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Thread: Miter Saw Dust Collection...from the back or bottom?

  1. #1
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    Miter Saw Dust Collection...from the back or bottom?

    I've had enough and am building a hood for my miter saw and will be using a dedicated 1 HP DC. The saw is on a bench that is up against a wall that happens to have stairs going into my basement on the other side. I am going to mount the DC in the stairwell and run the hose in from the back. I am wondering what the best position would be to mount the hose. I'll be using something like this (https://www.amazon.com/POWERTEC-7012...ction+fittings) to mount either below the bench or on the wall behind the saw. What do you all think would give me the greater chance of catching the dust?

  2. #2
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    I tried to like bottom collection for many years, but recently switched to a big-butt hood behind the beast...miter saws are about the hardest tool to collect from (of tools you CAN collect from) because of how they fling things in many directions.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  3. #3
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    Good to know. I figured below would be the better option but I wanted to use the back so I would only have to go through the wall.

    Do you have your hood directly behind the saw? I have a Bosch Glide which means a large portion of the saw is right up agains the wall. Was thinking about doing 2 smaller hoods on either side of the saw. You think a 1 HP DC could handle 2? It would be dedicated to the miter saw and only a couple foot run of hose.

  4. #4
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    Mine has a 3/4" wide slot, all the way across the back. The slot is above a plenum with a 6" duct hookup below. I built it as a prototype about ten years ago, and it works so well, I never made any changes to it. I use a 3hp DC though. I thought I'd have to fill in more holes on the open corners of the face, but no dust gets out just like I stuck it together to start with.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  5. #5
    I have a enclosure behind mine. The duct actually goes up, because of how the main line was configured. It works pretty well, some of the heavier dust drops out on the bottom of the enclosure, but almost all of the airborne dust gets pulled in. Most of the dust on this saw gets blown straight back, and the 6" inlet is inline with the dust stream. I do have it on a 6" line going to a 3hp Oneida, so it is pulling a good volume of air in. The front is open far enough so the saw can swing 45 in either direction and deep enough to accommodate the full slide. Having the dust inlet in back would probably work better, but that wasn't an option in this particular location.

    chopsaw1.jpg
    Last edited by Andrew Seemann; 05-17-2018 at 8:16 PM.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tim M Tuttle View Post
    Good to know. I figured below would be the better option but I wanted to use the back so I would only have to go through the wall.

    Do you have your hood directly behind the saw? I have a Bosch Glide which means a large portion of the saw is right up agains the wall. Was thinking about doing 2 smaller hoods on either side of the saw. You think a 1 HP DC could handle 2? It would be dedicated to the miter saw and only a couple foot run of hose.
    Not a great photos, but you can see what I did. And no, I don't believe a 1hp DC is going to give you much satisfaction with a miter saw unless you dedicate it to the tool and have it located "right there" with as short a pipe/hose that you can manage. Why? DC requires air flow and even in the best circumstances, a miter saw's nature doesn't permit you to get much air flow right at the source. So you're collecting from a broad, almost undefined area within the hood.

    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  7. #7
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    This is a picture of my first-iteration miter saw enclosure. I'm on my second iteration, which looks very similar.
    Miter Saw Enclosure.jpg
    On the second iteration, the dust collection connection is 6", not 4" as shown here. A small flexible hose goes from the dust port on the back of the saw through the top of the enclosure and opens into the fitting on top. There's also a false back with about an inch of space, with a gap of about an inch along the bottom of the enclosure, to capture and draw upward much of what isn't taken through the saw's dust port.

    It isn't perfect. Sawdust gradually accumulates in the bottom of the enclosure behind the saw and needs attention from time to time. With the front panels in place, though, it does a reasonable job of keeping the dust under control. Capturing the dust going through the saw's dust port is important. The first enclosure didn't have anything connected to the saw's dust port, and dust tended to escape from the box. I have much less of that with a hose connected to the saw.
    Chuck Taylor

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Charles Taylor View Post
    This is a picture of my first-iteration miter saw enclosure. I'm on my second iteration, which looks very similar.
    Miter Saw Enclosure.jpg
    On the second iteration, the dust collection connection is 6", not 4" as shown here. A small flexible hose goes from the dust port on the back of the saw through the top of the enclosure and opens into the fitting on top. There's also a false back with about an inch of space, with a gap of about an inch along the bottom of the enclosure, to capture and draw upward much of what isn't taken through the saw's dust port.

    It isn't perfect. Sawdust gradually accumulates in the bottom of the enclosure behind the saw and needs attention from time to time. With the front panels in place, though, it does a reasonable job of keeping the dust under control. Capturing the dust going through the saw's dust port is important. The first enclosure didn't have anything connected to the saw's dust port, and dust tended to escape from the box. I have much less of that with a hose connected to the saw.
    That's what I am going for more than anything. I dont mind if dust doesnt make it to the DC as long as it stays contained in the hood. I can vac it out every so often. Right now dust just goes everywhere.

  9. #9
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    As you can see in the pictures of mine, some of the heavy dust does stay in the box, but none makes it back out the front of the enclosure. I've come to the conclusion, after owning a number of different sized DC's, that anything less than 3hp, for almost anything, is wishful thinking.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom M King View Post
    As you can see in the pictures of mine, some of the heavy dust does stay in the box, but none makes it back out the front of the enclosure. I've come to the conclusion, after owning a number of different sized DC's, that anything less than 3hp, for almost anything, is wishful thinking.
    Yeah, a bigger DC is on the wishlist but it's a ways away right now. I have a Mini Gorilla and a Shop Vac. I use the Gorilla on my ts, bs, planer, and jointer and my Shop Vac on smaller/handheld tools. I was hoping I could get away with a 1 HP DC for the miter saw if I dedicated it to the that tool and only had a 1 or 2 foot run of hose. I am going to Harbor Freight this weekend and picking up their 1 HP DC and see how that works. Even if it's not perfect, it will be better than my current setup. Unfortunately, due to my shop layout, I have no way to hook up my Gorilla to the miter saw without a very long run of hose and it's only 1.5 HP.

    There's a 2 HP Jet DC-1200 with canister filter on my local Craigslist for less than $200 but I just dont know how I can make that work given the location of the miter saw.

  11. #11
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    Tim,

    That Jet is a screaming deal. It is significantly better than any HF DC you can get. That unit has a 12" impeller which moves a lot of air and more importantly the larger diameter has more static pressure. You could swap out the blower and filter on your mini-gorilla and see a big improvement. The 2HP could support a modest 5" duct run to the MS.
    Hope this helps. Let Us know what you do.

    Carl

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Carl Kona View Post
    Tim,

    That Jet is a screaming deal. It is significantly better than any HF DC you can get. That unit has a 12" impeller which moves a lot of air and more importantly the larger diameter has more static pressure. You could swap out the blower and filter on your mini-gorilla and see a big improvement. The 2HP could support a modest 5" duct run to the MS.
    Yeah, I figured it was. I shoulda jumped on it as soon as I saw it. It was gone this morning.

    I am about to succumb to a new dust collector. Not having a ducted shop is driving me crazy. It seems my shop vac and mini gorilla are always in the way.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tim M Tuttle View Post
    I have a Bosch Glide which means a large portion of the saw is right up agains the wall. Was thinking about doing 2 smaller hoods on either side of the saw. You think a 1 HP DC could handle 2? It would be dedicated to the miter saw and only a couple foot run of hose.
    Thats how I was thinking of handling it too for my Bosch Glide. But Im using a 3HP Oneida V-3000, and Im not sure 1HP would be enough for two small hoods.
    If at first you don't succeed, redefine success!

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ben Rivel View Post
    Thats how I was thinking of handling it too for my Bosch Glide. But Im using a 3HP Oneida V-3000, and Im not sure 1HP would be enough for two small hoods.
    I swung by Woodcraft the other day so look at their dust collection fittings to try and figure out a solution. I bought one of these: https://www.woodcraft.com/products/4...702d3c42000bea to do some testing. I wanted to see how well my DC would suck up dust "around" the fitting seeings how miter saws blow dust just about everything. I hooked it up and grabbed a few handfuls of dust out of my bin and slowly dropped the dust in front of the attachment. Other than the fine stuff it didnt pick up much and pretty much confirmed my fears that I wont get good results with my current DC. I was going to wait to upgrade my DC until I could do a ducted system so not exactly sure what I am going to do at this point.

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tim M Tuttle View Post
    I swung by Woodcraft the other day so look at their dust collection fittings to try and figure out a solution. I bought one of these: https://www.woodcraft.com/products/4...702d3c42000bea to do some testing. I wanted to see how well my DC would suck up dust "around" the fitting seeings how miter saws blow dust just about everything. I hooked it up and grabbed a few handfuls of dust out of my bin and slowly dropped the dust in front of the attachment. Other than the fine stuff it didnt pick up much and pretty much confirmed my fears that I wont get good results with my current DC. I was going to wait to upgrade my DC until I could do a ducted system so not exactly sure what I am going to do at this point.
    Yea I picked up something similar, a couple of these: LINK to go on either side of the saw, but still havent built out the enclosure to try it out. Dust collection for a miter saw is one of the hardest in anyone's shop, so Im not expecting anything great personally, even with the 3HP dust collector.
    If at first you don't succeed, redefine success!

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