Enclosing sliding table saw for better dust collection

[cynthia rice]

I have a grizzly g0623x slider which has terrible dust collection underneath due to the small outlet of the blade shroud and small flex duct and opening out of the cabinet. (I have great overhead collection with a shark guard). It was suggested that l remove the shroud and enclose the cabinet and connect a 6" outlet to it (which my dust collector can handle having open along with the 4" going to the shark guard). Will this be any different than enclosing a typical table saw cabinet? How do I balance the intake to get all the dust and keep the motor from overheating? There are the typical open slots around the tilt wheel, a louvered panel near the motor, and a 3" hole where the current flex duct exits. It is also open in the bottom, with maybe a 1/4" gap between the cabinet and saw. Thanks for any suggestions!

[Jacques Gagnon]

I would guess that connecting the lower portion of your cabinet to the dust collection system will provide sufficient airflow to dissipate heat from the motor. I have done a similar approach with my router table and have not experienced problems.

[Ted Derryberry]

I'm glad you mentioned balancing the intake. I've seen YouTube videos where people completely sealed up saws trying to improve dust collection, even to the point of caulking them to the floor. The problem is that if air can't come in then air can't go out. I'd think the important thing would be to arrange it so the air coming in travels across the area where the dust is generated on its way out.

[Jim Becker]

In general, a blade shroud connected to a DC is going to be more effective at collection than trying to extract from the whole cabinet. The reason is that the air flow from the shroud is directly engaged with the material coming off the blade below the table. That's not the case if you try to expand things to include a much larger area...and one that's essentially filled with open areas to the outside world. That's always been the issue with cabinet saws that didn't have a blade shroud.

The problem with your particular machine seems to be a less than adequate design to the connections to the shroud which limits air flow. Re-engineering that might result in better performance. That, combined with using a quality over-head collection for "stuff" off the top of the blade should improve things for you.

The shroud on my MiniMax slider is serviced with a 120mm (~5") port and performs well, IMHO. The CFM capability of that 120mm/~5" connection is substantially more than you can pull through a 3" connection.

[cynthia rice]

Thank you for your replies. I did improve the original over-head collection, using the 4" shark guard. I guess I will try to completely re-make a shroud first. Then if I screw that up, I can always put the original one back on.

[cynthia rice]

Now that I look at, I am realizing that I can't re-make the shroud. It is cast iron and has lots of stuff connected to it and being supported by it. It has a small 2 1/2"x6" opening in the bottom, where a plastic piece connects and becomes the port, but even with this removed, I only have about 15 square inches of opening and I need 20/28 to be equivalent to a 5/6" port. I don't think I'm brave enough to cut into the cast iron to make the opening larger.

[eugene thomas]

I have same saw with 4" overarm guard hooked up to a 3hp cyclone. I get some sawdust that collects in the saw cabinet but such a improvement over my old saw that I can live with it. I am bad at starting my dust collector just to make one or 2 cuts so that accounts for some of it am sure. I only had saw since September and just finally got the accessory's bought for it from grizzly in January but never going back to cabinet saw.

[cynthia rice]

Well, it took me over a year to get it and the dust collection set up and it took me a long time to get it all aligned. Good thing there are so many nice people taking the time to offer their expertise on sites like this. I would be clueless without it.

I feel pretty strongly about not having dust in the air, because otherwise my throat gets sore - so I imagine I have a sensitivity to it that probably affects my lungs as well. I did set up an air cleaner like the one that Bill Pentz designed using one of the reverse nanofilters, an inline fan, and an hvac filter. I usually set it to run for about 2 hours whenever I make any cuts. If I make more than a few cuts, I wear a full face respirator.

The disappointing thing about this saw is that I noticed that there is actually dust built up INSIDE the blade shroud - maybe I will be cutting into that cast iron after all. Not sure how I would make a transition from the shroud to a round port though. The shroud fits right up against the cabinet wall with the blade tilted to 45 degrees. It's really irritating that Grizzly couldn't just make this right in the first place - I would have been willing to pay for the increase in purchase price.