Dust Collection on table saw?

[Nicholas Dirks]

Finally got around to getting a dust collection system in my shop.

I have a grizzle cabinet saw and the base is basically just the cabinet around the motor and all the inter workings.

On the side of the cabinet the motor is closest to they have a couple of slots for the motor cooling.

Is it worth it to cover these slots, sense the dust collector is pulling a lot of air through the cabinet now?
This would also help with the dust collection, all air would be coming from around the blade?
Or would this make a dead space on the back of the cabinet and make it heat up more?

Or am I over thinking this and just need to get on to the next project?

[Nicholas Dirks]

Ok about 3 posts down Bill has a very similar question with a lot of good feed back. Feel free to ignore.

[Bill Dufour]

And due to those responses I plan to cover the tilt arc slot with something magnetic. I will stuff foam under the table front and back where I figure sawdust will be thrown by the blade. But probably leave the side under table gaps open. I can cover the motor vent hole if needed. Easy to try that with a magnet and some cardboard.
Bill

[Lee Schierer]

I use magnetic air return vent covers sold at the big box stores.
433750

[Nicholas Dirks]

Nice will look those up.

[Jim Becker]

Nice will look those up.
Even Home Depot carries the magnetic vent closure sheets...I buy them to make car magnets from things only available in sticker form. :)

[Matt Day]

Personally I’d tackle over the blade dust collection first, if you haven’t already. I could care less if piles of sawdust fill my cabinet, but I don’t like getting shot in the face on each cut. A shop vac cleans up the cabinet every month or so (I actually have mine raised about 4” with a rectangular floor vent on one side that’s hooked up to my DC).

[Alan Lightstone]

Personally I’d tackle over the blade dust collection first, if you haven’t already. I could care less if piles of sawdust fill my cabinet, but I don’t like getting shot in the face on each cut. A shop vac cleans up the cabinet every month or so (I actually have mine raised about 4” with a rectangular floor vent on one side that’s hooked up to my DC).

+1

I actually turn on my cyclone with the ZCI removed and shoot compressed air into it. The displaced sawdust gets vacuumed right up into the cyclone.

The most annoying part for me is clearly over the blade dust collection. I use the SawStop guard, but its dust collection is suboptimal, and often gets in the way of narrow cuts.

[Ron Selzer]

"The most annoying part for me is clearly over the blade dust collection. I use the SawStop guard, but its dust collection is suboptimal, and often gets in the way of narrow cuts."

On my sawStop I have the over the blade dust collection hooked up to a shop vac instead of tee'd off of the dust collector, at the High school I did the same thing except hooked it up to a seperate drop from the dust collector. Both work way better than original design with the tee'd line

[Rick Potter]

Personally, I have tried various methods on my Unisaw, but the one that worked best was simply changing the drop to the saw from 4" to 6". Suddenly, the interior of the saw stopped stopped being a sawdust storage area.

[Lee Schierer]

Even Home Depot carries the magnetic vent closure sheets...I buy them to make car magnets from things only available in sticker form. :)

I do the same thing Jim. I hate the effect of stickers on a vehicle when they degrade due to age.

[Ole Anderson]

I could care less if piles of sawdust fill my cabinet, but I don’t like getting shot in the face on each cut.

I don't worry about dust in the cabinet either. Dust shot off the blade out the miter arc and just below the table are bigger issues for me. I have an old magnetic sign off one of the trucks from work, it reminds me of my roots.