I had issues before with chips/dust collecting under the motor, causing it to get extremely hot. My solution to this was to use the table saw dust collection hood that I had laying around and inset it into the table top. I feel this will adequately stop the dust from collecting, as well as cause a stream of cool air to constantly be passing by the motor, causing it to run much cooler.

After I get a chance to test out a piece, I plan on adding an additional dust chute at the rear of the table to hopefully catch some more chips. I know it’s impossible to collect all the chips, but minimizing it is acceptable to me.

Attached are some pictures of the build. I used 1” Bamboo plywood for the top and sides, with red oak for the legs. All very simple construction, using glue and screws. It’s not going to take any abuse, so I wanted to make it as quick and easy as possible. All materials used were cutoffs I had laying around the shop, including the unused dust collection components. I also decided to leave it unfinished. Total cost: $0.00. Gotta love that!

Hopefully I’ll find some time tonight to make some sort of chisel holder for the side, then I need to come across some more plywood to make my shelf on the bottom. Soon, hopefully!

I need to get all the rest of my tools to the shop and get everything set up and finalized, but I’m happy with the progress made!

I had to go to Bellingham, Wa today for business, so I stopped in at the Grizzly showroom to take a look around. Good thing for me, bad thing for my wallet. I ended up walking out with the G0555P 14” Polar Bear Series bandsaw with the 6” riser block kit and a G8027 dust collector.

Now I have to assemble them and hopefully get the walls put up this weekend. More to come.

I hope to update this series as I progress. The first task at hand is creating a wall on the open sides so I don’t fall to the abyss! I’ll update once I have that completed.