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Thread: Ideas on Miter Saw Station

  1. #1
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    Ideas on Miter Saw Station

    Hi guys,

    Would you mind sharing pictures of your miter saw stations? Particularly the dust collection.

    From past installations I think a hood over the saw helps. I think a shop vac connected to the saw helps. But I've never had really good dust collection on my miter saw.

    Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

    PHM

  2. #2
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    Paul, I used to have a miter station that had fixed inboard (3 feet) and outboard (4 feet) supports. But that was back when I had more room in the shop. More tools required me to rethink the station and I copied one from Woodsmith that has fold down supports and I really like it. The cabinet has drawers on one side and a Fein vacuum on the other side.

    Dust collection on miter saws is always a problem and I've never seen a solution that is 100% effective. But many of them are better than what comes with the saw. The one I found works pretty well for my Bosch. You didn't mention what brand you have but do a YouTube search for miter saw dust collection and you will find plenty of ideas.
    miter saw open.jpgmiter saw closed.jpg

  3. #3
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    Dust collection on a miter saw is always a crap shoot. One thing that helps is if you can make your cuts with the wood standing up rather than laying flat. I used the stud cavity behind the blade as a hood, seems to work pretty well plus it lets the saw sit 4" further back. I have a 6" duct at the bottom of the stud cavity (2 hp Oneida Super Dust Gorilla), with the portion above the opening blocked off. I use a Kreg miter stop and two pieces of stranded bamboo (very hard) as a zero clearance backstop for 90 degree cuts, again normally cutting with the wood vertical if possible. The whole rig is angled to allow long stock to go out the door.

    Miter station 1.jpgMiter station 2.jpg
    Last edited by Ole Anderson; 06-17-2023 at 9:37 AM.
    NOW you tell me...

  4. #4
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    I don't use my miter saw very much, so I opted for a more simple setup in the new shop using a Wen miter saw/planer stand from Amazon...and "last year's model" to further reduce cost. If I need to use this, I roll it out. If it's a nice day, I open the overhead door to my shop and point the messy end out into the lawn...what I did Thursday when I cut up the off-cuts from a recent project to fit into the trash can. If I was going to use this more I'd definitely get some kind of hood to contain the sawdust.

    IMG_4074.jpg

    When I'm not using it, it's compacted down and pushed into a small space next to my finishing cabinet

    IMG_4075.jpg
    --

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

  5. #5
    You can kind of pick it out in this picture.

    Saw has ~ 6" blocks bolted to the feet to raise it above the fray- sits on bench. Outrigger- sort of a low horse sits on bench to the right and a board can be clamped in the vice to support longer stock. To the left, a wooden table extension slide for a support and further left a flip-down support in the doorway to outside. No fence, no stops. Dust bag collects some of the dust. Scrap bin is next to saw- it is used often to cut up rippings. Can cut 20' to the right (through another doorway) and unlimited to the left.

    The Dewalt saw goes on jobsites. It sits there but has no fixed set up due to limited space. It's dust bag works pretty well but hangs up on the limited space behind so it just makes a big mess. It has a stand that has worked great for many years for jobsite use. There's also a slider with modified folding stand. If you move a saw around, putting a plywood base on it is a good idea.


    IMG_4176 (1).jpgP1000327.jpgIMG_3749.jpg

  6. #6
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    I came to the conclusion that no shop vac has the airflow required to deal with a miter saw. So, someday, I'll have some sort of hood hooked to at least a 4" hose to the dust collector.

  7. #7
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    I have a local friend here who built a miter station with a back wall and a down-draft table. He says it works very effectively, but it's also connected to a big 5HP dust collector.

    miter_station.jpg

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aaron Inami View Post
    I have a local friend here who built a miter station with a back wall and a down-draft table....
    Yep. In a prior life, I had a few vendors that designed and installed dust systems on the 150+ HP scale. I gave them this design problem related to my home shop as a "government job". All three came back with perforated/downdraft components to channel the waste as the blade eats through the board's bottom on the down trajectory. I used duct tape and stuff to partially close the gap between table surface and saw base, in order to direct the air flow in towards the perf table

    I also had a "box" enclosure behind/around the saw to catch flying dust, and that funneled down to a pickup in he lower back
    When I started woodworking, I didn't know squat. I have progressed in 30 years - now I do know squat.

  9. #9
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    Thank you all for your comments so far.

    We moved into a new house late last year and I'm in the process of setting up my shop in a new location. I'm probably a week or so away from doing the miter station. I'm just finishing the dust collection ducting.

    My saw is a 10" Hitachi C10FSH slider. Belt driven. Has a laser guide (kinda weak though). It's about 10 years old. I'm actually pretty satisfied with the saw. Has a pretty decent cutting capacity.

    It seems to me that the priorities are:

    1) The hood is a must.
    2) Connect a dedicated shop vac to it to get what it can, It certainly won't get it all.
    3) Possibly build something flush mounted, under the saw. A place for the sawdust to go that the shop vac isn't getting. Possibly connect that to the dust collector or just clean it out once in a while with the shop vac i use to clean the shop.

    In any case thanks for your comments.

    PHM

  10. #10
    This video definitely has a clickbait title, but it looks like a good solution that doesn't involve building an entire hood:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HID6YleVsg

  11. #11
    I built a floating one out of FastCap speedbraces...

    https://youtu.be/yhcc1glagCU

    PK

  12. #12
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    Jay Bates' miter saw design is pretty effective for dust collection...find him on YouTube.
    --

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

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Becker View Post
    Jay Bates' miter saw design is pretty effective for dust collection...find him on YouTube.
    Just glanced at him on You Tube. Looks like a good guy to reference.

    Thanks Jim.

    PHM

  14. #14
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    A few other 'Tubers have adopted his method for dust control....miter saws are really tough to collect from and his way of being able to "close the box a bit" when the saw is at 90º (as probably most are most of the time, as it were) works pretty well from what I've seen. If I actually used my miter saw a lot, I'd seriously consider it. The original miter station in my old shop, before I took it down, used flow from both under the saw and behind the saw with a wood hood that became "more formal" over time. It was "ok", but honestly, there's a huge amount of splash from a miter saw that's just hard to capture. I think the only tool harder to do "dust collection" is a lathe and with that tool, the only practical use for dust collection is for sanding.
    --

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

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Paul McGaha View Post

    2) Connect a dedicated shop vac to it to get what it can, It certainly won't get it all.
    I did this and then found I wasn't reliably flipping the vac on until I'd started the cut. Ooooops.

    So I added a 4-spot junction box to the support table, and wired a duplex receptacle, both powered though one light switch. Plugged both saw and vac in; turned the vac on and left it in the on position.

    So then - I could not get the saw to spin up until I threw that switch. At which time the vac came on and I could run the saw.

    Could not run the saw until the vac had been started.


    EDIT - wait a minute - you could get a Kapex, and all the dust in your shop magically disappears, right? That's a better idea.
    Last edited by Kent A Bathurst; 06-22-2023 at 4:21 PM.
    When I started woodworking, I didn't know squat. I have progressed in 30 years - now I do know squat.

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