Crosscut sled dust collection

[Monte Milanuk]

Recently built a new cross-cut sled. Works great... but between the ZC insert in the throat plate, and the ZC cut in the sled... there ain't much in the way of actual dust collection going on above the table.

I'm planning on building a clear blade guard / cover similar to what is shown in Willian Ng's video on the 5-cut method for calibrating the sled, and it seems like there should be *some* way to add some DC to that. Or along side it, or something.

I've seen a few videos where people have added a vacuum port to the blade guard 'box' on the face of the front fence. Doesn't seem like it'd help all that much, but maybe 'something' is better than nothing?

Just to make things more difficult, my saw is mobile (roll-around), so the usual 'hang it from the ceiling or a boom off the shop wall' doesn't really work for my situation. I have been eye-balling the Sawstop PCS 'over-arm dust collection' setup... it *looks* like a big 'U' of some thing - metal, PVC? - and looks like it might be feasible to fabricate a home-brew version and run 2-1/2" hose to the sled that way...

At any rate, I'm interested in what kind of solutions you may have arrived at for this particular conundrum

[Doug Garson]

I have the vacuum port on the blade guard box type of dust collection and it works surprisingly well, it was also easy (and cheap) to make and doesn't get in the way when using the sled. Mine is connected to my shop vac and I use it in conjunction with my DC connected to the underside of the saw. I'd say give it a try. One thing I have thought about but haven't pursued is whether removing the zero clearance insert when using the sled would improve dust collection.

[Nick Decker]

Monte, the SawStop arm thing you mentioned is several pieces of metal tubing. Pretty handy in that you can swing it out of the way easily, if necessary.

Doug, I don't see how removing the saw's ZCI would help much if the sled itself is zero clearance, but I haven't tried it so I could be wrong. It seems to me that most of the dust removal there relies on the movement of the blade flinging the debris into the saw cabinet, where air movement then picks it up.

[Doug Garson]

Nick, as I said I haven't tried it but with the ZCI in place you have two restrictions on airflow the ZCI and the kerf in the sled, of the two the ZCI is the more restrictive so it might help. When I get the chance I'll try it out, can't hurt. Agree the bulk of the collection likely relies on the blade movement as you suggest.

[Jim Becker]

I believe there's an Excalibur over-arm guard/collector for sale in the Classifieds.

[Monte Milanuk]

Doug,

I'd considered something like that... removing the ZCI in the saw, and then drilling some small holes in the sled on either side of the saw kerf to act as sort of a down-draft table... sled... something

Nick,

Are you talking the larger 4" 'floating' over-arm dust boom from Sawstop, or the smaller one that goes to a 1.5" port on the blade guard? The latter was what I was thinking of DIY'ing, albeit with 2.5" pipe/hose to my Sharkguard and/or some sort of dust port on the sled.

Jim,

Trust me, I saw that and was *very* interested... but it kind of works against that whole 'mobile' thing, as I understand it. We're talking a Ridgid 4512 with an Incra TS-LS fence on a roll-around base. If I had a bigger mobile 'saw station' with a bit more lead in its britches, and better support under the far right end of the fence, then maybe.

I would have sworn I'd seen pictures somewhere of a setup with an actual round port into the plastic blade cover on a sled, and bristle-brush sides to kind of contain the 'spray' and make the suction more effective. But so far, I haven't found any pics/videos of any such critter.

Ah... once I got *out* of the forum seach engine (google) and ran a regular search (google), I found at least one example...

[Doug Garson]

Monte, good find! The design shown would definitely improve dust collection and safety for many operations and the downdraft version would be the better of the two versions shown but I would be concerned that it would be difficult to clamp small pieces. It would be a good idea to make it easily removable for those cuts.

[Nick Decker]

Monte, I was referring to the latter, the smaller of the two. All metal except for the hoses that go to the blade guard and the DC port.

[ChrisA Edwards]

I am going to try and replicate this over my SawStop to try and eliminate the saw dust when using my sled..

I got the arm, used in the video, and my ducting arrived yesterday.

[Jim Becker]

Monte, the Excalibur can be used on a mobile base...when I had one, it was on a cabinet saw that was also on a mobile base. It attaches to the end of the table as well as to some braces down lower. But the Incra type fence might be a factor, depending on how things line up.

[Patrick Kane]

depending on the design of your sled, i found i had to lift the excalibur blade guard shroud 6"+/- to clear the fences of my sled. A shroud hanging 4"+ above the blade does diddly for picking up dust. I would limit the height of your cross cut sled fences if you can. OR, copy euro sliding saws and only work on one side of the blade. That way you can operate the crosscut fence alongside the edge of the blade shroud while having it fully lowered. The blade guard on my felder is about 1/8" to the left of the blade. My crosscut fence is then another 1/4" from the guard, and they operate independently without conflict.

[Monte Milanuk]

Jim,

That's the thing... I don't *have* anything down below to attach it to. Like I said, someday if I made a mobile saw 'station' out of it, I'd definitely put a post in that corner. I've debated about adding the Incra support legs to the end of the fence... but I'm not sure how well they'd integrate with the mobile base that I have now.

But for now... the reason the Sawstop over-arm guard intrigued me was that it runs along the fence rail, not all the way out on the back corner and seems like it'd keep a little more of the weight closer to the center of gravity.

[Jim Becker]

The old UniGuard attached that way at the back rail location...I do understand what you mean. The downside to that old UniGuard setup is that it wasn't removable or movable when you needed to cut something that wouldn't work with the overarm guard, um...over-head.