SCMS Dust Collection......

[Terry Hatfield]

Hey folks,

Well I have been working on dust collection for the new SCMS. I made many test cuts paying close attention to where the dust naturally went. Seems most of it wants to go down right behind the saw so I came up with this idea.

I bought a 4X14X6 HVAC register boot with the 6" outlet on the end. I cut off the rectangular portion of the boot and attached a couple of sheet metal wings that curve around and meet up with the back of the fence. I covered the sharp metal edges with black wire loom and ran 6" flex to the boot.

The Hitachi has a 2" dust port so I ran 4" right to that port and reduced to 2". I have 6" duct running to a 6X6X4 wye that connects this all up right after the blast gate. The 4" hose is long enough to allow the saw to go through all of it's range of motion.

This set up gets about 90% of the dust. I am still contemplating the other 10%.:D

Here are some pics.

Thanks,

Terry

[Terry Hatfield]

In this one you can see the remaining protion of the register boot and the wings.

[Terry Hatfield]

This is a closer look at the register boot and connection.

[Terry Hatfield]

This one shows the saw swung all the way to the right side so you can see the compete assembly.

[Derek Arita]

Wow! Wish I could have you look at my Makita 12" SCMS. So far, all I can think of is a 4" flex strapped to one side of the rear of the slider and 3" going to the stock dust port. Only gets about 70 to 80% though. Someone could make an absolute fortune if they could come up with some kind of molded ABS Dust hood, that attached to the rear of your miter saw, for all of the major models. For that matter, if manufacturers came up with their own, they could keep the fortune in aftermarket for themselves!

[Terry Hatfield]

Derek,

Downdrafter makes a hood that mounts on a track. The hood assy. is able to swing with the saw. Looks like a good idea but it is kinda pricey and the back of the bench would have to be away from the wall for it to work.

Since my miter bench is against the wall and I'm way too cheap to pay that much for a dust collection hood........:D

Check it out here if you are interested.

http://www.downdrafter.com/

Thanks,

Terry

[Steve Clardy]

That style would probably work better than what I have now, if the sides were raised as far as they could be raised. The dewalt slider likes to spit the dust off the lower half of the blade, both sides. The 1 1/4" factory collector on it is useless, up way to far. I had to hooked to a 2" hose, going to 4", and I don't think it removed anything. Will keep this in mind, looks good.
Keep us up to date Terry.
Steve

[Jim DeLaney]

Terry,
I think that if you raised the sides of your 'dam' up to the bottom of the slider arms, you'd get 8 of the other 10 percent. A downside to that might be the hindrance to the tilt mechanism, though...

[Terry Hatfield]

Jim and Steve,

That is the trouble. The sides can not be any higher and still allow the full bevel. Probably won't use that feature of the saw very often but I was trying to design around it anyway.

I am happy with the collector as is. It does about a good as one could expect. I was cutting a bunch of mdf today and it got almost 100% of that.

Thanks,

Terry

[Joe Tonich]

Terry,

What if you put a piece of rubber sheeting over the top of the "dam"? Wouldn't it flex enough to still use all the features of the saw yet hold more of the dust? Just a thought.

Joe

[Terry Hatfield]

Joe,

Hmmm... interesting. I will have to give that a try.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Terry

[Dr. Zack Jennings]

The Downdrafter System is now $249. That seems pricey for a piece of plastic. But.... You get way more than a piece of plastic. There is a lot more to this system than a casual look at thier site will show.

There is a heavy metal track and a rotational base on the Shroud. A good review and better photos are at this site:

<center>[Link]Wood Shop Demos (http://www.woodshopdemos.com/nprod-4.htm) [Link]</center>
I don't know of any other shroud manufactured for this purpose. It really looks like an engineer designed and tested it. Most shop made shrouds do their best to get into the way of the dust. Many shop made solutions are very inventive. The Downdraft is molded around the saw port.

It fits all mitersaws but doesn't fit all miter benches. It attaches to the back of the bench and has no attachment to the saw. Therefore, the distance your saw mounts from the back of the bench is critical. Your guide fence and saw may need to be relocated.

Is Your Miter Bench Built in against the wall? If so, you might have to rebuild the Bench or forget this deal. I'm still designing my Miter Bench and I like the looks and the price of the Downdrafter.

Making Miter Cuts: When you move the CMS to the right, the back of the saw moves left. You must physically move the Downdrafter Shroud to the left along a track and lock it down. Then you have to rotate the shroud towards the back of the saw and lock it down. You don't just swing the saw and cut !

[Terry Hatfield]

Zack,

I had studied John's review and the Downdrafter site extensively. I understand how it works, I just didn't go into a bunch of detail on my reply. I thought about designing something similar but I simply do not have the room necessary for such a system.

The Downdrafter looks well engineered and I'm sure it works great. I'm just not going to do a major retrofit of that area of my shop for it.

My MS bench is against the wall and the jointer is right in front of it with already minimum clearance. My router table/planer bench is right behind the jointer. In order to make the Downdrafter work I would end up moving some of these items to another spot, changing duct work and redesigning my MS bench. Not happening.

I posted the Downdrafter link so anyone intersted could evaluate the system for themselves......and like I said before....I'm just plain cheap. My solution works and I have $6 invested in it. I also really enjoy designing and building and sometimes redesigning and rebuilding:) my own hoods and such for my shop DC system.

In no way did I mean to infer that the Downdrafter was not a good product or that what I built was better. It simply does not fit in my shop or budget.

Thanks,

Terry

[Dr. Zack Jennings]

I like your system & I like you...Terry. I hope to meet you someday. My observation that the Downdrafter was cheezy lookin' wuz nothing you said. I've studied previous posts on many forums & saw that sort of comment. My first look at the Downdrafter site didn't impress me. (All I saw was the Plastic Shroud) The more I looked into it, the more I found out. The Woodshop Demo site was the best explanation & the best photographs.

I wouldn't get a Downdrafter if I had to tear out an existing miter bench. I'm just looking for a solution for my shop. I've been thinking about it for a long time. Your recent research into Dust Collection has me thinking about it even more.

I wish I had your skills for fabricating all that stuff. I would give a lot more than $6 to solve my problem. My current Miter Saw bench is temporary until I finish the shop walls. I was planning a 16' built in bench. I even bought Norm's plan over a year ago. All I know is: I use my CMS a lot and it's messy.