Jeff Sudmeier
02-15-2005, 8:29 AM
I have a Craftsman Jobsite table saw. I really like this table saw. Sometime I would like to upgrade it to a cabinet saw, but for now, it does the jobs I ask of it well. The one job that it does NOT do well, is to collect the dust it makes. It has a stock dust port, but that only gets about 80% of the dust. The rest of the dust escapes around the blade guard and out the bottom of the saw.
In order to improve the dust collection on the saw, I needed to seal up the “cabinet” of the saw, and collect the dust at the source, from around the blade. <O:p
The first step was to seal up the “cabinet” of the saw. To do this, I took the saw off of it’s base and cut a piece of ½ inch plywood to fit the base. The next step was to seal up the rest of the cabinet. The top of the saw has about a ½ inch gap between the table and the cabinet. To seal this gap, I used a generous amount of duct tape. I used duct tape, because I was not sure how it would work. It worked great! If the tape starts to fail, I will use the foam insulation sold in cans. Any opening in the saw was sealed with duct tape.
Finally, I cut a 4 inch hole in the plywood and attached ½ of a blast gate to the bottom of the plywood. To that, I attached 4” flex pipe. There is a TON of suction down through the insert in the table. I am really happy with the suction. <O:p
You can see the back of the table saw here. If you look closely, you can see the 4” hose running out from the bottom of the saw.
http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albut49/100_7830.sized.jpg
In order to improve the dust collection on the saw, I needed to seal up the “cabinet” of the saw, and collect the dust at the source, from around the blade. <O:p
The first step was to seal up the “cabinet” of the saw. To do this, I took the saw off of it’s base and cut a piece of ½ inch plywood to fit the base. The next step was to seal up the rest of the cabinet. The top of the saw has about a ½ inch gap between the table and the cabinet. To seal this gap, I used a generous amount of duct tape. I used duct tape, because I was not sure how it would work. It worked great! If the tape starts to fail, I will use the foam insulation sold in cans. Any opening in the saw was sealed with duct tape.
Finally, I cut a 4 inch hole in the plywood and attached ½ of a blast gate to the bottom of the plywood. To that, I attached 4” flex pipe. There is a TON of suction down through the insert in the table. I am really happy with the suction. <O:p
You can see the back of the table saw here. If you look closely, you can see the 4” hose running out from the bottom of the saw.
http://www.woodworkersweb.com/modules/gallery/albums/albut49/100_7830.sized.jpg