Cross cut sled dust collection

[Prashun Patel]

I am sure there are better (and prettier) ways to do this, but I wanted to share something I found to be useful:

I made a crosscut sled last week. Love it. However, with the blade guard removed dust collection stinks. So I made a blade cover with a dust port. I now run 2 lines to the tsaw: the 2nd goes to the 'normal' undersaw port.

My blade cover is designed to be cheap and to reuse scraps, so no laughing, please.

I attached a 1x2 frame on top of the sled over the guard. To this frame I screwed a 4" blast gateand a sheet of lexan so I could see through the guard.

Two probs: 1) Lining up the cut was hard, and 2) there was too much airgap under the frame for the dc to work well.

So, I hinged the back of the guard to the rear fence. This way I can flip up the guard and line up the cut and clamp it in place (1st pic=rear view)

Then I made a slip over cover (1x bridging across 2 vertical pcs of hardboard). You can see in pic 2 that the slip on cover lies on an angle when a piece is up against the ft fence. This actually works well bkz it leaves a small gap that prevents the dc from choking. Also, it creates a tight enough vacuum that it actually clamps the cut piece down (2nd pic = ft view with slipcover on)

Two caveats:

1) The vacuum mounted at the rear tends to pull the cut pieces together after the cut. The front fence and the slipon cover minimize the chance of kback, but you should really have holddowns on either side of the cut to prevent mucking the leading edge of yr good piece.

2) A simpler design would just be to leave the frame completely open and just bridge the cover with a solid pc of polycarb. With the frame open, there'd be no need to hinge it since the cut line'd be completely viewable.

Anyway, suggestions and comments welcome.

[Phil Thien]

Great idea, and even better execution!

[Prashun Patel]

Thanks, Phil. Was hoping for some more feedback, but I think my pics aren't so good.

I'm amazed at how well this thing works. It captures virtually all the dust from the top of the blade. I had concerns that the vacuum wouldn't work rear mounted, but it's tremendous. I believe the gaps at the bottom of the slipcover actually HELP the dc.

I'm going to make a newer (prettier) version. I really think others with basement shops can benefit from this. It also makes the cut safer.

[Prashun Patel]

Here's a better design:

I kept the hinged frame.

Works like a dream. I tried cutting mdf with and without the guard.

Even with the guard in place without the dc on, there's a good amount of dust that spews under the lid and through the blade slot in the front.

With the dc on, there's virtually NO dust through either crevasse.

Anyway, I'll be using this a lot. Hope it helps some other newbies with basement shops.

- shawn

[Randal Stevenson]

In your second picture, your drop down guard, have you thought of trimming it a little less tall, and using something a rubber gasket, with slots, to allow it to seal better?


Looks good, I need to give that one to a friend (just getting back into woodworking now after retirement).

[Prashun Patel]

I thought of using a door sweep :) .
Been also thinking of some kind of spreader that extends from the rear fence to the work piece that does double duty as a clamp to the front fence and as a seal for the bottom of the guard.

However, when I tried it first without, it really worked fantastically without.