# Table Saw Dust Collection Advice



## JIMMIEM (Apr 4, 2010)

I have a contractor ts. I have dust collection at the bottom and have built a motor enclosure. I also built a rectangular hood for dust collection above the blade. Both collection points run to a dust collector. The over-the-blade collector needs improvement....I had it attached to fixed arms which was a pain to use....it now hangs down on chains which is ok but gets moved away from the blade when pushing the wood through. I'm thinking that a hinged/articulating arm setup like the commercial products would be best. The ones I have seen are more than I want to spend and would like a homemade solution. Looking for ideas and suggestions.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I've been thinking about this for awhile, it seems that to make this work, you need a ridgid bar above the saw to hold an arm that supports and leads to the blade cover. An L shaped structure, fixed to the ground, 90 degree bend to a bar parallel to the table that extends to just beyond the blade, but that crosses the table plane far enough from the blade so you can still manage to cut vertical pieces. You'd want that to be made of some fairly light material. You'd need a pivot of some sort for the ridgid support arm so it can rise or fall with the workpiece. You'd need a light duty spring to pull the dust hood against the table, but not so strong that it resists lifting too much. If you used a tube, you could use the L shaped structure as the dust collecting tube, which would reduce the weight pulling down on the end of the structure. Use a Y shaped splitter to attach both the under and over table collectors to the DC hose. 

If you look at the picture, you'll see the basic arm structure. It is fairly simple, with and adjustment for arm length that you may not need.

The hood support structure uses a counterweight rather than a spring, and it is probably made of aluminum bar to cut down total weight hanging from the arm. No one says you can't hang a support wire or bar fromthe ceiling down to the pipe. 

You could use adjustable pipe straps to attach L brackets below the pipe and use bolts to attach the hood mounting arm. Using a single arm would require a light spring, also attached to the pipe, or a counterweight. A long, straight arm would be articulated where it connects to the hood, and you'd want the shortest length of collector hose possible to reduce weight.

There are likely many choices as to how to attach the whole thing onto your saw, but a combination of brackets, or ply, or pipe fittings of various sorts would make for a very ridgid mount. You'd have to figure out the best way to attach it your saw, depending on the case, motor location, etc. By using a plywood plate attached to the saw, you'd have a place to attach the Y connector and permanently attach hoses below the table as well. So you'd plug your DC hose onto the Y connector to make both collectors work.

In theory, you could attach it to the floor, but any movement of the saw will mess up the alignment. it could also add to the unsupported length of the tubing. I'd want that vertical tube to have the shortest possible unsupported length, even to the point of adding a secondary support its entire vertical length. I don't think it would take much weight or abuse to damage the pipe, and with added support you could even use thin walled steel--heavier but probably easier to find than aluminum. 

Picture 2 and 3 are some really simple ideas, with some limitations, but helpful in designing your own. The wood structures are easily replaced with light aluminum.

A final point, If you can make a blade hood with swing up sides, or some sort of roller on the front edge, it will move out of the way of the workpiece as you push it through.

Just my thoughts on the matter.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

I've also been trying to figure out how to extract dust from the blade . I don't like the option General has , so I opted to buy a hood for a SawStop model , and am going to cut it's riving knife and graft and weld it to my General saws riving knife .
I thought I was the first to think of this , but I believe when I googled it , someone at Lumber Jocks had done the same thing with there table saw . 
If I could do it all over again I would have just bought a SawStop table saw and been done with it . I have the parts but haven't done the mod yet .

Here's a pic of the SawStop hood that I bought . To bad they don't use the same knife


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## Bushwhacker (Jun 16, 2009)

*Contractor saw dust collection*



JIMMIEM said:


> I have a contractor ts. I have dust collection at the bottom and have built a motor enclosure. I also built a rectangular hood for dust collection above the blade. Both collection points run to a dust collector. The over-the-blade collector needs improvement....I had it attached to fixed arms which was a pain to use....it now hangs down on chains which is ok but gets moved away from the blade when pushing the wood through. I'm thinking that a hinged/articulating arm setup like the commercial products would be best. The ones I have seen are more than I want to spend and would like a homemade solution. Looking for ideas and suggestions.


Jim, I too have a contractors TS. I would love to see some of the pictures of your set up for dust collection. I have a simple box on the supports under the table to catch what ever falls.
David


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## JIMMIEM (Apr 4, 2010)

Bushwhacker said:


> Jim, I too have a contractors TS. I would love to see some of the pictures of your set up for dust collection. I have a simple box on the supports under the table to catch what ever falls.
> David


Sometimes simple is better. I even built a thien pre-collector that is in front of the dust collector. I'll gets some pics. And, if you think my setup is half-good I'll show you pics of my Miter Saw dust collection rig that gets 90% of the dust and my Sliding Miter Saw dust collection which ain't great but helps contain the dust.


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## jody495 (Sep 11, 2011)

check out shop notes volume 16 ,issue 92 blade guard. this is the one I'm going to build with suction coming through the support pipe.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

jaody said:


> check out shop notes volume 16 ,issue 92 blade guard. this is the one I'm going to build with suction coming through the support pipe.


I have all the Shop Notes issues on DVD, going to look that up later today. Thanks.


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

I like your ideas, Tom. A new table saw is in my immediate future, and I hadn't thought of that approach.


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## Bushwhacker (Jun 16, 2009)

JIMMIEM said:


> Sometimes simple is better. I even built a thien pre-collector that is in front of the dust collector. I'll gets some pics. And, if you think my setup is half-good I'll show you pics of my Miter Saw dust collection rig that gets 90% of the dust and my Sliding Miter Saw dust collection which ain't great but helps contain the dust.


Thanks JIm, I will be watching for that.
David


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## coxhaus (Jul 18, 2011)

I built a DC system on my old Delta contractor saw. It was basically buying a plastic bottom plate with a 4 inch hose fitting and bolting it on the bottom. I draped plastic on the back side so it did not touch the belts. It cut down a lot on the amount of dust I was getting.

I have a Unisaw which will be a challenge for DC that I need to deal with. I thought about replacing my Unisaw with a Tennessee made Powermatic 66 which has a lot more dust collection built-in. My Unisaw is running so well I passed on the deal.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

chessnut2 said:


> I like your ideas, Tom. A new table saw is in my immediate future, and I hadn't thought of that approach.


 @Chessnut Exciting getting a new table saw. That's when my work started turning out well. I know there are all kinds of recommendations about best saw, but do check out the Laguna Fusion 10 inch. Really great constructionh, heavy trunions and flat table (made in Taiwan, but mfgr. must age cast iron for 6 months before flattening). And you can convert it later to 220. You can get either a 30 inch or 52 inch unit (about $100 difference). Great customer service should you need it. I think among premium saws, it stands above anything up to double its price, and once in awhile you can get it for 10 percent off. I think a lot of people overlook this superb saw.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Just my 2 cents regarding anyone buying a table saw . 
I find it to be a real pita getting a good cut when I'm by myself and I'm trying to cut large sheets with a wide cut like 48"s. 
Now if I would have taken the time to build a temporary infield table , I think I might have a different opinion of using 52" fences . 
But after learning about Track Saws from the members here , I would have purchased a TS with a 36" fence instead of a 52" . I'm getting much better cuts when I break down sheet goods with my track saw , and I can adjust the track to acquire a right angle if necessary. 
The large fence on my TS takes a lot of real estate too . 
Each to his own of course


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

@chessnut2 Hi, I have the 36 inch fence model and it is more than sufficient. The 52 inch was just too long to fit comfortably in my shop. I use a folding roller stand for infeed on large or long pieces, and have about a 30 inch outfeed table so work never overhangs the end out of balance. I also placed the saw so I have about 9 ft of space on the back side of the cutting edge so I can fit in an 8 ft piece. I don't have a track saw, but have a nice jig for breaking down sheet goods, usually while it's still on my truck. I just have no interest in hauling around a 4x8 sheet of ply. That's a recipe for a bad back. 

I use a tape to measure my breakdown cuts, but I generally make them a little oversized and do the final trim on a table saw. But I am thinking of making a 60 inch slider with a lock nut on a block so I can line up exact widths using the stick to mark and align the zero clearance edge of the straight edge jig with the marks. Using the factory edge means this cut would then be exactly what I want. I use an 18v Dewalt 6.5 inch saw for these cuts, which has a very narrow kerf. Light, no cord to fuss with (or cut), and sufficient power to do the job. Tape the good side (down) and there's very little chip out.

Oops, another novella.


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