Old Belt Sander Dust Collection

[Don Stanley]

My old Craftsman 6"x48", 1HP, belt sander can make tremendous amounts of dust. Time for a shop made dust collection adaptor!

http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/pp/data/600/1_P1000825.jpg

More pictures in the Woodworking Galleries (2 pages): http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/pp/showgallery.php?cat=600

-Don

[Joe Chritz]

Looks like a good design.

How about a report on how well it works. I have a similar sander that could use one.

Joe

[Jim Becker]

Nice job, Don. Please post a few more pictures here at SMC, however, so that your work will live on long after that remote site disappears!

[Don Stanley]

Joe, dust collection works good! I ran some tests with a piece of scrap Oak, really put the screws to it. Hardly a sign of dust, you could see it being sucked into the DC chute.

The disk on this old sander has to much lateral play and the paper doesn't last long, I have always used the sander in the vertical position, and make sure the table is square to the sanding belt.

What motivated me to build the DC chute was all the sawdust when I was using the sander to make 1-1/2" end caps for the Paper Towel rod end caps (another post).

Jim - interesting comment about posting pictures. I recently got Quest MSN Premium -- they do not provide free web hosting like my last two ISP's. They do provide MS Windows "Spaces", but I found it to be clunky and slow. Although they say there is not advertisements for MSN Premium user, there is a banner Add. In any case, I was looking for free web hosting and came across Woodworking Galleries. When I logged in today, there was a message stating they are not accepting new registration; changes forthcoming. I emailed the web master, and learned the site is hosted by a private individual. Do you know something I don't know?

-Don

[Mike Langford]

Looks good,Don! How well does your shop vac handle that dust makin' yellow monster in the background? I have a DW716 that blows dust out the top,bottom,both sides,and back......

Hmmm....I guess I could put it inside something like a bead blasting cabinet!!;)

[Don Stanley]

Looks good,Don! How well does your shop vac handle that dust makin' yellow monster in the background?)

You're kidding; right;) The new DeWalt was a Xmas present; that I got to choose:D It replaced my faithful old 1970's vintage DeWalt. It was a great saw, and the dust collection really worked! When I fired up the new saw, I was convinced the shop vac wasn't working after I cut a few boards - there was sawdust all over the bench! I don't think any sawdust goes into the shop vac:confused:

I didn't really gloat about the new tool at Xmas, but I got it for $149 at Lowe's, with a $10 off my next purchase coupon. I really like it too!

Take a close look under the Christmas tree....
http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/pp/data/599/1_P1000788.jpg