Bandsaw Dust Collection

[Lee DeRaud]

(This question has probably been beaten to death here, but the search either gives me every thread that mentions "bandsaws" or nothing. Feel free to just pass me thread pointers.)

My DC "system" (if I may overstate it somewhat) consists of a $100 5/8HP 650CFM thingie from Lowes...that's when I'm not just using my antique ShopVac. It works great on the planer and the table saw...and is pretty much useless on the bandsaw (14" Delta). I get some dust in the bag, but a truly scary amount stays in the lower housing of the saw, with a liberal sprinkling in the general vicinity. I know it's pretty near the bottom of the DC food chain, but on the other hand, it's got a short straight shot to the saw: about 4' of 4" tube.

Is this:
1. the nature of the beast (poor airflow within the bandsaw innards),
2. grossly insufficient CFM from the DC,
3. all of the above, or
4. none of the above.

I'm mostly resawing 5-6" hardwood of various species, if that makes a difference.

[Michael Gabbay]

Lee - I think it is the nature of the beast. My 17" bandsaw has 2 - 4" DC ports and I always get dust around the lower blade guides. I'm using a DC duct system hooked up to a Jet 1100 DC.

Mike

[lou sansone]

I think it depends on your saw and the dust collector. my pervious 24" italian saw was not that good on DC and I had wished for better. I have a 3 hp onieda system that is pretty decent. My new 36" american made saw does real good. I think that the biggest part of the dust collection is the saw it self. The wheels on my 36" saw are carter wheels that have ribs formed on them for strength. the byproduct seems to be a fair about of windage that tends to blow the dust around and out the ports.


lou

[Michael Perata]

Lee

I ran a Jet 1,100 CFM dust collector to my MM16 with a 4" hose and it would pull barely half the dust.

I recently upgraded to a 2 HP Onieda Com'l cyclone and now the amount of dust left in the bottom is not worth cleaning out between sessions. I run a 5" hose to the 4" connection.

[Lee DeRaud]

Secondary question: has anyone tried the Harbor Freight 2HP 1600CFM DC? Even assuming those values are 25%overstated, it looks like it matches up well with the Jet 1100, at about 20-25% less $.

Tertiary question: if the groupthink is that the HF unit is a Bad Idea, how do the Delta and Jet 1.5HP units compare?

[Tom Jones III]

It is not the DC, it is the saw. Most likely, increasing CFM is going to do almost nothing to improve collection on a bad saw. I went from a 350 (actual) CFM DC to 1400 CFM and there is virtually no difference on my band saw using the same 4" ducting.

If you really want to clean up the BS, think about the path that the dust is going to take, starting the immediately below the table. Figure out what you can do to route the dust to the DC pickup.

* Is the DC hose near the bottom of the table where the blade goes through?
* Is there any way for dust to get outside the saw enclosure?
* Does the saw guide the dust straight into the DC hose, or does the saw expect the dust to make a sharp 90* turn to get into the DC hose?
* I've experimented with building a small shelf that sits above the bottom wheel, wraps around the blade and sits just below the table. The shelf tilts from the bottom of the table to the bottom of the DC hose. It is almost impossible for dust to go anywhere except straight into the hose. I can't remember where I got the idea, but probably from looking at high quality BS at a store.

[Roy Wall]

Lee,

Look up member "Terry Hatfield".......in his profile he has his shop link. He mounted a 2x12 supply duct directly under the table ( as Tom Jones above, says..) and I believe it does a good job..... check it out...

Also, how is the sound on those portable DC units from Lowes? I neet one for my bandsaw and TS... (the fein vac is minimal help - but better than nothing..) What is the total price you have invested in that system...

I may just bite the bullet and get the $800 gorilla..........

[Lee DeRaud]

Also, how is the sound on those portable DC units from Lowes? I neet one for my bandsaw and TS... (the fein vac is minimal help - but better than nothing..) What is the total price you have invested in that system...It's actually pretty quiet, then again, it isn't moving all that much air.:mad: They're $100, plus whatever it takes for the hose: comes with a 10' piece of the cheesiest 4" hose I've ever seen.
For me, the money is less of an issue than the space. I just can't justify any kind of non-moveable DC and fixed ductwork in that garage: there's simply no good place to put it and still be able to use the garage as a garage.

[Roy Wall]

It's actually pretty quiet, then again, it isn't moving all that much air.:mad: They're $100, plus whatever it takes for the hose: comes with a 10' piece of the cheesiest 4" hose I've ever seen.
For me, the money is less of an issue than the space. I just can't justify any kind of non-moveable DC and fixed ductwork in that garage: there's simply no good place to put it and still be able to use the garage as a garage.

Thanks Lee!!

Glad to know it's quiet....
I'm with you, not really capable of installing a permant DC in the garage due to space.. This unit makes sense-- 650 cfm is actually plenty for one tool at a time...

[Dan Forman]

Lee---I have actually heard good things about the HF 2 HP dust collector on this board. Here is a link to a canister style cartridge that can be used in place of a cloth bag for that model. http://www.wynnenv.com/35A_series_cartridge_kit.htm

Don't know if that will improve things at the bandsaw though. I have seen pics of self installed DC ports at the bottom of the wheel covers which were reported to work well.

Dan

[Bernie Weishapl]

Lee--- my delta single bag unit 650 cfm came with a hood on the end of the hose. I made a wire bracket to hold the hood under the bandsaw table near the bottom guides and also under the scroll saw table. That seems to work pretty well. At least better than the dust collector port in my bandsaw and works pretty good on the scroll saw. It kinda hangs under the table. I couldn't get either my shop vac or DC to do much good otherwise on my bandsaw DC ports either.


Bernie

[Lee DeRaud]

Starting to sound like the right answer is to just tape over the "official" DC port on the saw and rig something with a straighter feed and a tighter fit, right up under the lower guides.

[Chris Padilla]

It is not the DC, it is the saw. Most likely, increasing CFM is going to do almost nothing to improve collection on a bad saw. I went from a 350 (actual) CFM DC to 1400 CFM and there is virtually no difference on my band saw using the same 4" ducting.

Tom,

I would expect little difference if you didn't increase the size of the dust outlet and the size of the pipe to the BS. Your 4" pipe is your choke point...go to 5" and you'll actually be pulling more CFM that could possibly make a difference.

[Mark Duksta]

Here are some pics of how I took care of the bandsaw. The lower port is only 2.5" in diameter. I used that plus I added a collection point right under the blade. This setup gets 99% of the dust.

Mark

[Allen Bookout]

Mark, What are the green pieces of tubing that I see? Looks like that they work well. Allen

[Mark Duksta]

Mark, What are the green pieces of tubing that I see. Looks like that they work well. Allen


That's 4" sewer and drain pipe.

[Tom Jones III]

Tom,

I would expect little difference if you didn't increase the size of the dust outlet and the size of the pipe to the BS. Your 4" pipe is your choke point...go to 5" and you'll actually be pulling more CFM that could possibly make a difference.

Definitely would get more when I go to 6" all the way. I had existing 4" so I used it until I put in new duct work. Still, with poor design in most BS, it wouldn't matter what CFM you had a poor design is going to ruin the DC every time. There is an old thread in which someone had measured actual CFM through 4" ducting and then through 6" ducting reduced right at the tool to 4" and found that it was over 700 CFM. He found that the tool design had a major impact on CFM.

BTW, the Dust Gorilla will suck a watermelon through a 4" port. It is really amazing, far more CFM than I expected through 4" ducting.