Contractor Table Saw Motor Enclosure

[Stephen Edwards]

I recently purchased my first ever DC system, the HF 2HP. It works great.

My TS is a 7 or 8 year old Ridgid Contractor Saw. I bought the DC port that fits under the trunion (had to do a lil' adapting to make that fit...that was easy to do).

I noticed that I was still getting dust on the floor and the motor so I put my hillbilly engineering mind to pondering on that problem. Using scrap wood laying around the shop, here's what I came up with:

First, I mounted side pieces of 1 1/2 inch stock to each side at the back of the saw and added a box sides and bottom to that:

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Then I did a little more tweaks to the top of the box so that the motor doesn't touch the box when tilted to 45 degrees. Finally, I screwed the back and top pieces of the box to the frame shown in the first picture above. I added a dust port to the bottom of the new box so that the saw now has two DC ports, one under the trunion and one under the motor. When I ever need to get to the trunion for adjustments or tuning I simply remove the screws for the top and back and then two more screws on each side and the entire box can be removed.

Here's a photo of the finished box, not painted yet:

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I did some test cuts and it works great. After the test cuts I removed the blade insert and found very little dust inside the box and underneath the trunion. With the DC unit still on, a 10 second blast with the air hose from the air compressor cleaned all that out.

Next project is a new outfeed table to replace my saw horses covered with a sheet of plywood! I'll build that so that the new motor box fits in a cut out on the outfeed table.

Hope this helps someone else solve a similiar problem.

Best Regards,

[Jacob Reverb]

Nice job! I'm thinking of doing something along the same lines.

[Howard Acheson]

Let me suggest a couple of caveats with enclosing the motor. First, if the motor is not designed to operate in a dust filled environment, sawdust will eventually damage the motor. Motors designed to operate inside the saw will be Totally Enclosed Fan Cooled motors. The label on the motor will say TEFC. If it's not that type of motor you may be headed for trouble.

Second, dust collection relies on air speed, not suction. What this means is that if you impede the air flow, you reduce the effectiveness of the dust collection. There must be at least the same number of square inches of air inlet as there is for dust exhaust. For a 4" dust outlet, you will need at least 12 square inches of inlet.

It's also important to consider the air flow direction. Sawdust comes off the blade at over 100 mph. You will not be able to change the direction with dust collection air flow until the sawdust has slowed considerably. Therefore, either have the dust exhaust in line with the blade directions or you some sort of chute or deflector to direct the sawdust to the outlet.

[Stephen Edwards]

Thanks Howie for your suggestions. I appreciate it. I'm wondering if the curved slot in the front of the saw, which allows the blade height control rod to move when you change the angle of the blade, gives enough air intake. If not, do you suggest that I put some sort of air intake holes in the box? If so, where on the box? Top, bottom, sides?

As for directing the dust, perhaps I could use another one of those large under the trunion collectors altered and positioned so that it catches most of the dust coming off the blade and at the same time deflects most of the dust away from the motor.

Thanks again for your input and suggestions.

[Loren Hedahl]

Stephen,

When you say you bought the dust collection port that fits under the trunion, is that the one from the new Ridgid saws that fits around the back side of the blade and exits in a 2-1/2 inch port for a shop vac?

I bought one too, but the one I got fit into the bottom of the saw and has a kind of hopper that ends up with a 2-1/2 port. It just does a marginal job.

[Stephen Edwards]

Stephen,

When you say you bought the dust collection port that fits under the trunion, is that the one from the new Ridgid saws that fits around the back side of the blade and exits in a 2-1/2 inch port for a shop vac?

I bought one too, but the one I got fit into the bottom of the saw and has a kind of hopper that ends up with a 2-1/2 port. It just does a marginal job.

Loren,

My under the trunion port came in a dust collector accessory kit (ITEM 93601-1VGA) from Harbor Freight. You can see the kit on their website. I think that Grizzly and other companies also sells them as a single item. It has a 4 inch port centered in this piece of plastic. From the outside edges of this appx 14 X 14 collector it slopes downward to the 4 inch port.

It mounts to the bottom of the sheet steel "frame" that supports the table. On my saw it was a little too small to fit on the metal lips of that frame. I cut a piece of plywood to fit the space and cut out for the collector to mount onto the plywood. It was very simple.

[Loren Hedahl]

Loren,

My under the trunion port came in a dust collector accessory kit (ITEM 93601-1VGA) from Harbor Freight. You can see the kit on their website. I think that Grizzly and other companies also sells them as a single item. It has a 4 inch port centered in this piece of plastic. From the outside edges of this appx 14 X 14 collector it slopes downward to the 4 inch port.

It mounts to the bottom of the sheet steel "frame" that supports the table. On my saw it was a little too small to fit on the metal lips of that frame. I cut a piece of plywood to fit the space and cut out for the collector to mount onto the plywood. It was very simple.

I know which one that is. I have seen similar ones for sale in the Rockler catalogs I used to get. The one I bought came from Home Depot.

One other thing I did that helped some was to make some wedge shaped filler pieces for along the sides of the saw case to keep sawdust from collecting on the flange at the bottom of the case. I didn't take much time for exact fitting. I just used duct tape to hold them in place.

Then along the back of the case I cut 5 mm plywood to make a 2 piece cover that allows for the motor bracket and belt. The pieces are held on by Velcro tape, but must be removed for making a bevel cut.

All this helps, but still dust collection isn't half as good as a friend's Ryobi saw that he hooks a vac up to a dust port right behind the blade.

[Stephen Edwards]

Hey Again Loren,

I just checked my Grizzly catalogue for you. They are called Table Saw Dust Hoods. They come in two sizes:

G1337......12 1/4 X 12 1/4...$7.95

G2480 .....14 X 14.............. $11.95

Both have the 4 inch port. Oh yeah, hopper is a good word for how they look!