# Chop Saw Dust Hood



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
This is no longer in the format I originally created it in as far as I can tell. And I've heard that people are having trouble seeing the pictures here on Lumberjocks. So here is a link to these 7 blog segments captured in PDF form pictures intact and as how it looked when I created this blog.


Curt Blank's Chopsaw Dust Collection Hood


+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

*Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*

Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.

Front view with the top and middle divider rail glued and clamped in place.









Side view of the same glue up.









Picture of the middle rail and dado on the side on a 15 degree angle that continues down on the inside for the back. Once the back is in place there will be a 1/2" high opening from the benchtop along the full 27" inside width that will hopefully suck up the sawdust.









Front view of the back glued and clamped into place.









Side view of the back glued and clamped into place.


----------



## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


Looks good curt


----------



## gmerteng (Nov 17, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


Looks like that will work, chop saw is the hardest tool to collect dust for, there is always all kinds of it behind my saw.


----------



## DCFB (Nov 17, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


Nice work Curt. I need to make one for my saw.
Patrick - Milwaukee


----------



## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


Hi BlankMan. Nice hood. I know what you mean about the dust from the miter saw. Mine was the dirtiest tool in the shop. I always had to sweep up about 4" of dust behind it. I was going to post mine too when I get some pictures.

Great Job!!!!!!!!!! Necessity is the mother of invention.


----------



## lightweightladylefty (Mar 27, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the inspiration!


----------



## oldartie (Apr 19, 2010)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


The picture links are no longer active. I'd love to see them. I watched the video of the dust collector working, and I'd like to see more.

Thanks!


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


oldartie, yeah, thanks for the report. Went to the dark side, switched to AT&T as a internet provider over the weekend, they're interpretation of static IP configuration and no ports blocked differs from the definition that the rest of the world uses. Pretty much expected this was going to happen based on previous dealings with Ameritch, SBC, and now AT&T, the name may change but their core operation hasn't, they are challenged to no end to get it right, very seldom the first time… Yesterday most things were working, today they're not, there's always tomorrow I guess. Last night they fixed one thing, looks like they broke two others (that I am aware of) that were working, one being port 80 ergo no access to the web server hence no pictures…

Check back every so often, working on resolving this…


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


Well, I think the picture problems have been resolved hopefully for good. If they disappear again I'd definitely like to hear.


----------



## upnorth (Apr 9, 2011)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


What happened to the pictures ? Not very usefull withoutb pictures…


----------



## Simatai (Oct 31, 2011)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


Do have a rough set of dimensions of the side piece? Trying to puzzle out a few things but my spatial sense is not so good. 3
Adapting your design to a DW735 and my vent system comes from below. Trying to determine the best fix fro that as well.. It is the best i have seen


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


Thanks. The dimensions were governed strictly by where it had to fit. If you look at Part 6 of the blog you can see it had to fit between two machines and under a shelf. So I don't know that my dimensions would be the best for you but I'll measure it if you like. Make it big to cover the swing of the saw and high as you can. I had to cut out it's top so to clear the saw and allow it to swivel because I couldn't go taller then the saw due of the shelf. The slope of the back is 15 degrees I think so that the sawdust would hit it and angle down towards the suction.


----------



## brad53 (Jan 6, 2012)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


Where do you attach the suction for the hood? I did not see it in any pictures.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


Brad, there's a picture in Part 3 of this blog showing the port glued in place (the black thing) and of it connected in Part 7.


----------



## Duke407 (Nov 10, 2021)

BlankMan said:


> *Top, middle rail, and back glued in place*
> 
> Well Sunday I finally got around to start building a new dust collection hood for behind my new miter saw. I had one behind my old miter saw but this new saw is wider and I had to redo the bench for it to fit thus making the old hood too small to cover the area needed. Been without one for about a year because I also picked up the Delta 12" RAS and had to redo the bench for that to fit also. So I wasn't about to build a hood until both the RAS and miter saw were firmly mounted in place. The hood is 28-1/2" wide and ~19" tall made out of Baltic birch plywood. It's wide enough to cover capturing the sawdust even when the saw is at 45 degrees in either direction. If all goes well I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. Then I'll vacuum up all the sawdust that has accumulated behind the bench one last time and put it in place.
> 
> ...


I cannot see any pics. Can you possibly send me the pics to my email.account at: [email protected]


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

*Top & Bottom of the Plenum Box Added*

Now I've added the top and bottom to the plenum box in the back of the collection hood. The idea of the plenum box is to equally distribute the vacuum along the whole length of the opening to collect the sawdust. The 4" duct will connect to the top of the box, inside the plenum 2/3 down from the top is a divider board that splits the box into two chambers. The divider board has three holes in it, a 2-1/4" hole in the middle and two 2-3/8" holes one at each end. What I am hoping this will do is evenly distribute the vacuum in the lower chamber which then has the opening along the bench top to collect the sawdust.

I went to this trouble due to the performance of my previous dust collection hood that I had behind my old chop saw. That one had the 4" duct connected on the left end coming in horizontally. What happened was that the dust collection was good on the left side but at the right side of the hood it was not good at all and sawdust would collect in the bottom at the right side and never get sucked out.

The divider board will allow me to experiment to get the best performance collecting the sawdust by changing the hole sizes and hole locations. All I have to do is make a different board with different hole sizes and/or locations and slide it in. There are also two dadoes along the entire circumference on the inside of the plenum including the back cover that hold the divider board in place. These two dadoes will allow me to try the divider board at different heights thus altering the size of each of the two chamber.

These particular hole sizes where chosen for the first attempt because the sum of their area is equal to the area of the 4" duct that will connect to it. A 4" duct is around 12.5 sq.inches, the two 2-3/8" holes are about 4.4 sq. inches each and the 2-1/4" hole is about 4 sq. inches so that comes to 12.8 sq. inches. This was also why I made the opening 1/2" high. That opening's length is 27" so it's area is 13.5 sq. inches. I'm hoping that by keeping these areas near the capacity of the 4" duct that will help the performance by keeping the vacuum constant.

The hood upside down showing the bottom of the plenum box glued and clamped in place. This bottom cover of the plenum box hangs over the back of the bench thus the bottom of the opening to collect the sawdust will be flush with the top of the bench.









The plenum divider board in place.









Top of the plenum box glued and clamped in place.


----------



## davo (Nov 23, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Top & Bottom of the Plenum Box Added*
> 
> Now I've added the top and bottom to the plenum box in the back of the collection hood. The idea of the plenum box is to equally distribute the vacuum along the whole length of the opening to collect the sawdust. The 4" duct will connect to the top of the box, inside the plenum 2/3 down from the top is a divider board that splits the box into two chambers. The divider board has three holes in it, a 2-1/4" hole in the middle and two 2-3/8" holes one at each end. What I am hoping this will do is evenly distribute the vacuum in the lower chamber which then has the opening along the bench top to collect the sawdust.
> 
> ...


Blankman, I will be watching this blog for all entries. I am in process of gettin my shop in order and was wondering what would work for the miter station. I watched New Yankee Norm cut a circular hole beneath the chop saw but did not really like that idea, although he said it did work. Keep the pix coming.


----------



## slick1 (Apr 12, 2010)

BlankMan said:


> *Top & Bottom of the Plenum Box Added*
> 
> Now I've added the top and bottom to the plenum box in the back of the collection hood. The idea of the plenum box is to equally distribute the vacuum along the whole length of the opening to collect the sawdust. The 4" duct will connect to the top of the box, inside the plenum 2/3 down from the top is a divider board that splits the box into two chambers. The divider board has three holes in it, a 2-1/4" hole in the middle and two 2-3/8" holes one at each end. What I am hoping this will do is evenly distribute the vacuum in the lower chamber which then has the opening along the bench top to collect the sawdust.
> 
> ...


*Great Dust Hood! * Just making one now, but was wondering if you have to calculate in the chop saws 2" dust pipe hole in the plenum box also to keep the vacuum constant?


----------



## Abbott (May 10, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Top & Bottom of the Plenum Box Added*
> 
> Now I've added the top and bottom to the plenum box in the back of the collection hood. The idea of the plenum box is to equally distribute the vacuum along the whole length of the opening to collect the sawdust. The 4" duct will connect to the top of the box, inside the plenum 2/3 down from the top is a divider board that splits the box into two chambers. The divider board has three holes in it, a 2-1/4" hole in the middle and two 2-3/8" holes one at each end. What I am hoping this will do is evenly distribute the vacuum in the lower chamber which then has the opening along the bench top to collect the sawdust.
> 
> ...


Good stuff.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Top & Bottom of the Plenum Box Added*
> 
> Now I've added the top and bottom to the plenum box in the back of the collection hood. The idea of the plenum box is to equally distribute the vacuum along the whole length of the opening to collect the sawdust. The 4" duct will connect to the top of the box, inside the plenum 2/3 down from the top is a divider board that splits the box into two chambers. The divider board has three holes in it, a 2-1/4" hole in the middle and two 2-3/8" holes one at each end. What I am hoping this will do is evenly distribute the vacuum in the lower chamber which then has the opening along the bench top to collect the sawdust.
> 
> ...


slick, thanks, and yes, there's 3 holes in the divider board in the plenum, one centered and one at each side. What I did was calculated the sum of the area in square inches of the 3 holes so that they equaled the square inches of the 4" duct connected to the plenum box. That way I figured I wouldn't exceed the air velocity that the 4" duct delivered to the plenum thus then causing a reduction in velocity at each end. Seemed to have worked out well.


----------



## slick1 (Apr 12, 2010)

BlankMan said:


> *Top & Bottom of the Plenum Box Added*
> 
> Now I've added the top and bottom to the plenum box in the back of the collection hood. The idea of the plenum box is to equally distribute the vacuum along the whole length of the opening to collect the sawdust. The 4" duct will connect to the top of the box, inside the plenum 2/3 down from the top is a divider board that splits the box into two chambers. The divider board has three holes in it, a 2-1/4" hole in the middle and two 2-3/8" holes one at each end. What I am hoping this will do is evenly distribute the vacuum in the lower chamber which then has the opening along the bench top to collect the sawdust.
> 
> ...


Slick1 again. Thanks Blankman for a great dust hood! Just finished mine & it works great! Had to add depth & width of hood because of Bosch sliding saw & make box wider & re-calculate plenum box hole sizes to adapt,(trail & error big time!!), but finally got it right! Plus on back of plenum box I just added wing-nut fasteners to back board so I could clean-out or adjust plenum box. ( Plenum box to Phil Thien cyclone separator to Delta 50-760 1-1/2 HP dust collector; FANTASTIC!!! )


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Top & Bottom of the Plenum Box Added*
> 
> Now I've added the top and bottom to the plenum box in the back of the collection hood. The idea of the plenum box is to equally distribute the vacuum along the whole length of the opening to collect the sawdust. The 4" duct will connect to the top of the box, inside the plenum 2/3 down from the top is a divider board that splits the box into two chambers. The divider board has three holes in it, a 2-1/4" hole in the middle and two 2-3/8" holes one at each end. What I am hoping this will do is evenly distribute the vacuum in the lower chamber which then has the opening along the bench top to collect the sawdust.
> 
> ...


Rod, sounds good! I'd really like to see some pictures of it.

Yeah wing nuts are a good idea, I had to use screws for the back cover because I've only got 1/8" clearance to the wall. But hey, you'll never have to clean out the plenum,  that was one of the things behind using the plenum box design and distributing the airflow by use of a plenum and the divider board with the holes. I.E. distribute the airflow so that sawdust doesn't have an area where it can build up. I'm hopeful, working so far…


----------



## scturner (Feb 22, 2011)

BlankMan said:


> *Top & Bottom of the Plenum Box Added*
> 
> Now I've added the top and bottom to the plenum box in the back of the collection hood. The idea of the plenum box is to equally distribute the vacuum along the whole length of the opening to collect the sawdust. The 4" duct will connect to the top of the box, inside the plenum 2/3 down from the top is a divider board that splits the box into two chambers. The divider board has three holes in it, a 2-1/4" hole in the middle and two 2-3/8" holes one at each end. What I am hoping this will do is evenly distribute the vacuum in the lower chamber which then has the opening along the bench top to collect the sawdust.
> 
> ...


blankman, thanks for the posts. i'm getting with slick1 to see what he did to accomodate the slider.
Chuck


----------



## asloanie (Dec 15, 2012)

BlankMan said:


> *Top & Bottom of the Plenum Box Added*
> 
> Now I've added the top and bottom to the plenum box in the back of the collection hood. The idea of the plenum box is to equally distribute the vacuum along the whole length of the opening to collect the sawdust. The 4" duct will connect to the top of the box, inside the plenum 2/3 down from the top is a divider board that splits the box into two chambers. The divider board has three holes in it, a 2-1/4" hole in the middle and two 2-3/8" holes one at each end. What I am hoping this will do is evenly distribute the vacuum in the lower chamber which then has the opening along the bench top to collect the sawdust.
> 
> ...


Any chance the pictures are posted elsewhere? They are all gone from the post.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

*Outlet & Saw Swivel Clearance*

Well, I didn't get to spend as much time over the 4 day Thanksgiving Holiday weekend as I wanted to working on this but I made some progress. I was actually hoping to have it done but not having the time and having to determine and make the template to do the cutout for the saw swivel clearance took a while. The cutout is not a continuous arc of the same radius because you need clearance for the guard here, the handle there and then the motor. And determining where to put the outlet was not a piece of cake either. When the hood is in place against the wall I can't get behind there nor see back there very well let alone measure. The pipe it will connect to is only 2" above the top of the outlet so I didn't have a lot of room to error that the hose could make up for. So I've got the outlet connection installed and I have the clearance for the saw cut in the top.

Oh, and, while I was working on the template for the swivel clearance I had the hood and chop saw in place on the bench so I hooked it up (that was not easy either) and did some test cuts. The distribution of the vacuum across the entire 27" was good. The sawdust was sucked up along the whole length and when I ran my hand along it to feel the suction if felt pretty even. When this is all done and permanently in place I'll do a video of it for people to see its performance. It's looking like the plenum chamber and the divider board idea paid off.

Here's the outlet glued in place. The clamps are holding a board with masking tape on it under the outlet to hold it in place while the glue dries. The outlet is a 4" connector used to splice two sections of hose together that I had laying around. I cut it off 3/4" past the point where the hose slides onto. I used a 4-1/8" hole saw to cut the opening for it and glued it in place using plumbers PVC glue. I've used this glue in the past on other hoods and it bonds the plastic to the wood very well. Unfortunately my PVC glue was rather old I found out when I went to do this, it was kind of thick and the stores were closed so I used it. It did seem to bond well after letting it dry overnight but just to be sure once it dried I ran a bead of 5-minute epoxy around the top and bottom.









Here's the template I made to do the cutout for the saw swivel clearance clamped in place. I roughed it out with a jig saw then used a top bearing flush trim bit on my laminate trim router to clean it up.


----------



## blockhead (May 5, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Outlet & Saw Swivel Clearance*
> 
> Well, I didn't get to spend as much time over the 4 day Thanksgiving Holiday weekend as I wanted to working on this but I made some progress. I was actually hoping to have it done but not having the time and having to determine and make the template to do the cutout for the saw swivel clearance took a while. The cutout is not a continuous arc of the same radius because you need clearance for the guard here, the handle there and then the motor. And determining where to put the outlet was not a piece of cake either. When the hood is in place against the wall I can't get behind there nor see back there very well let alone measure. The pipe it will connect to is only 2" above the top of the outlet so I didn't have a lot of room to error that the hose could make up for. So I've got the outlet connection installed and I have the clearance for the saw cut in the top.
> 
> ...


Looking good Curt. I will definitely be doing something like this soon. Looking forward to the next installment.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Outlet & Saw Swivel Clearance*
> 
> Well, I didn't get to spend as much time over the 4 day Thanksgiving Holiday weekend as I wanted to working on this but I made some progress. I was actually hoping to have it done but not having the time and having to determine and make the template to do the cutout for the saw swivel clearance took a while. The cutout is not a continuous arc of the same radius because you need clearance for the guard here, the handle there and then the motor. And determining where to put the outlet was not a piece of cake either. When the hood is in place against the wall I can't get behind there nor see back there very well let alone measure. The pipe it will connect to is only 2" above the top of the outlet so I didn't have a lot of room to error that the hose could make up for. So I've got the outlet connection installed and I have the clearance for the saw cut in the top.
> 
> ...


Thanks. Hopefully the next installment will be coming tonight. But I've been saying that to myself every night this week so far but something else has always come up. My intention was to have it done over the Thanksgiving weekend. Now it's already next week..Sheesh!


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

*Plumbing To Connect The Chop Saw's Dust Port*

Well I got sidetracked restoring the Jet sander but did spend time on this while working on that in between waiting for parts. I cut out the circle for the saw swivel clearance like six times. There was really no good way to measure it and get it right the first time because like I said with the blade guard, handle, and motor, the cutout is closer to half a teardrop then a circle. So I'd put the hood in place, put the saw in place, and see where it bound or was too close and cut it bigger. Well I finally got it right and now have a 1/4" clearance from the blade guard, handle, and motor at any point from 47 degrees left to 47 degrees right.

So I moved on and installed the pipe and elbow that will allow me to connect to the dust collector port that is behind the blade on the chop saw. Delta supplies a bag with the saw that normally connects there but I'm not going to use that so I figured I'd connect a hose to it. That was a bit of a problem in and of itself because I had to find an 1-3/4" ID hose and I found out that size is not readily available. I found it at Grainger and DrillSpot.com. I could use my friends account at Grainger but didn't feel like doing that so I ordered it from DrillSpot.com. To my surprise when it arrived today, it came from Grainger so DrillSpot.com must have some agreement with Grainger. Ordered it yesterday, got it today. I like that.

I also spent a lot of time sanding, due to my laziness with gluing it up. I normally use blue tape on the glue joints where the glue can squeeze out. But this time I didn't. When I did the dry fit I scribed a line with a pencil and used the line to mark where to spread the glue. Well now that it's all together you could see those pencil lines. Not a big deal if I where going to paint this but I'm just going to poly it. I like the look of the Baltic Birch so I don't want to cover it with paint. Well that meant I have to remove the pencil lines. Not an easy task when they're right in the corners.

So I tried my PC profile sander, didn't work well and just barely could get in there. And the paper would wear through quickly and then I'd get black streaks from the rubber of the 90 degree profile attachment. So a scraper, foam sanding blocks. sandpaper and a lot of elbow grease the last two days. Oh I found some 3M foam sanding blocks that had a 15 degree bevel on the edge that made getting in the 90 a bit easier.There was also a thin layer of squeezed out glue which added to the difficulty before I could get at the pencil line. I will never do that again, scribe a pencil line, blue tape from now on, no laziness.

Oh, in order to drill the hole for the pipe into the plenum chamber I had to make a template for the hole because it enters the top at a 15 degree angle. So I used a 1-7/8" hole saw and cut a hole in a 2×8 and then cut a 15 degree bevel on it on the table saw. I then clamped it in place and used it as a guide for the hole saw with its drill bit removed.

And the other hole you see is not a mistake, that is where the plastic insert for the cord will go.

Template clamped in place.









Side view of template showing the 15 degree angle.









Side view of template showing the drill and hole saw ready to go.









Pipe installed, glued, and clamped.


----------



## BelleCityWW (May 28, 2007)

BlankMan said:


> *Plumbing To Connect The Chop Saw's Dust Port*
> 
> Well I got sidetracked restoring the Jet sander but did spend time on this while working on that in between waiting for parts. I cut out the circle for the saw swivel clearance like six times. There was really no good way to measure it and get it right the first time because like I said with the blade guard, handle, and motor, the cutout is closer to half a teardrop then a circle. So I'd put the hood in place, put the saw in place, and see where it bound or was too close and cut it bigger. Well I finally got it right and now have a 1/4" clearance from the blade guard, handle, and motor at any point from 47 degrees left to 47 degrees right.
> 
> ...


Looking good Curt!


----------



## blockhead (May 5, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Plumbing To Connect The Chop Saw's Dust Port*
> 
> Well I got sidetracked restoring the Jet sander but did spend time on this while working on that in between waiting for parts. I cut out the circle for the saw swivel clearance like six times. There was really no good way to measure it and get it right the first time because like I said with the blade guard, handle, and motor, the cutout is closer to half a teardrop then a circle. So I'd put the hood in place, put the saw in place, and see where it bound or was too close and cut it bigger. Well I finally got it right and now have a 1/4" clearance from the blade guard, handle, and motor at any point from 47 degrees left to 47 degrees right.
> 
> ...


That is coming along really nicely.


----------



## sIKE (Feb 14, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Plumbing To Connect The Chop Saw's Dust Port*
> 
> Well I got sidetracked restoring the Jet sander but did spend time on this while working on that in between waiting for parts. I cut out the circle for the saw swivel clearance like six times. There was really no good way to measure it and get it right the first time because like I said with the blade guard, handle, and motor, the cutout is closer to half a teardrop then a circle. So I'd put the hood in place, put the saw in place, and see where it bound or was too close and cut it bigger. Well I finally got it right and now have a 1/4" clearance from the blade guard, handle, and motor at any point from 47 degrees left to 47 degrees right.
> 
> ...


Did you have to purchase a 12ft section of that hose?


----------



## Elizabeth (Oct 17, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Plumbing To Connect The Chop Saw's Dust Port*
> 
> Well I got sidetracked restoring the Jet sander but did spend time on this while working on that in between waiting for parts. I cut out the circle for the saw swivel clearance like six times. There was really no good way to measure it and get it right the first time because like I said with the blade guard, handle, and motor, the cutout is closer to half a teardrop then a circle. So I'd put the hood in place, put the saw in place, and see where it bound or was too close and cut it bigger. Well I finally got it right and now have a 1/4" clearance from the blade guard, handle, and motor at any point from 47 degrees left to 47 degrees right.
> 
> ...


I've got a similar problem trying to find hose to replace my Dewalt Miter saw's dust bag. Can you tell me what item you ended up ordering from Drillspot.com? It won't be the exact item I need since Dewalt uses a 1.5" ID port but it'll get me pointed in the right direction.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

*Well It's In The Home Stretch *

Three coats of poly on the areas that could be accessed in this position, flip it over and three on the areas remaining and the next blog entry should be of it in place, connected, and ready to go.


----------



## gmerteng (Nov 17, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Well It's In The Home Stretch *
> 
> Three coats of poly on the areas that could be accessed in this position, flip it over and three on the areas remaining and the next blog entry should be of it in place, connected, and ready to go.


Looks good cant wit to see it in place.


----------



## Padre (Nov 5, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Well It's In The Home Stretch *
> 
> Three coats of poly on the areas that could be accessed in this position, flip it over and three on the areas remaining and the next blog entry should be of it in place, connected, and ready to go.


Looks really good Curt! Can't wait to see it finished.


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Well It's In The Home Stretch *
> 
> Three coats of poly on the areas that could be accessed in this position, flip it over and three on the areas remaining and the next blog entry should be of it in place, connected, and ready to go.


Me too!! I want'a see it in action )


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Well It's In The Home Stretch *
> 
> Three coats of poly on the areas that could be accessed in this position, flip it over and three on the areas remaining and the next blog entry should be of it in place, connected, and ready to go.


Thanks all. And my RAS needs one too, that will be coming. But first, maybe some real woodworking.

Soon. Real soon. And you will be able to see it in action without traveling to the cold snowy Midwest.


----------



## hootr (Mar 28, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Well It's In The Home Stretch *
> 
> Three coats of poly on the areas that could be accessed in this position, flip it over and three on the areas remaining and the next blog entry should be of it in place, connected, and ready to go.


good job curt
i been lurking in the backround following you
hope to get back into shop soon too
snow has me drifted out right now
1 door, north side, 6' drift
thanks for sharing


----------



## BarrySumpter (Feb 25, 2016)

BlankMan said:


> *Well It's In The Home Stretch *
> 
> Three coats of poly on the areas that could be accessed in this position, flip it over and three on the areas remaining and the next blog entry should be of it in place, connected, and ready to go.


Hi Blackman,

Thanks a million for sharing this health saving solution.

I'd like to duplicate your Chop Saw Dust Hood exactly.
Is there any chance I can get the exact dimensions?

I already have the 28.5" wide x 19" Tall.

But, more specifically, the plenum chamber dimensions?
Which I think is the key to the entire project.

I also already have:

1/2" high opening

4" duct

inside the plenum 2/3 down from the top is a divider board that splits the box into two chambers

The divider board has three holes in it, a 2-1/4" hole in the middle and two 2-3/8" holes one at each end

Many thanks and all my best,
Barry G. Sumpter


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

*Installed!*

Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.

Saw locked down showing the dust port connection and the line cord grommet.









And in the normal position.


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Installed!*
> 
> Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.
> 
> ...


I waited up to see this ?? I thought there would be additional duct collection in the hood!!


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Installed!*
> 
> Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.
> 
> ...


) ) gotcha!! Nice work Curt.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Installed!*
> 
> Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.
> 
> ...


LOL Thanks. You can go to bed now, your day is fulfilled.


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Installed!*
> 
> Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.
> 
> ...


Goodnight Chet.


----------



## gmerteng (Nov 17, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Installed!*
> 
> Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.
> 
> ...


Nice job on the hood looks great.


----------



## davemurray (Nov 15, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Installed!*
> 
> Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.
> 
> ...


Looks Good, is this your own design or did you find the plans somewhere.


----------



## Brad_Nailor (Jul 26, 2007)

BlankMan said:


> *Installed!*
> 
> Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.
> 
> ...


Looks great. How about a few shots showing the back side/dust collector interface…and I ask purely in the interest of wanting to steal your idea! Nice work Curt!


----------



## davemurray (Nov 15, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Installed!*
> 
> Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.
> 
> ...


I second that. I'm always looking to make my duct collection more efficient.


----------



## PurpLev (May 30, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Installed!*
> 
> Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.
> 
> ...


Curt, this looks fantastic! definitely something I'll go back to if/when I get a mitersaw. thanks for the post.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Installed!*
> 
> Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.
> 
> ...


Thanks all.

Dave, my own design from scratch, no plans just a rough sketch so I'd cut the wood to the right length. The first time. 

Dave and David, ok I'll take some of the back. It's tight and dark back there so I'll have to use a flash (which I normally don't) so we'll see how it comes out.


----------



## Beginningwoodworker (May 5, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Installed!*
> 
> Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.
> 
> ...


Thats a great idea!


----------



## blockhead (May 5, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Installed!*
> 
> Well, (drum roll please) here it is in place. If I get some time I take a video of it in action so you can see how it works, And I must say, it works pretty well.
> 
> ...


Great job Curt! I just got a new miter saw and this is definitely on my list . Thanks for posting!


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

*Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*

I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.

I thought I'd show two last pictures of it as installed. The first showing the clearance cutout in the top allowing the saw to swivel (the clearance looks larger then it is due to the angle the shot was taken at, it's just over a 1/4 inch), and by request a picture showing the connection to the cyclone duct.

The swivel clearance.









Its connection.









Last but not least…

Here's the link to the video


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Glad you posted early tonight so I didn't have to wait up for you!! There is so much dust when you cut without the cyclone, I can smell it and I'm getting it on my keyboard:-(( Your collector is gonna work great ) Beyond that, I'm getting errors and don't get past the first three cuts. Vid stops when you turn the saw off. Might be on Utube's enmd. I'll try agian a little later.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


LOL Yeah it is, they're still processing it, but I couldn't wait to post it, my first video blog!  It's Miller Time now!


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Have one on me while I clean up your dust here in Seattle!! This technology is getting too good :-((


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


I certainly will. I got a call from a buddy almost two hours ago now, he's waiting for me, my beer's probably warm but I wanted to get this rendered and posted. It better be workin' when I get back…


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Workin' good now!! Looks like is works very good.


----------



## Woodfix (May 14, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


very impressive, I loved the video. Maybe you have the start of another hobby going there.


----------



## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Curt, this is a nice video and it does look like you have controlled the dust pretty well.


----------



## mloy365 (Oct 30, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Curt,

Just picked up on your blog this morning. I just finished installing a new dust system in my shop and was trying to figure a real good way to hook the chop saw. Well, thank you very much. I just found it!

Great job on the video.


----------



## GMman (Apr 11, 2008)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Great tip works well too.
Good video too.


----------



## DCFB (Nov 17, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Curt: 
Very Nice Work. You are very good at getting the correct configuration and air flows that make the dust collection process 100% Nice Job on the Video.
Patrick - DCFB


----------



## gmerteng (Nov 17, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Great job on the dust hood, chop saw is a hard tool to control the dust on seems like you really accomplished that. Nice video to.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Thanks everyone. This one is 10 times better at picking up the dust then the first one I built for my old chop saw. That divider board in the plenum with the holes was the trick to get even air flow along the entire collection slot. I would have been very disappointed if after going to all that trouble it hadn't worked.


----------



## russv (Sep 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


curt,
very good! well thought out.

russv


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Thanks russv, I'm very happy with it.


----------



## stefang (Apr 9, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Good job Curt. I have a dust hood over my MS, and I hook a vacuum hose to the saw when I'm using it, but I don't have the vacuum set up in the back panel like you do. Also my saw is a sliding type, which when pulled out to accommodate longer cuts means the saw would be a lot further away from any vacuuming action and therefore less effective. However I am very impressed with the efficiency of your set-up and I wish had something as good. My hood does keep the dust from flying all over the shop, which is an enormous improvement, but yours is a lot better.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Thanks Mike, I really hate cleaning up dust and my experience with the first hood I made led to this design which does work well. And yeah, the sliding ones would be a whole different challenge.


----------



## revanson11 (Jan 5, 2012)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


I really appreciated the work you did on this. I had decided that I was either going to effectively dust collect my miter saw or give up on the whole idea of using it in my shop. I used your design criteria and custom fit a similar designed collector. It works beautifully. Thanks Blankman, you've saved my lungs.


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Thanks revanson, that was my hope by blogging it here, that it would help and give others ideas how to too effectively collect the sawdust from a miter saw. My first hood was not as effective but this one pretty much eliminates any airborne dust.


----------



## Bern50 (Feb 13, 2012)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Thanks for sharing the design. I'm hoping I can build one and fine tune it to work as well as yours. I'm fairly new at thgis so I have one question about the back. Did you notch it at the bottom to fit the dados on the side?

Thanks,

Bern


----------



## BlankMan (Mar 21, 2009)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Not real clear on your question. The back of the plenum chamber which is removable does have dadoes in it just like the sides and front of the plenum that the diver board slides into but not at the bottom. The dadoes and divider board are in the horizontal plane and not in the vertical plane. The dadoes all the way around are about half way up dividing the plenum chamber pretty much in half.

HTH


----------



## Bern50 (Feb 13, 2012)

BlankMan said:


> *Video Of It Suckin' Up da Dust*
> 
> I shot a video of it in operation in High Definition Video and Stereo (really!) the link is below.
> 
> ...


Sorry, I was confused by the following caption:

Picture of the middle rail and dado on the side on a 15 degree angle that continues down on the inside for the back. Once the back is in place there will be a 1/2" high opening from the benchtop along the full 27" inside width that will hopefully suck up the sawdust."

I was not talking about the back of the plenum. I was asking how the back of the cabinet is attached. It appears to be glued to the edge of both sides, not recessed between them. If that is true, then it will have to fit between what will be the sides of the plenum right? Isn't that why you cut those 15 degree dados? If that is the case then I assume the back would have to be notched to fit in those dados. My inexperience is showing.

Thank you for your patience.

Bern


----------

