Dust collection on open stand tablesaw

[George Carion]

How are you guys managing dust collection your open stand TS? I have an older Delta 36-640 contractor's saw with the motor outside the main unit. It seems like it'll be next to impossible to efficiently do dust collection. Any ideas?

It looks like I'm going to purchase the 50-760 to help me out with dust collection duties. It'll connect to a Delta JT360 jointer, the above table saw, 22-580 planer, and a 14" band saw. Hopefully it's enough to do the job when using one tool at a time.

Toolking.com seems to have the best price + shipping option on the 50-760 right now. Has anyone had bad experiences with them in the past?

Thanks!

[Mark Rios]

My dust collection on my contractor saw consists of the floor and...well.....the floor.

I have seen some very inventive people though that have made covers for the backs of their contractor saws, complete with slots and grooves to allow for parts moving and sliding and such, and have mounted a box underneath that somehow gets kinda sealed up and the have been able to (apparently) get some fairly good DC action going.

If there is a good way I'm sure that these kind and smart SMC people here will steer you in the right direction.

That being said, I think that the very, very best way to get DC with a contractor saw is to sell it and buy a cabinet saw. :D

[Steve Clardy]

Someone makes a bag that uses snaps, to snap under a contractor saw. Can't remember the name of it now.

[Charlie Plesums]

When I had a contractor saw, I put a panel in the bottom with a 4 inch DC port. When I tried to close the back of the saw, things got worse rather than better... if you seal the saw perfectly, there is no airflow (you can't take more air out than goes in). Bottom line, I ended up putting a lot of holes in the panel I built to close the back - if I were doing it again, I might try to close half of the back - whatever part is easy. No attempt to close the area where the shafts come through during tilt. I might also get fancy and slope the bottom, so gravity would help the dust go to the port, rather than the dust building up in the corners (and creating it's own slopes)

Overall, almost nothing was captured when I was just trimming an edge of a board with a zero clearance insert (the dust never went under the table), but probably 90% was captured when doing a normal through cut.

[Kent Fitzgerald]

IME, you really need to collect dust both below and above the table. I think people focus too much on sealing the saw cabinet. Some dust is always going to come off the top of the blade, and once it's airborne, you're not going to suck it back into the cabinet!

You can get a square plastic funnel with a 4" port to fit under the saw. As Charlie said, partially baffling off the opening at the back of the saw helps, but if you make it too tight, you defeat the purpose. For collection above the blade, an overarm guard (I use the PSI one), a Shark Guard, or a homebrewed version will make a big difference.

[Mark Patoka]

I use the bag that snaps underneath and it does a decent job of catching all the sawdust that falls down. Due to the design some does fall around the feet of the saw but not much. Almost every woodworkers catalog seems to sell their own bag with their name on it but their all the same. Easy to empty when it's full.

I also made a notched out board to cover about 75% of the back. It keeps the great majority of the sawdust that would blow out the back end during cuts. I also made one for angled cuts.

Hooking up my recently acquired 50-760 would be nice but I doubt I'll get to that since most of the dust is now collected. An overarm guard collector would really be a nice addition since that is where all my fine dust is generated from the saw.

[Al Garay]

Perhaps this will help:
http://home.pacbell.net/jdismuk/sawdust.html

[Jerry Olexa]

About a year ago, I boxed in my Delta TS back and bottom with a 4" port connected to the DC. I was Dissapointed. A few weeks ago, had to do a lot of 45 degree cutting. I removed all the box in material and won't be putting it back. Very hard to seal up properly and still maintain flexibility, air flow IMHO. G'Luck

[Joe Chritz]

How about something like this....

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=30961

Only dust I get is what is kicked off the top of the blade. Soon to have an overarm guard to take care of that.

I used hardboard to close the back. Magnetic sign material would work better as it is easier to remove to tilt the blade.

Joe

[Allen Bookout]

Toolking.com seems to have the best price + shipping option on the 50-760 right now. Has anyone had bad experiences with them in the past?

Thanks!

I have had very good experiences with ToolKing. Allen

[Bill Fields]

Snap on bags are sold by HF and Rockler, with hugely cheaper at HF. They work pretty well, as opposed to just letting the dust fly.

Lame, but better than nothing.

BILL

[Charlie Plesums]

Snap on bags are sold by HF and Rockler, with hugely cheaper at HF. They work pretty well, as opposed to just letting the dust fly.
Also sold by Woodcraft, where (in some stores, at least) they are referred to as a table saw diaper. :)

[John Gregory]

When I had a contractor saw, I put a panel in the bottom with a 4 inch DC port. When I tried to close the back of the saw, things got worse rather than better... if you seal the saw perfectly, there is no airflow (you can't take more air out than goes in). Bottom line, I ended up putting a lot of holes in the panel I built to close the back - if I were doing it again, I might try to close half of the back - whatever part is easy. No attempt to close the area where the shafts come through during tilt. I might also get fancy and slope the bottom, so gravity would help the dust go to the port, rather than the dust building up in the corners (and creating it's own slopes)

Overall, almost nothing was captured when I was just trimming an edge of a board with a zero clearance insert (the dust never went under the table), but probably 90% was captured when doing a normal through cut.

I did the same thing as Charlie did. My Ridgid saw came with a collector with a 2 1/2" port but it was not enough for the DC. So I put in the plate with a 4" hook up and it collects a lot now. I didn't close anything in I was thinking of a magnetic sheet (the ones for heating registers) to cover the front when the slot is for the tilt. With a Zero insert it is hard to collect all of the dust without an over head collector. But with my set up I don't have to sweep very much.

[Bruce Lewis]

I did the same thing that other here have done on my old '64 Craftsman table saw. It was wide open in the bottom and in the back.

I made a grooved (for the motor support) back panel for it with a cutout for the belt and the motor wiring. I made an inverted pyramid for the bottom and left the point open enough that I could fit a 4" sheetmetal dust port on the bottom.

I also made a plexiglass blade shield with a 2.5 inch hole in the top for my shop vac and made a steel arm for it that hooks to the motor support so it
tilts along with the blade. I put a splitter on it at first but it was too hard to keep lined up so I cut that off. I eventually connected the arm for the blade guard to the back of the saw instead of the motor support. Since the guard is about 4 inches wide, it doesn't need to tilt with the blade.

I can take it off by undoing two bolts. Takes about a minute to remove it.

This arrangement (using my Delta 50-760 on the bottom port and my shop vac on the top port) keeps my dust down pretty well. But I still have to clean up everything every day because I cut a fair amount of MDF which just goes everywhere.

[Cody Colston]

I've got a Craftsman contractor saw. I put a piece of Melamine between the saw and stand, cut a hole in the Melamine and glued in a piece of ~5 7/8" PVC with poly glue. After the glue dried, I used a 3/8" roundover bit on the inside to smooth the transition. My 6" DC line is connected to the Melamine with a very short length of 6" flex.

On the back, I cut slots in a piece of 1/4" hardboard to fit around the drive belt and the motor supports. I have to remove it for angled cuts. I went around the inner edge of the hardboard with 1/2" self-stick magnetic tape to hold it against the saw cabinet. It's easy on, easy off.

Although I still lose some dust off the top of the blade (I don't use a guard) there is very little that gets away with my Oneida cyclone running.

Prior to getting the cyclone, I had a large cardboard box that just fit underneath the stand. With the lid pieces unfolded, it would close in the bottom of the saw and catch about 80% of the sawdust that fell out the bottom.