# My version of a downdraft table.



## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

Here is my version of a downdraft table. The two 3/4" dowels at the back lock it in place and keep it from swaying back and forth. I also made some simple clamps to hold a 3/4" board for sanding. They are all 1/2" thick so they will not be in the way when sanding.


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## tvman44 (Jun 25, 2013)

Cool.


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## tvman44 (Jun 25, 2013)

Nice.


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## Shop guy (Nov 22, 2012)

Like it.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

nicely done...


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## fire65 (Oct 29, 2008)

I like it, great idea putting it on slides. How well does it work, what collector is hooked to it?


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Nice use of space, and using the two sliding triangles for clamps is a good idea.


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

Good thinking all around, Don. I've gotten interested in using slides lately. I have always been in the mindset of building a standalone unit for anything I set up, but practicality says that a lot of times it's for something I would only use occasionally. So this is a perfect solution for a down draft table that you can quickly get out of the way when you're finished with it. 

And I've been looking at slides the last few days, and the prices seem to have come down. Or maybe I wasn't looking in the right places when I was shopping for them previously. Thanks for sharing your idea.


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## RainMan 2.0 (May 6, 2014)

Great job Don ,and a great use of space . Pretty neat idea


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

That's really nice and a good way to store it, Don. The one I just built is a bit heavy and large but that's the size I needed. I would have to countersink the screws on the perimeter, though, 'cause I would certainly slide a board over that and scratch or ding an edge.


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

fire65 said:


> I like it, great idea putting it on slides. How well does it work, what collector is hooked to it?


I hook it up to a 1.5HP Grizzly dust collector. I don't think it would work using a shop vac.


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

difalkner said:


> That's really nice and a good way to store it, Don. The one I just built is a bit heavy and large but that's the size I needed. I would have to countersink the screws on the perimeter, though, 'cause I would certainly slide a board over that and scratch or ding an edge.


Dave I remember seeing the one you built and it's very nice. Well built too. I have already thought about counter sinking the screws for the same reason you stated.


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## old55 (Aug 11, 2013)

Nice one Don.


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## TenGees (Sep 12, 2012)

I like it, Don. Great idea using the dowel locks and clamps.


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## Multiwood (Feb 24, 2013)

Great idea of putting it in a drawer, out of the way when your not using it. But Don I thought the idea of a 
down draft table was so you don't have to have any support to hold it in place, the vacuum is suppose to do
that.


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## Ray Newman (Mar 9, 2009)

_Now that is a very useful idea!_


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

Knot working said:


> Great idea of putting it in a drawer, out of the way when your not using it. But Don I thought the idea of a
> down draft table was so you don't have to have any support to hold it in place, the vacuum is suppose to do
> that.


Larry on mine the suction isn't strong enough to hold the board down. I might try to block some of the holes off and see what happens. You got my interest up now.


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## Multiwood (Feb 24, 2013)

Don I think blocking the holes not in use would help. You might trying to use smaller holes, looks like
you can change the top pretty easy. I have a friend who has a CNC and the table is LDF Low Density
Fiberboard. The vacuum is sucked thru the LDF No holes in the table. Let me know how it works.


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## nkdenton (Mar 18, 2017)

That is a really nice design!

The effectiveness of the draft depends on the CFM being drawn by the suction device and the total area of the holes. The idea is that you have to have enough velocity at the surface to entrain the dust particles into the downdraft table, so if you have a shop vac smaller holes will probably be required. You'll need at least 350 feet per minute velocity into the holes to pull the fine sawdust down and keep it from getting airborne. I'd probably go for 400 fpm myself, just to keep the air as clear at the sander as possible. A 6.5 hp shop vac pulls about 200 cfm so to get the 350 fpm you'd need about 92 total 1/2" diameter holes in the worktop. But, as I'm finding out, the biggest vac you can buy at the big box stores is barely enough for a router table or sander and is not even in the ballpark for a thickness planer. Before long, I'll be headed to HF for a portable dust collector to get the right capacity.

I'm a former HVAC design engineer so a lot of these numbers are just there for me, but I found this resource online and it has some very good and easy to understand information related to ventilation and dust removal for wood shops. I'd post the link but forum rules say I can't include links until I have 10 posts. Just Google for billpentz static calculator and you'll get there.


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

Keith you are correct, smaller holes will defeat the whole purpose of the down draft table. 
This is a down draft table designed to collect dust forget about making a vacuum clamp out of it. If you do that you will loose the dust collection. they are two entirely different concepts.

Herb


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

@hawkeye`0

Nicely done, particularly the drawer cocnept. One question, is this approach superior in dust collection to having a vac system attached to the ROS?


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## hawkeye10 (Jul 28, 2015)

JFPNCM said:


> @hawkeye`0
> 
> Nicely done, particularly the drawer cocnept. One question, is this approach superior in dust collection to having a vac system attached to the ROS?


No Jon it's not. I use to use my shop vac on my sander but I have found that putting the bag that came with the sander does a good job. ROS sanders put out a lot of fine dust and so far this is the best that I have come up with. I am always looking for better solutions.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

I have the P-C ROS with the little canister dust collector which does a pretty poor job of collecting the fine dust. Recently tried taking off the canister and hooking up my shop vac to the port. This made a huge improvement, seems to get a good percentage of the dust now.


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## Terry Q (Mar 2, 2017)

I built a down draft table but it was always hard working on it, things were too big, or too small, or I needed to sand with edge of workpiece over edge of downdraft table where it did no good at all. I bit on two festool sanders and a festool dust extractor (with hepa filter) and I'm happy to say that there is no sanding dust in my workroom. I once hated sanding, now sanding is tolerable.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

@hawkeye10

I can appreciate the advantage to running both systems. I used a shop vac on the ROS but got tired of fighting the hoses. The photo below shows the solution (apology for the sideways photo, still can't get those right) I came up with. By attaching the 4" DC hose to the work bench with an adjustable strap and adapting that to the hose for the ROS both the hose and the dust seem manageable The one down side, if the ROS is not running when the DC starts, it can suck it tight to the surface. Having the JET airfilter directly overhead running at full tilt helps as well.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

Jon,

I bought the Fulton 1-1/2" Power Tool hose shown in my post on a super special sale from Peachtree, small diameter, flexible and very lightweight. If I'm doing a lot of sanding, I hang the hose from the Rockler cord/hose hanger - this works OK, but I want to maybe make it a little taller and attach the hose with something like a screen door spring that will let me work with it and then pull it back out of the way when I'm finished.


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## boogalee (Nov 24, 2010)

Here ya go.


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## tomp913 (Mar 7, 2014)

And I was thinking something like this to keep the hose and cord out of the way - except maybe just bending up a piece of EMT (it's just a little hose after all). May need two versions, one to bolt to my workbench, and the other to the grid I use for breaking down sheets of plywood with the track saw where I need about 10' of travel so maybe two pieces of hose with a coupler at the boom end for it.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

@boogalee

Al: Ok, what's the secret? I've never had a problem in the past but suddenly...... well......


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## boogalee (Nov 24, 2010)

JFPNCM said:


> @boogalee
> 
> Al: Ok, what's the secret? I've never had a problem in the past but suddenly...... well......


I just use irfanview (free) to rotate the image then drag and drop.


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## JFPNCM (Dec 13, 2009)

@boogalee

Appreciate the feedback, I'll give it a try. I can rotate the photos on my notebook and save them but regardless of their orientation there, when I do the drag and drop they all came out sideways.:frown:


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