or have a convenient way to stop shoveling out the cabinet base every once and awhile?

I really like the idea of capturing the dust closest to the source, but maybe we could think of the whole cabinet as the shroud. Then, the idea would be to figure out a way to keep the dust inside the cabinet, and then exhaust the cabinet. (I'm leaving out the over blade collection like the Excaliber/Shark/PSI?whatever. That is a separate but important discussion).

Here is another approach, not original to me. I added some sloped wings to guide the dust to the base to an opening in the plinth. Other folks have done it with sheet metal but I don't have those skills. On mine, the original plinth opening was in the back and had an opening which was a bit more area than 4" duct. Later I enlarged it a bit to accommodate a 5" duct and rotated the plinth 90 degrees 'cause that's where my DC ducting was. I like this solution since the port is already there, it just just needs to be enlarged a half inch on either side; it doesn't require cutting into the cabinet, just the plinth; and is at the lowest point in the base, so gravity will help. I fabricated a rectangular to round connector out of sheet metal. I have this connected to a Clearvue 1800 which has the capacity for both a 5" duct and 4" overblade duct. I don't have the overblade collector yet, but plan to get a 4" Shark Guard as finances permit to complete the setup.

I haven't used this much yet since I just last weekend finished my ducting. Just thought I would pass this on to stimulate more and even better solutions.

[Cary Falk]

What are we trying to accomplish here? To keep the inside of the cabinet free of dust and away from the gears and such, or keep the shop free of dust, or have a convenient way to stop shoveling out the cabinet base every once and awhile?

.

I don't know about anybody else, but I would like to be able to rip boards on my table saw and not have to get the air hose out to clean myself off prior to going the house. I have no problem shoveling out the inside the cabinet once a month.

[Chip Lindley]

Cabinet dust collection on a TS does nothing for the above-table dust and chips. But, over-arm blade guards with a DC connection work very well to keep the operator from being covered in sawdust.

Old Uni's with cast iron plinth do not have the luxury of any dust port. They do, however, have a sheet metal floor above the plinith to keep sawdust from spilling out the bottom of the saw. '70s Uni's could also be so-equipped very easily. A hole could be cut in the floor to connect to the plinth duct.

Any DC hookup of an older Uni requires cutting a duct hole in the cabinet--not the cast iron plinth. A false V-bottom floor helps channel dust to the center and any DC connection. As previously said, these saws were from an age when DC was not a priority.

Take a look at later Uni models of '80s onward, which did away with the front dust door, and included a steeply angled floor baffle with a side port beneath the motor opening for connection to DC. These work pretty darn well below the table!

I contend that the most effective DC on any Unisaw (below the table) is an easily detachable shroud under the blade, (ala Cary Falk) connected directly to a hose exiting the cabinet. The shroud would capture almost all sawdust as it comes off the blade, and is propelled straight down.

[glen pickren]

Gary, you will like the SharkGuard. It eliminates all of the above table dust.

I noticed you have the mobile base. Did you put blocks in the corners to raise the saw base? My mobile base covers about 2" of the dust port.