Improving dust collection on TS

[Chris Fite]

I have a vintage Delta 10" tilting arbor cabinet saw. I am wondering if anyone can give me some guidance on sealing/converting the saw for dust collection. In the past, I have had a pickup overhead with the Biesemeyer sawguard with the rest of the cabinet sealed so that the remainder simply fell out onto the floor through the large opening in the lower left side.

Although this worked reasonably well with my home-built dust collector, I am upgrading to a Gorilla in my new shop. I hope that it is possible to seal the saw so that I don't have sawdust on the floor. I have learned that the epoxy coating on the floor is slick when dusted with sawdust.

[Jim Becker]

1) Install a dust extraction port on your saw cabinet in a location that is convenient for you...in the back or under the extension table is usually where folks do this. Most folks recommend a 6" port at this point
2) Put a floor in the saw cabinet and slope it towards your dust extraction port
3) Install a motor cover
4) Do NOT seal up every little hole in your saw cabinet...remember, dust collection is about moving air (the air moves the material) so you have to have a source of air!

[Neal Flatley]

Chris

I have a Delta Unisaw and did exactly the 4 steps Jim Becker describes and it works fine. My bevel indicator slot, power cord enterence hole and various other holes are all left open.



Neal

[Gary McKown]

I am guilty of not always turning on the DC for every little cut, so I have a wooden box underneath (a 6-bottle wine crate actually just fit) with a piece of aluminum angle on the top to catch the back lip of the saw mounting base and a piece of spring steel bent to catch the front lip. Foam weatherstrip on top of box to seal. DC port on back of box sucks dust down and out normally, and the box catches it if DC is not on.

I sealed the back by cutting an L-shaped piece of hardboard to fit underneath and to the left of the rear motor mounts and belt, with a smaller insert on the top right with minimal cutouts for the motor mount and belt. Inserts held in place by small pieces of thin rare earth magnets scavenged from old hard drives. Only works, of course, with the blade at 90*, but is easily removed for the rare bevel cut.

This works quite well using the stock TS insert plate (larger opening), but I get some dust on the table top when using ZCIs. Only an overhead dust port would solve that.

[Jamie Buxton]

1) Install a dust extraction port on your saw cabinet in a location that is convenient for you...in the back or under the extension table is usually where folks do this. Most folks recommend a 6" port at this point
2) Put a floor in the saw cabinet and slope it towards your dust extraction port
3) Install a motor cover
4) Do NOT seal up every little hole in your saw cabinet...remember, dust collection is about moving air (the air moves the material) so you have to have a source of air!

Jim, I've always been puzzled by the common advice to leave lots of holes in the saw's cabinet. While it is true that there must be moving air to move the sawdust, wouldn't it be better if said air were collected at the dust source? You yourself recommend installing a motor cover, I think for exactly this reason.

[Jim Becker]

Jim, I've always been puzzled by the common advice to leave lots of holes in the saw's cabinet. While it is true that there must be moving air to move the sawdust, wouldn't it be better if said air were collected at the dust source? You yourself recommend installing a motor cover, I think for exactly this reason.

Very true, Jamie. But do the math...the little slot that the blade runs in is very tiny in area, even with the stock table insert. Add a zero clearance insert and it gets worse. What I was talking about are all the small openings, such as where the tilt/height wheels ride, etc. You certainly need the motor cover or you'll get too much open area. In an ideal world, the area of the openings would be about equal to the area of your port, but that's not a realistic expectation. The air flow you get from the small openings, including at the table/cabinet junction both supply air and supply it so it's moving in a direction (down) that is condusive to moving the chips and dust coming off the blade/cut to the port and out to the DC. (Which is why a shroud around the bottom of the blade is even better...unfortunately a limited number of commonly used saws have this feature)

I actually used to have a little magnetic over over the slot that the arbor tilt rode in as it improved collection with the smaller DC system that was in my shop at the time. When I upgraded to the 2hp Commercial system, I got a lot more air flow capablity and no longer need that restriction. In fact, I need the make-up air. My saw cabinet stays nearly clean now....just a little in the very corners which is pretty much expected.

[Mike Wilkins]

Suggestion #2 from Jim Becker is what I did to my 1964 Rockwell/Delta Unisaw. This saw did not have any provision for dust collection, other than waiting for the bottom of the cabinet to fill with sawdust, and shovel it out into a garbage can.
I bored a 4" diameter port in the lower rear of the cabinet, installed a plastic dust collection port, and built a 1/4" plywood ramp inside the cabinet, sloped toward the port. It is difficult to collect all the dust a saw generates, but I am able to get at least 98% of it. Beats the shovel method any day.
Hope this helps.