# Over-The-Blade Table Saw Dust Collector Question



## JIMMIEM (Apr 4, 2010)

I'm making an over-the-blade table saw dust collector....under table dust collector is already in place. My saw is in an unfinished basement so I plan on suspending an arm straight down from the ceiling joists and hanging the hood off of double horizontal arms that are attached to the ceiling arm. I would like to be able to adjust the dust cover in 2 directions i.e. front to back and left to right. My question is which direction do you find having to adjust more frequently i.e. front to back or left to right? Is the front to back adjustment dependent on the thickness of the wood being cut and the side to side adjustment dependent on the distance between the saw blade and the fence?
I've never used one of these or seen one in use so I'm trying to visualize adjustability. Or am I overthinking this?


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

youre overthinking it. The blade doesnt move, so the dust is going to be 99% in the same place.
make the hood a bit bigger and you will never have to move it.


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## JIMMIEM (Apr 4, 2010)

sunnybob said:


> youre overthinking it. The blade doesnt move, so the dust is going to be 99% in the same place.
> make the hood a bit bigger and you will never have to move it.


The hood I have is about 4 1/2" wide. If I can't move it side to side there will be a limit to how close I can move the fence toward the blade....unless I permanently position the edge of the hood close to the blade on the fence side.
I'm thinking I'm overthinking.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

If you do a search for TS dust collection, you'll find quite a few articles where the "factory" guard has been modified to provide dust collection - photo shows my attempt, which admittedly needs a little tweaking as it's nose heavy so either need to move the port backwards, add a counterbalance or maybe a support for the dust hose. The downside to this arrangement is that it doesn't work for other than full depth cuts which is where the suspended hood collector would be appropriate. I don't see though the need for a hood any wider than the factory guard, but maybe I'm missing something. I frequently cut bevels on parts (edge chamfer) and the guard doesn't work - I've though about positioning a nozzle close to the blade (magnetic holder attached to the saw table) as a means of colleting the sawdust from this operation, something on the order of what you see being used on a drill press.


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## JIMMIEM (Apr 4, 2010)

tomp913 said:


> If you do a search for TS dust collection, you'll find quite a few articles where the "factory" guard has been modified to provide dust collection - photo shows my attempt, which admittedly needs a little tweaking as it's nose heavy so either need to move the port backwards, add a counterbalance or maybe a support for the dust hose. The downside to this arrangement is that it doesn't work for other than full depth cuts which is where the suspended hood collector would be appropriate. I don't see though the need for a hood any wider than the factory guard, but maybe I'm missing something. I frequently cut bevels on parts (edge chamfer) and the guard doesn't work - I've though about positioning a nozzle close to the blade (magnetic holder attached to the saw table) as a means of colleting the sawdust from this operation, something on the order of what you see being used on a drill press.


I made mine wider than the factory guard width so that I wouldn't have to use a dust hose reducer. Also the widths of the commercial ones I've seen are wider. My current set up has the hood and hose suspended from chains attached to the floor joists above. I tried to make an arm set up with angle iron but it was clunky. I figured that hanging from the joists would be the way to go.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Just a small point. I like the idea of a DC above the blade, and recently I found that by raising the blade a little higher, the gullets seemed better able to carry the sawdust away. Affixing a support to the joist is one solution, but a friend did that and it worked out fine.


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## UglySign (Nov 17, 2015)

Have you seen the Shark S-12 dust guard?
No clue of cost.

Similar to Generals I believe. Maybe that could be suspended downward?
You would also need to adjust up/down on it too, along w/ dust hose I assume.

I made a monster over head DC guard mounted to the right side on the wall.
Tried mimicking Felders OHDC, seen here:

Overhead-Saw-Guard

Made of 8020 15 series tube I had extra of and Alum from work.
By the time I was done it's around 90lbs. Well over done but it works. I have it where it can go up/down and swing out of way.
I'll post pics later if I have time.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Maybe something like this? 
Saw Stache - FastCap - Woodworking Tools

Herb


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## UglySign (Nov 17, 2015)

I'd go with Tight-Seal Strip Brushes instead.

Way better than rubber & easier to work with. Just need a 1/8" channel and press it in.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Attaching bristles to Tomp913's blade guard should make an efficient combination. The bristles would allow lifting the guard up so that it isn't in the way of the fence when making narrow rips. On really narrow ones you'd need to be able to take the bristles off the short side to keep from cutting them but the narrow gap between the blade and fence should negate most of the need to have them on that side anyway.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Take a look at this. The best home made solution I've seen yet...





An addendum:





Holy Cow, another interesting idea and VERY simple. I can see how forming a pipe with heat like this could also help collect sawdust from a sliding miter saw as well.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Tom I like some of the designs that guy did , other than using that Bosch plexi dust collection piece . 
It's to small ,and besides that he's got it at the back of the blade? 
Any time I've used my TS, I've had the dust shoot forward off the blade , so his idea wouldn't work very well at all .
I like most of what he's done , but after all that great designing , I'd be building a longer narrower home made dust shroud out of plexi while I was at it


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

RainMan 2.0 said:


> I like most of what he's done , but after all that great designing , I'd be building a longer narrower home made dust shroud out of plexi while I was at it


I had the same thought. Actually, I just ordered a metalic DC setup that was on sale for $159. I'll do the same, just want the hardware leading to it.


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