My shop improvement project for this fall is Dust Collection. The only stationary (debatable) power tool without dust collection is the sliding compound miter saw (DeWalt 718).
I would like ideas on a box to surround the back of the saw. The box's back can be the wall behind the saw. I plan to use a 4" PVC port.
Jesse, those things make tons of dust and are nearly impossible to contain. I have a Bosch Sliding compound miter saw and it is a mess. I have looked at several and though about how to build something. I have seen sever homemade divices and some claim to work pretty well. I have a dust collector so here is my latest thought. I think I am going to take a plastic barrel (10 gallon) and cut about 1/3 of the side out. I would leave the entire end I think. I think I will need 2-4 inch (maybe 2 1/2 will work) suction ports on the lower part of the barrel. I think I will need to connect to the regular dust port on the back of the saw. I have just had lots of things wunning through my mind and haven't done anything yet but that is one of my thoughts. I would mount the barrel on the back of the saw table and go from there. I have this barrel on hand ans well as some larger barrels so that would keep my cost as low as possible. have you had any thoughts.
I think "containment" is the key…and you already hit on the "box" idea. my experience is that the saw will blow the dust down and if contained, it stays there.
I surrounded mine with a 3 sided box made of 1/4" plywood (sized to stay clear of the table operations). There's enough surface on either side to punch in a PVC fitting to attach a shop vac to.
This might work, obviously you can adapt for your liking but it does have a 4" port for a DC. If you look around on this site, you'll probably find something you'll like.
I just have a hard time getting excited about a metal frame with a flimsy cloth cover that costs $150. That is what most of those are. There was one here where someone had used a plastic tub. They are tapered almost like the funnel mentioned above. This guy had hooked a vacuum system to it. I was thinking about the plastic barrel for my turning lathe. I could add a metal shelf under the bed of the lathe and let the chips fall or slide down into the barre. The barrel I am talking about would be on its side with part of the side cut out. Then i thought if this works I could make a second and use it for my chop saw. I have a sheet metal brake and couke use it to make a bit funner too. IT would cost more since I got the barrels for free.
I just ordered the one Ted linked you to. It is a lot for some wire and cloth, but I don't have time to make one and my shop floor is looking like a stable. I have invested heavily in DC this week with a dedicated SV for the TS and a DC system for the joiner, planer, and BS. Using Abranet abrasives as well, much less dust on ROS.
jesse I did a rectangular box from scraps to minimize the "containment area" and also allow space on either side for "stuff". sides extend just up to the rear of the fence. the back is a little wider than the footprint of the saw. I attached the sides to 3/4" cleats that I attached to the table on the outside of the box (i.e. the "floor" of the box is void of anything). If I had to do it over, I would make it a little wider to allow easier acess for the shop vac. The plywood is about 14" high which is high enough to still capture the exhaust chute on the saw when it's fully down.
I haven't punched a dust collect fitting in yet but when I get around to it it will be easy enough. Note the "additions" (a scrap piece of j-channel mounted on one of the cleats works perfect to hold tape measures and also pencils, and then a conduit strap holds 2 combination squares)
teejk, would it be possible to make a "funnel" in the bottom of the collection box. Make it metal and it should shed dust into the collector hose. Just a thought.
When I said it was a lot of money for the cloth hoods it reminded me of a man I worked with. I would say something like "That is outrageous. $7 for a spring!" He would say okay we will buy them from your. What can you build them for?? LOL I probably couyldn't touch that price even if I didn't count my time.
I no longer have a slider, but I came up with a pretty good solution for my 12" saw - I use the dust collector with adapters on the stock dust port and the rest off the dust is deflected down into a drawer under the saw. Built a shroud around the sides and back with rubber strips to deflect the dust.
The nice thing is it works regardless of the angle…..
grandpa…I thought about your idea but rejected it…my saw sits on a mobile bench (shared with the mortiser) that also is my storage area for misc tools and cabinet hardware. As far as I can figure, if I punch a dust collector in the side of the box and hook up a shop vac, I'll capture 99% of the dust…the enclosure is not that big and my Ridgid shop vac eats anything in sight. I haven't done that yet because I find that simply enclosing the "exhaust" output is a great improvement.
I know this is not a hood but I played around with it last night using a piece of inner tube and it has potential. I did not have time to really mess with it. I also was looking for a "hood" idea but I have the 12" Bosch sliding compound saw with the gravity stand so its not as easy as just building a box and mounting it as if it were on a actual bench. I am not a fan of the other fabric hoods either.
There is a video of this in action somewhere out there as well I think
I'm in the middle of a similar project for my DeWalt DW717. I am going with the usual box-behind-the-saw method and also am connecting a dust hose to the output port on the saw - after weeks of searching I finally found something that will fit the 1.5" port on the 717. (Lowe's item number 17026, "Shop-Vac 12-ft x 1.5-in Premium Crush Resistant Hose")
Can anyone tell me what effect the choice of 4" hose or 2.5" hose coming off of the collection box will have? I don't know which would be better to use. Due to the location of my saw the hose will have to come off the right hand side of the box rather than centered in the back of the box. I'm expecting dust buildup on the left as a result and will just manually clean it out every so often.
Scroll down to miter saw. I saw this a year or two ago and have wanted to build something similar but never got around to it. It seems like this works pretty well.
Elizabeth, as I remember, you are an engineer and you have a larger diameter spiral wrap pipe in your shop area. The 2.5" dia outlet is about 25% of the area of a 4"dia outlet. This is a lot of restriction. I plan to use the connector on the back of my scms and alo a hood with a large outlet. A good dust collector can easily provide plenty of suction for both of the outlets. I feel like you are looking at a large amount of restriction on your system. I have a Bosch 4412 saw and it creates dust like no other. This thing could feed a large collector….LOL This is a major undertaking for such a small and simple project. It just doesn't seem to be as simple as it appears. Not here anyway.
If you are using a vacuum, use a 2.5" hose. If using a dust
collector, go with the 4". The degradation in quality of
airflow and suction when you constrict dust collector
airflow down to 2.5" is considerable. Just test it out
on some dust on the floor and you'll see.
As a follow up to my post earlier I was able to take some time and play around with the dust collector extension on my Bosch miter saw, hooked up my HF dust collector system to the factory hook up spot on the saw and it worked great! Few test cuts and I watched a nice stream of about 90% to 95% of the mess go up the hose (it worked exactly like the video on the first page of the link that I posted earlier).
Again I know the post is about a hood but if this is an option that works for other saws it is way cheaper and easier then trying to build a large hood and contain the dust and debris that way, just my opinion.
Hi Loren, thanks; I figured it would probably be something like that. I've got a dust collector so I'll go the 4" route. Grandpa if I'd been doing this twelve years ago it would have been a lot easier; unfortunately my fluid mechanics skills are now VERY rusty.
Vrtigo1 I love that hood…may have to reassess my space restrictions and see if I can do something along those lines! Thanks for posting the link.
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