I had replaced the motor drive belt previously with a Power Twist Link belt assembled to the same size as the factory belt. With this belt, however, the motor would rotate above the top surface of the tablesaw. I lengthened the belt by adding a couple more links, made sure that it did not hit anything throughout the rotation, and was able to keep the motor below the saw surface.

My saw sits on top of a roll-around stand (Woodsmith, v. 18, n. 107, Oct. ‘96). The lip jutting behind the saw provides a place for a box to rest on top of, so the resulting box that shrouds the motor needs to:
- Rest on the lip
- Enclose the back opening of the saw
- Extend further to the side and down to be outside of the area swept by the motor as it rotates
- Have a channel to prevent interference with the fence or the motor
- Have a “sawtooth” plate to allow hooking up underneath the tabletop of the saw with all of its bolts and casting ridges

Pictures will make this more clear.
Here’s the back of the saw (“before”):

Here’s a picture of the box, showing the channel and opening, ready to be just lifted into place:

Here’s the box, in place, with top and back panels removed so you can see how things fit inside:

Here’s a close-up of the channel at the top, providing clearance for the back fence rail:

Now, the dust port assembly that fits below the saw. The inspiration for the dust port came from the web:
http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/f31/contractor-saw-dust-hood-23853/
There are three pieces that provide a lip inside the saw that the port assembly fits into as it hangs below:

Here it is, mounted in the saw:

Finally, the “after” picture with it all on the saw:

Maybe I should have just bought a cabinet saw :-)

I haven’t had a chance to actually use it, yet, so I’ll report back later on how it all works.

As a side note, the back box is not level with the table surface. It’s not designed to handle a lot of weight, and it was not my starting idea to make it act as an out-feed table. If I were starting over, I’d give this some more thought, but my long term intention is to do a much more extensive cabinet for the saw anyway.

Next I played with cardboard, doing the radii with string & pencil, then followed it up today with hardboard. I was at the threshold of taking the motor off so I could put the back on, but I kept thinking there must be a better way.

The problem I’ve always seen with trying to enclose the whole motor is that it comes up above the table surface at the full 45 degree position. Looking at it, I realized that is because of the size of the belt – if I went with a longer belt, the motor will be lower. I played with adding more links to my Powertwist Link belt, and huzzah!
So, I’m going to drop the clumsy backplate, and now just build an enclosing box for the entire belt/motor/carriage assembly.

I’m really curious if anyone else has done this (lengthened belt, enclosed motor). I can see there might be worry about motor heat, but I do plan to use it with my brand new and too clean dust collector, so I don’t expect a heat issue.

I’d like to eventually try porting the air outside of my garage (no more worries about filtering effectiveness). This rules out the very attractive Delta 50-760, since it’s very efficient design includes the impeller as part of the dust bag housing which would make an outlet hose difficult to implement. So, on to all of the other contenders.

I’d like to run it on 110, so this rules out > 1.5 HP (and the Powermatic at 1.75 HP/15A makes me worry about blowing the breaker too often). So, there are a number of choices in this category.

After reading about bags, filtering, cleaning, clogging, I decided I wanted to go for a canister.

I like the remote control, and when you add all these up, getting a fresh from the factory unit with all included makes the Jet look pretty good.

I ordered it from Woodcraft, as they have a special 20% off for Jet/Powermatic today/tomorrow. The discount conteracts the shipping charge so the total is about equal to what it would be to order from Amazon, but with all of the postings about shipping damage, I’m hoping that shipment straight from the factory will get me an undented unit.

Now I just need to be patient and clean out a spot in the garage for it!