Have you added extra dust collection ports to your bandsaw?

[Mike Dowell]

I've got a Laguna 14/12(honestly, I liked my grizzly go555lx better)(not sure why I needed to voice that... weird...) and as any of you who have this saw would know, there is only one 4" port at the bottom section. I have seen people online add another 4" tube to the section just below the table on the front side of the blade, AND a smaller hose hanging down the guide rail, just above the blade and work piece. Any of you doing this? Good idea? Overkill?

http://www.thewoodnerd.com/workshop/dustCollection.html

[Mike Henderson]

I haven't done anything more than stock and I get a lot of swarf that doesn't get sucked up by the DC. Meaning - the dust collection on my bandsaw is not great.

Mike

[Mike Dowell]

I haven't done anything more than stock and I get a lot of swarf that doesn't get sucked up by the DC. Meaning - the dust collection on my bandsaw is not great.

Mike
Yeah, me too. I'm thinking of some modifications. Actually, for the Table Saw, I've seen those hoods that act as blade guards. They seem to work well, but I don't use anything over the blade because I like to see what I'm doing.

[Bruce Wrenn]

On my 14" Delta, I use a 4" port under table where tiny little port used to be. Collects most of the dust. No cutting of saw required, only adding Rockler blast gate brackets and a 4" sch 20 sewer tee, one side of which is capped off with a butter container lid. Good enough to win "Top Tip" in Wood Magazine several years back.

[Randy Heinemann]

The 4" dust port on my Rikon is low on the right hand side and missed a lot of dust. I now use a 4" / 2 1/2" Y-connection. The 4" is connected to the standard port on the Rikon and the 2 1/2" is connected to a segmented duct which is part of a kit sold by Peach Tree which is designed for drill press dust collection. The other end is connected to my cyclone dust collector. I use the flat end that comes with the kit wedge right under the table insert in the saw's table. I get a much larger percentage of the dust because it's more efficient to grab the dust right below the insert as it comes off the saw blade.

[Rod Sheridan]

I made a cardboard box that is under the table, held on by bungee cords, very high tech :D

regards, Rod.

[Al Weber]

I have a 1412 and find the dust collection through the single port is fine. I previously had an 18" Rikon with two ports that was much less efficient at dust collection. One thing I have noticed is that you need to use the sliding L-shaped panel that fits up against the bottom of the table to get maximum collection efficiency. If left in the down position which is necessary to open the lower compartment, I get much more dust inside the lower compartment.

[John K Jordan]

...I previously had an 18" Rikon with two ports that was much less efficient at dust collection....

Mike (and Al),

I didn't have to add a port, but I can describe how my bandsaw dust collection is configured and how it works.

I have the 18" Rikon and the dust collection is amazing with both dry and wet wood. (I process a lot of green wood into turning blanks.) The Rikon has a 4" port at the bottom and another one angling up just below the lower guides. Nothing accumulates in the cabinet.

Any discussion of dust pickup effectiveness should probably mention the dust collector itself. Maybe what makes mine work so well is the possible over-capacity of my DC - a 5hp ClearVue cyclone with 6" ducts. I have only one blast gate open at once. The suction is incredible.

I split the 6" duct right at the bandsaw into three 4" ducts - one to the bottom port, one to the angled port, and one free 4" flex that I position as needed on top the table (and hold in place with a magnet). This works very well and as mentioned leaves no dust in the cabinet.

I did get a little spray of dust from just below the table so I made a shroud from cardboard, held to the bottom of the table with magnets. The back is open which tends to direct airflow towards the upper port. The prototype test shroud worked so well and I am so lazy I've not yet followed through with my plan to make a permanent one from clear plastic. The upper port is immediately below the cardboard.
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I devised this cardboard shroud years ago when still using a shop vac and it improved things then. With the cyclone it works far better.

I use the free length of flex (the kind that keeps it's position) on top the table to pick up dust thrown from the side of the blade when making skimming cuts. Otherwise, all the dust from the blade goes down and is removed there.

JKJ

[Grant Wilkinson]

I have a Craftex 14" (similar to Grizzley) and it came with 2 ports, one near the top of the bottom wheel and one at the bottom. I blocked off the one at the top of the bottom wheel and made a shroud similar to JKJ's out of 1/4" mdf. It's held in place around the bottom guides with disc magnets, and comes out to a 2" port. I run that and the one from the stock configuration through a Y, then a 4" flex from that to the DC. I get pretty much no dust at the bottom of the lower door.

[John TenEyck]

What John said. You need a lot of flow to do a good job. It doesn't matter how many ports you have if you don't have enough flow. It took over 800 cfm before I got good results on my new Grizzly.

John

[Bill Dufour]

For whatever reason bandsaw brushes for woodsaws have no moving parts but for metal cutting bandsaws they use a rotating wheel brush. I would think any kind of brush would help kick the dust up so it can be sucked away rather then sticking to the blade by static electricity.
Bill

[Matthew Hills]

Rob cosman has a video recommending under-table dust collection attached to shop vac:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut_tqnqrRww

do your grizzly and laguna have different table heights? I do feel that lower tables help with resaw, but also feel less personal.

Matt

[Doug Garson]

Rob cosman has a video recommending under-table dust collection attached to shop vac:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut_tqnqrRww

do your grizzly and laguna have different table heights? I do feel that lower tables help with resaw, but also feel less personal.

Matt
I have an Asian clone of a 14" Delta bandsaw which has no dust collection. The lower enclosure is not even close to being air tight, there are large gaps between the removable panel and the fixed part. Adding a dust port to the enclosure would be futile. I saw the Rob Cosman video and tried his approach, it works extremely well with my shop vac. Basically you are collecting the dust as close to the source as possible rather than trying to suck it out of the enclosure.

[John K Jordan]

For whatever reason bandsaw brushes for woodsaws have no moving parts but for metal cutting bandsaws they use a rotating wheel brush. I would think any kind of brush would help kick the dust up so it can be sucked away rather then sticking to the blade by static electricity.
Bill

I have brushes in my two wood-cutting bandsaws, either they came that way or I've added them. (I cut pieces from a small, stiff scrub brush for the Delta.) I find the brushes are especially helpful when cutting a lot of green wood to minimize buildup of gunk on the tires and blade. I still have problems with my WoodMizer sawmill when cutting resinous pine so I think a brush or two would help there.

JKJ

[Alan Lightstone]

i have a Laguna 14SUV with two 4" ports connected to a 5HP Oneida cyclone. Clearly should be sufficient. Yet, there always is a pile of sawdust in the bottom door. The top never seems to get any sawdust. So, using the stock design with huge dust collection gets most but certainly not all the sawdust in the bottom cabinet.

I'm always vacuuming up the table though.

[John TenEyck]

i have a Laguna 14SUV with two 4" ports connected to a 5HP Oneida cyclone. Clearly should be sufficient. Yet, there always is a pile of sawdust in the bottom door. The top never seems to get any sawdust. So, using the stock design with huge dust collection gets most but certainly not all the sawdust in the bottom cabinet.

I'm always vacuuming up the table though.

It doesn't matter how big your DC is if you don't have air flow, and to have air flow you have to have some openings for air to come into the saw. Try leaving the lower door open a little to see if that improves things. If it does then you can figure out how to add some permanent openings.

John

[Chris Parks]

It doesn't matter how big your DC is if you don't have air flow, and to have air flow you have to have some openings for air to come into the saw. Try leaving the lower door open a little to see if that improves things. If it does then you can figure out how to add some permanent openings.

John

There ought to be sticky concerning this as it seems to be asked a lot so obviously the message is not widely known. It is surprising that most people think that air leaks are detrimental when the opposite is true and they help. When it is explained you either get looks of disbelief or a look that says the light bulb just got turned on. The air inlet has to be at least 1.5 times the extraction port BTW. The point about the effectiveness of the dust extractor is frequently overlooked, there is no way a 1hp DE is going to do the same job as a 5hp one will.

[Steve Peterson]

I have an 18" saw with a single 4" port in the lower cabinet. The door has an 1/8" gap all around to allow good air flow. The bottom of the cabinet still collects a layer of dust that needs to be swept up occasionally.

I added a second 4" port under the table and built a wooden enclosure to direct most the suction towards the blade. I helps a little bit. The original port probably does most of the work.

Steve

[Jim Finn]

I have a Grizzly GO555 that has only one 4" exhaust port at the lower wheel. I added a 4" port just under the table. The 2 HP Dust collector with a 6" duct split into two 4" at this saw does not do the job. Too much sawdust still ejected above the table. I have given up and just use the 4" inlet that the saw came with and sweep up after I use this saw for re-sawing.

[Kevin McCluney]

I added a 4" port to the door over the lower wheel on my 14" Delta to augment the 2 1/2" port on the side by the lower guides. However, adding a zero-clearance, angled deflector out of wood just below the lower guides, similar to what's found on newer saws, to shunt the dust to the side port made a much bigger difference than the added 4" port. I ran the saw with the DC on the 4" port and a shop vacuum on the side port and the dust collection was pretty good, but not great. Last week I bought an 18" Rikon that has two 4" ports - one on the rear in the lower corner and one on the side by the lower guides. This saw has the deflector, plus a brush on the lower wheel. I've run some oak and poplar through the new saw just to test it out and the dust collection is far better than my modified Delta. Very little dust collects in the lower housing and almost none rides the blade around to shower down from above the cut.

[John K Jordan]

...Last week I bought an 18" Rikon that has two 4" ports - one on the rear in the lower corner and one on the side by the lower guides. ...Very little dust collects in the lower housing and almost none rides the blade around to shower down from above the cut.

Kevin, My experience as well. If you find you still get some dust spraying out from the lower guides towards the floor such as I did, if you didn't see it already maybe take a look at the message I posted earlier in this thread with the title 18" Rikon collection.

JKJ

[Chris Parks]

Most bandsaws need multiple pick ups, the cabinet, over the table and under the table being generally used. To use that many means you want a very capable dust extractor.

[James Gunning]

Added an under table pick-up to my Jet 18'. A manifold made from MDF, an HVAC fitting and some PVC pipe. Manifold outlet is 6", it fits over the stock 4" port in the lower wheel housing. Better airflow and pickup than just the 4" port by itself and it keeps the area under the table clean.

[Michael Roberts]

Yes, I had a metal worker friend cut a hole in each door of my MM24 for a 5" hose. They work so well, I don't even hook up the factory ~4" port anymore! I opted for placing them in the doors rather than on the backside of the machine so the flange could mount from the inside. The prospect of pulling wheels didn't appeal to me at all.

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[glenn bradley]

I don't even use the bottom port anymore.

A simple box to enclose the general area under the table. Magnet keep it put.

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A closer throat near the top port.

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A sheet magnet over the bottom port.

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