# Workshop upgrades anyone?



## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Dust, dust, go away! Then organize the shop.
Sawdust has a way of getting over and under everything. So I got busy making changes in the shop. Here are some pictures and more about what I've done in the hope it will inspire others. Nothing fancy, but practical and doable. Nearly all made from scrap. 

Picture 1: This was once the short leg of an L shaped counter. It was always messy. So I removed the leg and used the 6 foot section to make 5 counters. 3 on top are about 7 inches wide, the bottom are 12 inches. As you can see, it holds a lot of stuff. After using it, I realized that the 1x4s that hold the self brackets let things fall through, so I used some thin ply to put stops at the back of the shelves. That lets power cords snake under and through the shelving. I have a couple of remote controlled lights I can turn on from the house. 

Picture 2: On the opposite wall, I have some wire shelving with all the tools, accessories and such smaller stuff in standard plastic containers. Printed what's in the boxes on the end. No dust gets in, and the wire shelving lets most sawdust pass through down to the floor. That 18 inch space underneath makes it easy to vacuum out the dust with my DC unit.

Picture 3: The big dust offender is the sliding miter saw. Shoots sawdust all over the place! There doesn't seem to be any way to tame this beast entirely, but by setting up a 72 inch wide shower curtain liner behind and to about 18 inches out from the wall, I already stopped much of the litter. Next I'm going to get another liner and put a piece across the top and hanging down just above the handle in the front. Finally, going to attach a short bib on the back of the stand to guide sawdust to the bottom, where I will tuck all the curtains into a dust collection port. Notice the doors on the stand. Part of the project was to seal in the saw stand and put doors on it. Sliding drawers go in next. 

Picture 4: Close up of the way I set up the curtain rods, attaching brackets to the studs. I used 3 1/4x20 nuts as spacers to allow room for the curtain hangers. They slide, but really don't need to. Notice the brackets are upside down. These brackets were outside for a couple of years, so a little rusty, but still solid. My plan is to gather all the plastic into a box attached to the wall with a dust port sucking in as much air as possible. I think to do this right, I'll have to buy another shower curtain liner, part for covering the top, and another part for a "bib" attached to the back of the stand.

You may notice the white foam behind the saw and one of the shelves? They block and insulate the cheap single pane windows that pass in heat during the summer and let in the cold in winter. This makes it very dark in there, especially when I block the two small skylights with foam. So I installed a number of under counter LED units and found some 1150 lumen LED reflector style bulbs to put over the table saw and workbench. Really lights the place up for a guy with old eyes. One light over the door has a timer switch. Push buttons for 1, 2, 4 and 8 hours on. 

With all these changes, I was able to move my band saw out of a back corner to a much handier spot and find myself using it a lot more. Put some fold down casters on it so I can push a lever down and the thing rolls, lift the lever and the saw sits solid on the floor. There was some steel shelving where the band saw stands that cut into the space, so I gained maybe 12 sq feet in space, which really makes it nice to work in there. The shelves were grossly wasteful use of space. Notice the additional peg board space behind the band saw.

I hope this motivates some to take on organizing their shop. This is soooooo much nicer and stuff doesn't get lost so easily. Everything is close at hand and there's still a 12 foot long counter with even more storage for nuts, bolts and other small stuff.


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## Ray Newman (Mar 9, 2009)

D-R-T: great idea 'bout using a shower curtain and rods to control the dust around a miter saw!


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Looking good Tom . I'm on a mission to get mine organized too . I was looking at your drills and thinking you could use one of these . MT Stringer invented it 


 

I keep all my air nails and screw driver bits in the slim drawers below . This is a pic before the fronts were added to the drawers


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Wow, I am going to make one of these. Those tools would be more likely to be used when displayed that way. Thanks for sharing this, put a picture in my todo folder.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

BTW Rick, don't forget to put steel stud protection plates wherever those wires go through a stud. You don't want to run a drywall screw through the wiring. Unlikely to happen, but the plates will prevent it entirely. I didn't use a vapor barrier in my shop but put a layer of aluminized bubble wrap on the inside of the shed wall, then layered the insulation on top of that. Adds an additional R4, but it also tends to redirect infra red heat outward. Add another couple of hundred for a few rolls. With R13 in the walls, that extra little bit of insulation and IR reflection helps. Your AC and heater won't have to work so hard. Nice space.


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

Nice idea on the shower curtain. The flexibility solves the problem of a sliding saw needing so much clearance in the rear when making a regular hood. Thanks!


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## Knothead47 (Feb 10, 2010)

You have some great ideas. I am really limited in space including wall space. I was thinking of moving some things upstairs to the spare room that the wife uses to get ready for work each morning. She works :big_boss: to support my hobbies- hunting, fishing, woodworking, loafing in front of the TV.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Trying to organize my shop, building much needed storage but that's on hold for the moment as I work on dust collection. I bought a Dust-Right separator from Rockler, works so well that I'm making a larger one to hook up to the main DC. Also bought the Jet air cleaner and working on getting that mounted - no way to hang it from the ceiling (conduit in the way and no easy access to beef up the trusses) so I built a 2x4 frame so I could sit it on a shelf up at the ceiling. Eventually there will be cabinets inside the frame to take advantage of the space.


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## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

Tom, I like the shower curtain idea for the miter saw. I was given a very old chop saw by a friend who was a carpenter in his younger day. It weighs about a ton and when I use it, I think the saw dust ends up in the next county. I recently saw a shop tip in a woodworking magazines. It uses a large round plastic trash can, probably in the 30 - 40 gallon range. With a utility knife cut out a vertical piece about 1/3 of the circumference and most of the height of the trash can. Cut a hole in the bottom for a 4" hose and put the top back on. Positioned just behind the saw it captures a lot of the saw dust and what slides to the bottom is removed by the dust collection hose. Since i can probably pick up a can at Walmart for around $15 I was thinking of trying it. If anyone's interested, I'll go through my magazines and see if I can find the picture and post it.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Issue #193 of Woodsmith magazine has a Miter Saw Dust Collector in the Tips& Techniques section - it's uses a 14" x 16" hood Tabletop Dust Fitting - Rockler Woodworking Tools attached to a piece of plywood which can then slide in a frame that stands behind the saw. The hood can then be moved as needed to stay behind the saw when mitering. Hooked up to a DC, and with the height of the hood adjusted to collect the bulk of the sawdust, it may be a worthwhile addition to your shop. It uses a 4" hose, but a 90° fitting off the hood outlet would minimize the space needed behind the collector.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

tomp913 said:


> Issue #193 of Woodsmith magazine has a Miter Saw Dust Collector in the Tips& Techniques section - it's uses a 14" x 16" hood Tabletop Dust Fitting - Rockler Woodworking Tools attached to a piece of plywood which can then slide in a frame that stands behind the saw. The hood can then be moved as needed to stay behind the saw when mitering. Hooked up to a DC, and with the height of the hood adjusted to collect the bulk of the sawdust, it may be a worthwhile addition to your shop. It uses a 4" hose, but a 90° fitting off the hood outlet would minimize the space needed behind the collector.


I believe I bought that exact hood . I should try mounting behind my miter saw and see if it helps . It's gotta be my worst offender right now when it comes to dust .

Should I by pass the 1-1/2" dust collection tube that is on the Makita saw and just use the hood?


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

RainMan1 said:


> I believe I bought that exact hood . I should try mounting behind my miter saw and see if it helps . It's gotta be my worst offender right now when it comes to dust .
> 
> Should I by pass the 1-1/2" dust collection tube that is on the Makita saw and just use the hood?


 My old Craftsman radial arm saw had a similar hood (although smaller) attached to the table behind the blade. There was a smaller hose connected to the blade guard that was routed into the main collector and that fed quite a lot of the sawdust into the collector - wouldn't hurt to try it. Leave a little slack in the smaller hose to allow for pivoting and attach the hose to the hood with a tie-wrap so the sawdust is routed into the 4" opening, and maybe a light spring attached between the hose and the hood/frame to keep the hose up out of the work area.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Barry747 said:


> Tom, I like the shower curtain idea for the miter saw. I was given a very old chop saw by a friend who was a carpenter in his younger day. It weighs about a ton and when I use it, I think the saw dust ends up in the next county. I recently saw a shop tip in a woodworking magazines. It uses a large round plastic trash can, probably in the 30 - 40 gallon range. With a utility knife cut out a vertical piece about 1/3 of the circumference and most of the height of the trash can. Cut a hole in the bottom for a 4" hose and put the top back on. Positioned just behind the saw it captures a lot of the saw dust and what slides to the bottom is removed by the dust collection hose. Since i can probably pick up a can at Walmart for around $15 I was thinking of trying it. If anyone's interested, I'll go through my magazines and see if I can find the picture and post it.


That's an excellent idea. I can test it out by placing a spare trash contrainer behind and slip the curtain into it. Maybe even tape it in place to start with. A little apron of curtain attached to the back of the stand and leading into the can would stop lots of sawdust from spreading toward the front. I'm also going to drape another section of curtain across the top and hanging down in front just above the saw's business end. That should direct most of the air flow inward. If I only get a 50% reduction, I'll be happy, but I believe the setup will give me a greater reduction than that. Will see shortly and post pictures of the final setup.


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## MAFoElffen (Jun 8, 2012)

I really like what you've done Tom! You can see that you've really thought things through.

Darn it though. Sharon saw those pictures and hopes I will re-organize my shop... I told here I would have a lot more room in mine if her commercial sunbed wasn't out there...


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

MAFoElffen said:


> I really like what you've done Tom! You can see that you've really thought things through.
> 
> Darn it though. Sharon saw those pictures and hopes I will re-organize my shop... I told here I would have a lot more room in mine if her commercial sunbed wasn't out there...


"...but doc, all I said to her was that she should move her commercial sunbed and that's when everything went dark!">>>


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

schnewj said:


> "...but doc, all I said to her was that she should move her commercial sunbed and that's when everything went dark!">>>


suspect there may be an envelope of time before the doc will let Mike join us...


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## MAFoElffen (Jun 8, 2012)

schnewj said:


> "...but doc, all I said to her was that she should move her commercial sunbed and that's when everything went dark!">>>





Stick486 said:


> suspect there may be an envelope of time before the doc will let Mike join us...


LMOA!!! Actually it turned out well. She has not used it since she stood out at the power meter and had me turn it on. (I could hear her screaming outside to quickly turn it off.) She hasn't used it since she figured out how much power it draws. 

She finally has told me that I can sell it on CL. How much is a 24 bulb Wolfe bed worth? I have no idea on those...


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## schnewj (Nov 18, 2013)

MAFoElffen said:


> LMOA!!! Actually it turned out well. She has not used it since she stood out at the power meter and had me turn it on. (I could hear her screaming outside to quickly turn it off.) She hasn't used it since she figured out how much power it draws.
> 
> She finally has told me that I can sell it on CL. How much is a 24 bulb Wolfe bed worth? I have no idea on those...


Whew! Are you lucky! :surprise:


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Yeh, but...a chick with a year round tan? Priceless! 

You may be able to use it in your shop, Mike...
What is UV Curing, and What Can UV Curing Do for You?


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I found a plastic box with a flat bottom, cut a hole and mounted a 4 inch dust port in the bottom, with a short length of flex tubing connecting it to a blast gate. My movable dust collector intake nozzle fits over the blast gate. I can see that my DC system does not really move as much air as it will take for this to work well, but tucking the curtain into the box and using metalic tape to secure it has already made a difference. Works a little better once I put a top sheet over the curtain, but I think it will be even better when I add both a well sealed top and a front curtain just above the saw head. Surprising how little sawdust gets out, despite the weak blower system. Guess I'm going to have to pony up for a stronger blower. I also think I have too many right angles in the exhaust line. I'll have to work on that.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

tomp913 said:


> Trying to organize my shop, building much needed storage but that's on hold for the moment as I work on dust collection. I bought a Dust-Right separator from Rockler, works so well that I'm making a larger one to hook up to the main DC. Also bought the Jet air cleaner and working on getting that mounted - no way to hang it from the ceiling (conduit in the way and no easy access to beef up the trusses) so I built a 2x4 frame so I could sit it on a shelf up at the ceiling. Eventually there will be cabinets inside the frame to take advantage of the space.


The air cleaner is on hold until my buddy stops by to help me lift it up on the platform so I spent part of the day trying to work on mounting my shop vac on top of the separator - one step forward, two steps back. I made a plywood top with feet to raise it off the contoured top of the separator and now find that I need some 45° fittings to get the hose out from under the vac - the plan is to make a second platform that the vac will sit on, sitting on pieces of 1" dowel to give the separation. I made some plywood rings for the vac casters to sit in, picked up the wrong holes saw and the center holes are too sloppy so will have to remake them tomorrow. Guess now I get to work on the larger separator until the fittings show up from Rockler - thinking about buying one of the hoods at the same time and trying to rig up something to catch the dust off the miter saw which is really the only thing left that doesn't have acceptable dust collection.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

tomp913 said:


> The air cleaner is on hold until my buddy stops by to help me lift it up on the platform so I spent part of the day trying to work on mounting my shop vac on top of the separator - one step forward, two steps back. I made a plywood top with feet to raise it off the contoured top of the separator and now find that I need some 45° fittings to get the hose out from under the vac - the plan is to make a second platform that the vac will sit on, sitting on pieces of 1" dowel to give the separation. I made some plywood rings for the vac casters to sit in, picked up the wrong holes saw and the center holes are too sloppy so will have to remake them tomorrow. Guess now I get to work on the larger separator until the fittings show up from Rockler - thinking about buying one of the hoods at the same time and trying to rig up something to catch the dust off the miter saw which is really the only thing left that doesn't have acceptable dust collection.


Think about taking off the vac casters and using blocks in their place to space them higher off the ply wood top. That will give you some room for the hoses to connect. Try the shower curtain idea around the sliding miter. The curtain has to come as far forward as possible without interfering with the workpiece. It also helps to have a top and a short curtain that closes off all but the head of the saw. This increases the air flow volume.

If you do the curtains, collected down into a box, you will probably have to tap the outside of the curtain from time to time to knock the dust off--static cling I guess. I suggest not using the cloth type duct tape since its adhesive eventually gives up. I used the aluminum coated duct tape instead. Much better at holding the plastic sheet than the cloth stuff.

So far, I'd say the curtains are catching more than 80 percent of all the sawdust. When it gets collected, it really shows you how much sawdust the thing kicks out.
Tom


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

DesertRatTom said:


> Think about taking off the vac casters and using blocks in their place to space them higher off the ply wood top. That will give you some room for the hoses to connect. Try the shower curtain idea around the sliding miter. The curtain has to come as far forward as possible without interfering with the workpiece. It also helps to have a top and a short curtain that closes off all but the head of the saw. This increases the air flow volume.
> 
> If you do the curtains, collected down into a box, you will probably have to tap the outside of the curtain from time to time to knock the dust off--static cling I guess. I suggest not using the cloth type duct tape since its adhesive eventually gives up. I used the aluminum coated duct tape instead. Much better at holding the plastic sheet than the cloth stuff.
> 
> ...


Thanks. I'm presently considering taking off the caster base and making a ring to fit around the can up to the step and then lifting that off the bottom plywood disc with (4) short sections of dowel. The 45° fittings are on order, should be here next week so I'll spend more time on it then.

I like the idea of the curtain, but my saws don't have their own space, they sit on a shelf under the one workbench and just get dragged out when I need them. Don't have to worry about the slide - the one saw is a 25 year old Makita miter saw (no slide, no bevel) and the other is a little Sears Radial Arm Miter Saw of about the same vintage, I actually prefer the Sears for cutting moldings - it has about the same cross cut capacity (1x6 @ 90°) as the Makita but it's a lot handier on smaller moldings - the downside is that the 7-1/2" blades aren't that readily available, but the 7-1/4" blade is fine with an auxiliary fence and table bolted to the saw. The photo shows it set up with a table and clamp/fixtures to cut aluminum extrusions. Also bought the dust hood from Rockler and will play with that a little - both saws get set up on a Workmate with a piece of rectangular tubing clamped in the jaws to support rollers and a stop block so I need something to attach to the back of the Workmate and collect the dust.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

The air cleaner is on hold until my buddy shows up to help me lift it, and the separator is on hold until the fittings show up from Rockler so I took the afternoon and put together the cabinet for under the air cleaner - really need it to tie the vertical 2x4's together. I had to buy a sheet of plywood as I'm finally running out of large leftovers, guess I'm starting on a new batch. The doors were left over from a job years ago, and were used to fix the height of the cabinet. A couple of coats of fast-dry poly tomorrow will finish it up.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

UPS dropped off the fittings for the dust separator so it's back on that project. In the meantime, I finished the cabinet under the air filter and have that mounted in place (still waiting for help lifting the filter up on top). Trying to decide what I want to build for the lower section - shelves or drawers - the box will be 24" wide x 18" deep x 36" high so I have a couple of options.


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

tomp913 said:


> The air cleaner is on hold until my buddy stops by to help me lift it up on the platform so I spent part of the day trying to work on mounting my shop vac on top of the separator - one step forward, two steps back. I made a plywood top with feet to raise it off the contoured top of the separator and now find that I need some 45° fittings to get the hose out from under the vac - the plan is to make a second platform that the vac will sit on, sitting on pieces of 1" dowel to give the separation. I made some plywood rings for the vac casters to sit in, picked up the wrong holes saw and the center holes are too sloppy so will have to remake them tomorrow. Guess now I get to work on the larger separator until the fittings show up from Rockler - thinking about buying one of the hoods at the same time and trying to rig up something to catch the dust off the miter saw which is really the only thing left that doesn't have acceptable dust collection.



Tom this is what I did to collect dust from my mitre saw. I hook up my big DC and my shop vac. The baffle really makes a difference. It's a piece of a throw rug my wife was going to throw away. The hose from the shop vac. now comes through the top.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Psychologically speaking, it would make me crazy working in a confined enclosure like that, no matter how effective it. 
That's not any form of criticism, Don, just a personal quirk on my part. (I hate working in confined spaces).


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

hawkeye10 said:


> Tom this is what I did to collect dust from my mitre saw. I hook up my big DC and my shop vac. The baffle really makes a difference. It's a piece of a throw rug my wife was going to throw away. The hose from the shop vac. now comes through the top.


Don,

Nice looking hood, I'm guessing that it stays hooked up all the time? Does it pretty much get all the sawdust? I don't see the baffle - do you have another photo that shows it better? - is it needed to control blowback from the sawdust coming out of the smaller hose directly off the guard? My old RAS had the same set-up, the small hose off the guard pretty much had to be sitting in the large hose to the DC.

I don't have room for something like this, my miter saw gets put away under the bench after use so that the set-up has to be broken down after each use. The hood from Rockler showed up with the fittings for the separator so that project moved up the list.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

DaninVan said:


> Psychologically speaking, it would make me crazy working in a confined enclosure like that, no matter how effective it.
> That's not any form of criticism, Don, just a personal quirk on my part. (I hate working in confined spaces).


Looks as if it doesn't come past the face of the fence, shouldn't be that bad - but I know what you mean about closed spaces :frown:


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

DaninVan said:


> Psychologically speaking, it would make me crazy working in a confined enclosure like that, no matter how effective it.
> That's not any form of criticism, Don, just a personal quirk on my part. (I hate working in confined spaces).


Dan it doesn't bother the saw at all and I stay on the out side so I am fine. :laugh2: :laugh2:


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

tomp913 said:


> Don,
> 
> Nice looking hood, I'm guessing that it stays hooked up all the time? Does it pretty much get all the sawdust? I don't see the baffle - do you have another photo that shows it better? - is it needed to control blowback from the sawdust coming out of the smaller hose directly off the guard? My old RAS had the same set-up, the small hose off the guard pretty much had to be sitting in the large hose to the DC.
> 
> I don't have room for something like this, my miter saw gets put away under the bench after use so that the set-up has to be broken down after each use. The hood from Rockler showed up with the fittings for the separator so that project moved up the list.


I don't leave it hooked up all the time. I have to move my DC to each tool. It's a space thing "the lack of it". It does real good, a lot better than I thought it would. I thought I showed a picture with the baffle but here it is.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

I knew that, Don, but as I said I'd just _feel _restricted...state of mind really. It probably works like a hot damn.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

hawkeye10 said:


> I don't leave it hooked up all the time. I have to move my DC to each tool. It's a space thing "the lack of it". It does real good, a lot better than I thought it would. I thought I showed a picture with the baffle but here it is.


Thanks for the photo, I see what you're doing now - the baffle knocks down any dust that bounces off the back of the hood. Did you find that the hose coming off the guard couldn't just be attached inside the hood and had to be hooked up to the vac? The smaller hose on my RAS hooked to the guard and was just pointed into the hood - there were problems because of needing enough slack to take care of the crosscut travel, but I could have the excess actually inside the 4" hose to the DC. That shouldn't be a problem with my miter saw as there's no travel to accommodate so I'm hoping that just the large hood is going to work for me. That project is on hold again until Rockler ships a new hood to replace the one damaged in shipping, and the stacking of the shop vac and separator ran into a snag as the fittings I bought aren't compatible.


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

tomp913 said:


> Thanks for the photo, I see what you're doing now - the baffle knocks down any dust that bounces off the back of the hood. Did you find that the hose coming off the guard couldn't just be attached inside the hood and had to be hooked up to the vac? The smaller hose on my RAS hooked to the guard and was just pointed into the hood - there were problems because of needing enough slack to take care of the crosscut travel, but I could have the excess actually inside the 4" hose to the DC. That shouldn't be a problem with my miter saw as there's no travel to accommodate so I'm hoping that just the large hood is going to work for me. That project is on hold again until Rockler ships a new hood to replace the one damaged in shipping, and the stacking of the shop vac and separator ran into a snag as the fittings I bought aren't compatible.


Tom the way the hose is hooked up in the picture was for testing only. It now comes through the top in the middle and I have enough play in the hose so it works for sawing to the left and right. Let me know how you come out and what you think about it.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

hawkeye10 said:


> Tom the way the hose is hooked up in the picture was for testing only. It now comes through the top in the middle and I have enough play in the hose so it works for sawing to the left and right. Let me know how you come out and what you think about it.


I'm hoping that I can just stick the hose off my guard into the 4" hose in the back of the hood, make life a little easier. I set my miter saw(s) up on a Workmate with a piece of rectangular tubing clamped in the jaws to act as an extension and carry the roller support/length stop, and hoping that the hood somehow clamped to the back of the Workmate is going to be the answer for me. Right now I'm a little frustrated trying to put everything together - some male fittings are made to go inside a hose, some inside the vac connector and there's enough difference between the two that you can't easily use a connector to join them. I had been trying to work with the short hose that came with the dust separator; it's pretty stiff which is why I was looking at a 45° to get out from under the vac but the standard hose seems to be much more flexible so I may scrap the fitting and see if I can get the hose to work.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Took me a while to find this thread, thought it better to add than start a new one. I've been puttering in the shop recently, not feeling like jumping into a big project, so got around to a couple of "upgrades" that I've been putting off forever.

I finally made up a frame to hold the Rockler dust hood for the miter saw. I think that it's going to work out OK, just needs some tweaking. Big thing it needs is a hose off the port on top of the guard to feed the sawdust into the back of the hood as I get some blowback with just the outlet on the guard, I'll make a more substantial frame to hold the hood and come up with a better clamping method than I've got (although that seems to work pretty well - maybe just go to fender washers?).

I don't have the space to set my miter saw up permanently so usually jury rig a stop method when I'm cutting multiples - and then take it apart when I'm finished. As I'm going to be cutting the 2x4's for my adjustable height workbench (a la MT Stringer) and track saw table, I needed something a little more substantial but still portable. I usually have the saw up on my Workmate so I came up with the following set-up. The fence extension bolts to the saw fence and provides both support and a stop for cutting parts to length. I slotted the attachment holes so that I could move it (to the right) as needed to clean up the cut edge. Worked out well yesterday - mark the cut line on the material, line the mark up with the end of the fence and move the stop until it touches the part. I'll look into making a more easily adjusted stop - maybe a piece of t-track let into the plywood face and a sliding stop with a clamp knob.

And I finished up mounting the shop vac on top of the dust separator. It's not as top heavy as it looks, pulls around the shop by the pickup hose with no tendency to tip over. And it's no problem to take apart to empty the separator - unhook both hoses from the separator, lift the vac out of the frame and then lift the frame off the separator. I probably need to finish it up by making holders for the various nozzles and brushes that are just lying on top of the separator.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

nicely done Thomas...


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

+1 What Stick said.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Nice job on the DC system. I have a fitting like the one you are using and I think I will find a way to have all the plastic curtain material feed down into that instead of a box. I think I also need to have a stronger blower. Glad you revived this thread. Lots of comments I hadn't seen before.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

@Desertrat Tom

Thanks. Something that I've been putting off for a long time, sorry now that I didn't do it sooner.

I think that it's going to work well with a littlie more tweaking, none of which is looking like a problem

- the opening needs to be moved up a little higher 

- need a way to direct the discharge from the guard where the dust bag normally attaches into the hood better, My old Craftsman RAS had a small flex hose that came off the guard and fed into the hood, always a problem because of the need to allow for the carriage travel, not going to be a problem on this because it's not a slider. The problem is going to be a fitting that fits on the discharge and finding a piece of suitable flexible hose. The saw came with a 90° fitting for hooking up a shop vac which I guess could work but a straight fitting would be better - I may look at the adapter fittings that Rockler sells.

- one problem that may not be fixable is that the saw fence design seems to restrict sawdust movement into the hood as the blade is completing the cut - the semi-circular section between the two faces traps sawdust which falls onto the table. I think that this is where most of the sawdust that's lying on the table comes from. If I could find an extra fence for this 27 yr old saw, I might look into cutting out that section (and having two separate fences) and see if that solves the problem.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

One thing that has helped is the way I now make cuts with the sliding miter saw. I now cut in two passes, first down and toward me, cutting just a third of the way through the stock, then pushing away to cut through the rest. Seems to make a channel that directs the vast majority of the sawdust backwards, into the curtain. Far less random dust this way.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

tomp913 said:


> @Desertrat Tom
> 
> - one problem that may not be fixable is that the saw fence design seems to restrict sawdust movement into the hood as the blade is completing the cut - the semi-circular section between the two faces traps sawdust which falls onto the table. I think that this is where most of the sawdust that's lying on the table comes from. If I could find an extra fence for this 27 yr old saw, I might look into cutting out that section (and having two separate fences) and see if that solves the problem.


My sliding miter has a split fence that is cut down quite a bit on either side of the blade. I almost never attempt to make super precise cuts on this saw, so tearout isn't much of a problem. 

In another entry, I mentined doing miter saw cuts in two passes, first toward me through a shallow cut, then away for the rest. Not sure how you could duplicate that with a chop saw, but maybe by cutting slower on the down movement to make an initial cut, then lift, then cut down through the rest without forcing the cut. A channel first, then the rest.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

DesertRatTom said:


> My sliding miter has a split fence that is cut down quite a bit on either side of the blade. I almost never attempt to make super precise cuts on this saw, so tearout isn't much of a problem.
> 
> In another entry, I mentined doing miter saw cuts in two passes, first toward me through a shallow cut, then away for the rest. Not sure how you could duplicate that with a chop saw, but maybe by cutting slower on the down movement to make an initial cut, then lift, then cut down through the rest without forcing the cut. A channel first, then the rest.


With the "chop" saw and one piece fence. it's the sawdust generated towards the bottom of the cut that hits the fence, the only real way to perhaps eliminate this would be to make a split fence. 

I make cuts by lowering the blade slowly as it gives better results - plus it's easier on the saw. I was over my son's house helping him remodel his basement and noticed the way that he uses his - almost like the saw is a guillotine - and mentioned that he would get better cuts and that it would be easier on his saw if he slowed down a little. Maybe for two cuts...................

I found a replacement fence on eBay; 2 actually, a brand new one for $30 and a used one for $7 - almost worth spending the money to test the above theory. Each half of the fence then would be held by two bolts and would have to be bolted/adjusted separately. I don't know about other similar saw, but the fence is fixed and any adjustment to square is made by adjusting the swivel mechanism under the table - the miter detents (only two, 22-1/2° and 45°) are machined directly in the table casting. It's a really bullet-proof saw, I did the original set-up back in 1989 and it still cuts as square now as it did then.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Thread revival. On the dust flying on a sliding miter. I have done some experimenting and discovered that if I start the cut near the fence edge of the workpiece, then pull it forward, then down and back, almost all the sawdust is thrown back into the DC curtain. Took some practice to get used to doing that rather than just pushing down and back, but the difference in stopping the sideward and front expulsion of sawdust is dramatic.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Basically a radial arm saw crosscut action then(?). 
Did you try doing the _full depth_ cut like that, Tom?
Don't think I've ever tried that.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

tomp913 said:


> Took me a while to find this thread, thought it better to add than start a new one. I've been puttering in the shop recently, not feeling like jumping into a big project, so got around to a couple of "upgrades" that I've been putting off forever.
> 
> I finally made up a frame to hold the Rockler dust hood for the miter saw. I think that it's going to work out OK, just needs some tweaking. Big thing it needs is a hose off the port on top of the guard to feed the sawdust into the back of the hood as I get some blowback with just the outlet on the guard, I'll make a more substantial frame to hold the hood and come up with a better clamping method than I've got (although that seems to work pretty well - maybe just go to fender washers?).
> 
> ...


Tom I believe I bought that same black plastic hood at WP , just haven't figured out a way to attach yet as my saws on a aftermarket aluminum stand . 
Wish I had more real estate as I'd have the chop saw mounted on a bench with a long fence and drawers underneith . Would be easier to mount the hood , but maybe I'll jettison the aluminum stand for one I can make out of wood that's mobile .


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

I upgraded my small band saw to a Wen from HD. I have the 14' BS set up for resawing and hate to keep changing blades to cut smaller radius's. The old Craftsman 3 wheeler crapped out on me , so I shop around and got a Wen 10" from HD and it seems to be a nice little saw. It has some nice features, like the rack and pinion blade guard, and removable fence for blade changes. Even the knobs for the doors are ingenious. 
The reviews on it were decidedly positive, There are a couple of minor cons on it I corrected and I wish it had cool blocks instead of BB blade guides.
The only major one now that I am pondering fixing is the removal of the table. When blades are changed ,in order to adjust the lower blade guides the table has to be removed. It is a bugger to reinstall again.

But for $200 on Black Friday special, and free shipping right into my shop I think it was a bargain.

Herb


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## vindaloo (May 30, 2009)

I got a new set-up gauge. Not the large workshop purchase or upgrade but I've tried so many and this is the best I've used.

I have a trend horseshoe one shown below but it doesn't 'fall' as the blade/bit is lowered so when I saw the snap-check I watched the video







Yep it impressed so I bought one. Used it yesterday and today and wow, what a difference. measurements within 1 one hundredth of a millimeter. and it is also useful for setting fence on the router table.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

Just remember Angie: if a mosquito farts it will raise the humidity and cause the wood to swell. :jester:

I have always been lucky setting my saw with a steel rule.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Mike said:


> Just remember Angie: if a mosquito farts it will raise the humidity and cause the wood to swell. :jester:
> 
> I have always been lucky setting my saw with a steel rule.


Wow Mike I had no idea wood was that sensitive . Gotta keep an eye out for those pesky mosquitos


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

vindaloo said:


> I got a new set-up gauge. Not the large workshop purchase or upgrade but I've tried so many and this is the best I've used.
> 
> I have a trend horseshoe one shown below but it doesn't 'fall' as the blade/bit is lowered so when I saw the snap-check I watched the video
> 
> ...


I like that Angie, does it read in dec.fractions of inches?

Like the video too.

Herb


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## vindaloo (May 30, 2009)

Mike said:


> Just remember Angie: if a mosquito farts it will raise the humidity and cause the wood to swell. :jester:
> 
> I have always been lucky setting my saw with a steel rule.


Yes Mike, I understand that but I'd like to start out with it as accurate as possible and this definately does the trick.



Herb Stoops said:


> I like that Angie, does it read in dec.fractions of inches?


Herb, it shows in mm, inch fractions and inch decimals. I know 1 hundredth of a mm is crazy but the tenths are good


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## cocobolo1 (Dec 31, 2015)

DesertRatTom said:


> One thing that has helped is the way I now make cuts with the sliding miter saw. I now cut in two passes, first down and toward me, cutting just a third of the way through the stock, then pushing away to cut through the rest. Seems to make a channel that directs the vast majority of the sawdust backwards, into the curtain. Far less random dust this way.


Same way that I do it. If you start at the front you tend to get tearout on the wood. It does seem to keep the dust lower down instead of firing it up in the air.


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