Why my dust collector don't suck (or, my saw sucks)

I recently bought a 2 HP cyclone with cartridge dust collector. Unpacking and assembling with great anticipation, but I blew the budget on the unit, so the corrugated hose will have to do for a while.
I cut a fair amount of wood on the table saw, and figured it was time to check the bin.
Nothing in the bin, and I can see there's nothing in the plastic bag.
I have a Rigid R4511 Hybrid saw, with the plastic dickie on the side I never noticed before (never as concerned about dust control before) that I have a gigantic opening on the top of the plastic hood, a rectangle of about 5x8. In addition, a bunch of slots which I filled with caulk. Oh, yes, in lieu of my giant dust collector, I filled a 5 gallon bucket of my dust deputy with the fine sawdust from inside the cabinet that never got collected because the mighty DC was sucking ......nothing.
Since the plastic cover doesn't do anything as the motor is totally within the cabinet, I'm going to fashion a cover from plywood to cover the existing hole, (I'll be selling the saw soon) and check the collection again. I already use a zero clearance throat plate.
I guess the good thing is that when I go shopping for a new table saw I'll have a better idea what to look for about dust collection.

If there's nothing in the bin below the cyclone...you have a leak. The bin, hose and cone cannot have even a pinhole leak or anything collected is going to bypass the bin and go out the other side of the system...either into the filter or outside if vented direct. This is the "one thing" with cyclones that has to be correct. Sealed means completely sealed. The biggest offender tends to be the connection between the bin and the bin lid, especially for "shop made" setups. Commercial fiber and steel barrels with clamping type tops are easier to get a good seal on, but that's not 100% if something is bent or there is debris involved.

Be careful with trying to plug up every hole & gap in the saw cabinet. In order for the DC to collect dust, it must move air, and it can't suck air out of the cabinet if there aren't some big holes to let the air back in. It's my guess that your cabinet is plugged up to tight.

Jim, Frank, I've been looking at a huge number of sites regarding getting the dust to the collector. My analysis is that with the massive hole of ~48 sq in on the side of the cabinet, any suction will go to the path of least resistance which is the hole. To my mind, that's the leak.
There is a collection tray built into the saw, and that was clean; but, nearly 5 gallons in volume of sawdust was in the nooks and crannies of the saw, and that should have been sucked up by the DC.
I'm going to enclose the side today, and let's see what happens - I'll report back.

The goal is enclose the saw to the point the sq. inches of opening is very close to the sq. inches of the DC pipe/hose going to the collector .The ducting is determined by many things , all factors in how it will perform . Size of duct , length , CFM you've got for starters . Visit Bill Pentz website .

I was under the impression that the issue was no dust in the cyclone bin...sorry that I misunderstood that you were talking about the saw cabinet. Even the biggest, baddest DC will unlikely evacuate all the dust out of a table saw cabinet, even if it has sloped ramps that all lead to the outlet. That said, you can plug up "some" of the extraneous openings in the saw cabinet. Magnetic sign material/register cover material is handy for that as it's moveable when necessary. But as has been noted, don't seal it up tight because collection is about moving air, not "suction". This is a low static pressure situation, unlike with a vacuum cleaner. You need at least the area of the hose of air coming in to be able to move the dust and chips that are being produced and put down into the cabinet. The corners will never be clean in most cases so don't expect that.

I have a 5 HP collector & every few months a couple of liters of dust will collect in the corners at the bottom.

1) If you seal everything up the DC will not work. It needs to be moving a lot of air to get up to speed. Grizzly advised me to leave a gate open at a second tool to make it work better. It didn't, but you get the concept.
2) Table saws and band saws are tough to get good dust collection on. They simply don't move a lot of air past the blades.

True. A cyclone relies on high air velocity to do the separating.

I'm assuming you're getting good flow into the hose with it off the saw. If not, you may have already plugged the filter if you've got a leak at the bin.

There was a thread somewhere where someone made a zero-clearance insert with lots of holes in it to promote air movement in the saw. Once plugging up some of the extraneous openings, that might be a good solution to at least have air movement in the right direction in the table.

That being said, my 5HP Oneida doesn't collect all the sawdust in the ICS cabinet. Every once in a while I run my Festool vac with the skinny hole and an extension through the top opening to suction that out. I think it's the nature of the beast that cabinet saws leave some sawdust in the cabinet. But 5 gal sounds crazy high.

It may be something you have to mess with Aaron. Took me a long time to figure out good dust collection on my Jet contractors saw. I had it closed off too much at one point but kept tweaking until I found the sweet spot. I added over arm a few months back and now I can cut mdf w/o a dust mask. I'm using an old Delta 1.5 hp and a Super Dust Deputy and 4" pvc. My saw also has sawdust in the corners...

Thanks, Fred.
While I await my decision on a new saw, the Rigid is sold but not yet moved to the new owners site.
There is no point in tweaking this saw, but my new unit WILL have an over blade dust collector that I don’t need to make, (lazy) and because my next saw will be my “forever” one, I’ll spend more time getting the little grey cells working on dust collection.
I’m also going to build a shop hacks type air scrubber to add to the system.
I’ve been diagnosed with COPD so getting the dust down means I can enjoy the grandchildren longer. I’ve given up on having meaningful discussions with the children.

Cover the useless open areas like the opening for the blade tilt hand wheel and don't be afraid to make new holes where you need more air flow. I drilled several 9/16" holes in the saws DC door and then a few in the motor shroud. There's some dust in the cabinet bottom but haven't cleaned it out in a few years.

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