Downdraft Sanding on a Table Saw

[Bill McDermott]

A-Haa! The light bulb went on and I decided to share with you. I wanted to build a simple, portable, downdraft sanding table that took advantage of my dust collector. And there was the SS Table Saw with the overarm hose for the blade guard....

So, I made a simple box and cut out a hole to match the throat plate on the bottom, and perforations on the top. I added a couple tight fitting miter slot cleats. It sets right in place and does not move around.

I removed the throat plate so the dust collector pulls air and dust down and away. The overarm hose connects very elegantly to my sander.

I use a piece of "woven" rubber rug underliner to hold the work piece in place, without disrupting the airflow much.

No doubt the design could be much more effective. But this works!

I bought a $10.00 pack of culled wood from Lowe's which included all this (warped and twisted) lumber and much more. It took a couple hours to screw, glue and shellac this quick and easy project together.

Now to get back at the ash panels that promted me to solve the sanding predicament.

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[jerry nazard]

Bill,

I like it! Did you need to block any of the usual openings in the cabinet?

-Jerry

[Lornie McCullough]

Very thoughtful set up.... and looks like it would be easy to store when using the saw.....

I like it.

Lornie

[Rick Potter]

Bill,

Submit this idea to Woodsmith magazine RIGHT NOW, before someone steals it and gets published. I have taken mags for 30 years, and this idea is original as far as I can remember. Woodsmith paid me cash for one of my plans, they love this typle project, and I am sure several other mags would also love this project.

Great idea, a real forehead slapper. Why didn't I think of that?

Rick Potter

[John Coloccia]

Well shoot...that's clever. Does it work well?

[Bill Huber]

Really nice, I can see how that would work great in my shop, that is if I had a good DC unit and just just a shop vac, I may still try it.

[Bill McDermott]

Rick - You are thoughtful indeed. Nevertheless, I'm reallly only interested in the free exchange of ideas here. If anyone would like to take the idea and run with it as a magazine suggestion - go for it. I'm so very far in debt to all the great information gleaned from this site.

Jerry - No, I did not seal anything. In fact, the culled lumber was so twisted and warped that there are gaps in the sanding table itself. I just enjoyed slapping it together. After all, the whole idea is to have air sucking dust in through holes here and there.

John - It works. When using the electric sander I see no trace of dust anywhere. When using 150 grit on a block, I get some dust falling off the workpiece, on to the table top, but none floating around in the air -- that I can see. To test, I clapped my dusty hands together above the table top. At three feet, it's as if the system was not there. Just a cloud. At two feet, the dust gently floats down and into the table. Below one foot, it goes right into the table. It's not like a vacuum, but there is definitely a current.

Bill - I am blessed with a good dust collector. So, I'm not sure how a shop vac will work. I regret that I did not take more care to build it as a dead flat torsion box. That would serve dual purposes and might give you at least some utility as an assembly table if your airflow is not adequate.

One other thing I noticed in use is that you need to reach a bit. It's not at all a problem, rather room for improvement. You're essentially working over the throat plate. If someone builds one, they might consider steering the air toward the front of the table so the work can be closer to hand.

[Brian Kincaid]

Even better if that were the wing of your TS. I have tossed around the idea of a down draft table as the outfeed extension of my tracksaw table. Nice design!

-Brian

[Larry Browning]

Even better if that were the wing of your TS. I have tossed around the idea of a down draft table as the outfeed extension of my tracksaw table. Nice design!

-Brian
I think the whole idea is to use the throat plate of the TS as the DC port. Putting it anywhere else.... well it wouldn't be this idea.


Bill,
BTW: I love this idea! Especially if you have limited space.
BTW#2: In my mind you should be the only one to submit this idea to Woodsmith. Just because you send it in to them does not mean they own it. You can still share it with all of us and any one else for free. You should get credit for such a creative idea.

[Brian Kincaid]

I think the whole idea is to use the throat plate of the TS as the DC port. Putting it anywhere else.... well it wouldn't be this idea.... You should get credit for such a creative idea.

Larry,
I understand, I was just pointing out that with a simple blast gate you would not need to store the downdraft table somewhere. It would always be available and 'set up'. I haven't seen anyone with a TS wing downdraft table. Lots of router tables though.
I agree that credit should go to the creative idea's originator.
-Brian

[Larry Browning]

Brian,
What I like about this is the simplicity of the whole thing. No need to make any modifications to your saw. You can just build this out of scrap stuff laying around the shop. No mods to the DC system or the table saw. This could probably be made in one evening just messin around. Easy Peezy. About the only thing different I would do is make the top out of peg board. Maybe enlarge some of the holes in the peg board.

The best ideas are the really simple ones.

[Matt McColley]

I think this is a really great idea....

[Brian Kent]

Excellent!

[keith denbesten]

Like it a lot.

[george wilson]

For many years,I have just taken the throat plate out of the table saw,and sanded close to the opening with the dust collector on. I usually make things the size of a guitar back,or smaller(generally),so it has worked fine for me.My saw is from 1963,and no trouble from the bearings,etc. from the sanding dust that might contain abrasive dust. It just gets sucked right down the throat and straight into the 6" collection pipe.

Being as near as possible to the open throat has worked well for me. I just orient the wood to sand close to it.

[Myk Rian]

I made a sanding table that fits on top of my router table. Take out the router insert, and clamp the sanding table on top of it.