PM66 and Dust

[Julie Moriarty]

I'm working on a project at a neighbor's house, rebuilding his kitchen. He borrowed another neighbor's PM66 cabinet saw. Today we were cutting plywood and what a mess! Dust flying everywhere.

Would it help hooking up a shop vac? The bottom of the cabinet is open. I just wanted some input before I start cobbling together some means of collecting the dust. Thanks

[Carroll Courtney]

Should be a 4" fitting on back side down at bottom for a shop vac. Even if its a cheap vac such as a craftsman, anything will help.Guessing the dust door is on front, if ripping a lot and not tilting the blade you could also cover that opening with some plastic with some magnets.

[Alex Zeller]

My PM66 isn't very good for dust collection but there's a few things I've done to help it out. A shop vac might help but if you don't mind spending a little money you can do like I have. I got a cheap 1hp Harbor Freight dust collector. It was a little over $100 with one of their 20% coupons. It's small so it's easily moved vs a larger one. I use that along with tape to seal up the many holes in the saw. If I'm not going to tilt the blade sealing that slot up makes a difference. Also where the table rests on the cabinet there's a gap that can be sealed. If it's on a mobile base chances are there's a gap at the bottom. I still get lots of sawdust in the base of the cabinet but it cuts down a lot of the stuff being blown into my face as I cut.

[Matt Day]

I’d leave the cabinet alone - who cares about that dust? It’s piling up. The dust that’s spraying back at you and getting airborne is likely the biggest culprit. I’d get an over the blade guard like a Shark Guard and hook it up to the shop vac.

[Marc Fenneuff]

I’d leave the cabinet alone - who cares about that dust? It’s piling up. The dust that’s spraying back at you and getting airborne is likely the biggest culprit. I’d get an over the blade guard like a Shark Guard and hook it up to the shop vac.

+1 the cabinet does not have the baffles or airflow necessary to meaningfully direct the dust out the 4" port. A Shark Guard is not cheap but it’s the best available above-the-table solution for dust collection on that saw.

[Julie Moriarty]

Thanks for the suggestions. If this was my saw, I'd invest in a decent DC solution, but it's not. In my shop I have a cyclone on my contractor's saw but no over blade collection and it works fairly well.

I was thinking maybe blade was out of square and that's why so much dust is spewing out at the top. I'll look at that today.

[Bradley Gray]

Depending on how much plywood you have to cut, If you cut halfway through and flip the stock so the blade never shows above, you can significantly reduce the air-born dust.

[Jim Becker]

Even with excellent collection on the cabinet, you're going to get a lot of stuff off the top of the blade just because of how the blade works and turns. The only way to (partially) mitigate that is with an overarm collection hood connected to extraction. 'Nature of the beast.

[Sanford Imhoff]

This is the best solution I've been able to come up with. Bell Plastics sells a dust chute for the PM66.
I capped off the 4" port, gulped and cut a 6" port and connected to a Jet Vortex. The saw sits on a sheet of plywood on the mobile base. Very effective considering its a 66.
(https://bellplasticsfabrication.com/product/powermatic-dust-collection/)
https://bellplasticsfabrication.com/product/powermatic-dust-collection/

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(https://bellplasticsfabrication.com/product/powermatic-dust-collection/)