# Miter saw dust collection



## SteveKorz (Mar 25, 2008)

*HEEELP!*

I have a 12" Dewalt miter saw, had it for years. I've always just accepted the bag on the back of it as "workable." I made a specific spot for it in my shop and then realized just how much dust this thing puts out that the little bag doesn't collect.

I acquired two cabinets with countertops. I placed the cabinets and countertops on each side of the saw, then built a miter saw stand between the two that is sunk down so that the saw's table top is equal to the countertops on each side. The cabinets are attached to a pole barn, so there is about a 6" gap behind the stand and countertops until I get to the wall. There is plenty of room for me to attempt some dust collection device there…. but what?

A hose isn't really practical for me, because I'm constantly changing angles and the hose binds. *I'd like to try and find someone that has made a successful miter saw dust collection box, or something like that, who would be willing to describe it or show a pic or two.* I could hook the box up to a dust collector with no problem.

Is there anyone out there that has something like this….. or some ideas?

Thanks!!!
Steve,--Lost in SawDustLand


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## North40 (Oct 17, 2007)

What about something like this with a dust hose hooked up to the collection bin?


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## Al_Killian (Feb 15, 2008)

A guy down the road made a wooden hood with a funnel. It drop the dust into a box that he empties once a week. The hood goes from the back or the fence and tapers down towards the back where it falls down the shoot.


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## Grumpy (Nov 9, 2007)

Steve, this link might help.
http://lumberjocks.com/topics/5101#reply-52284


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## northwoodsman (Feb 22, 2008)

Someone had a shop-made dust collector port on here a few months back, but I couldn't find it last week when I was looking. I replaced the rubber "whatchamacallit" on my Dewalt Sliding Compund Miter this past weekend. When I hooked my dust collection system up to it, it pulled the rubber together and offered no dust collection. The bag worked better in that case. I used a piece of thin flat aluminum and used the rubber piece for a template but still had to do a lot of fitting afterward. When turning the saw all the way to the right or left the aluminum shroud would hit a piece of wood that was being cut. After it was complete, it works okay but still only catches 50% of the sawdust. At least it doesn't close up with the dust collector on. I think that there is a reason that you see so many "hood type" dust collectors for a miter saw and very few after market dust collector ports.


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## rickf16 (Aug 5, 2008)

Steve,
Try this link. 
I use a 2" hose with and adapter into the port on my Delta. I get about 50%, which is 50% less that I have to clean up.

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=11312&filter=dust


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## Steelmum (Jul 21, 2007)

My miter saw dust collection: I have tried the hose bit, even tried gluing the stupid thing to the saw, that didn't work. What I do now works better. I put the saw on one of those contractor mobile bases for miter saws and when I am done, I roll it out of the way and use a broom. Done.


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## SteveKorz (Mar 25, 2008)

Steelmum- *LOL!!*


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## Schummie (Feb 3, 2008)

Steve,

is this something? http://lumberjocks.com/jocks/CraftsmanCollective/blog/5869#comment-225573
He look at the miter saw off Festool to make a good dust collection.

Succes Schummie.


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## northwoodsman (Feb 22, 2008)

Schummie -
This was the post that I was looking for! I don't ever recalling replying to the post. Now I know why I was having such a tough time - I have a much different saw and a much different dust collection "funnel" behind the blade. Mine is now very similar to this, with the exception of the aluminum shroud having to fit inside the assembly on a Dewalt SCM.


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## 8iowa (Feb 7, 2008)

The main reason that I do not have a miter saw is the dust problem. I have vowed to make my new "Workshop in the Woods" as dust free as possible. I use a crosscut sled and have recently obtained an Incra 5000 sled if I need to cut accurate bevels. It may take a little longer to set-up on the table saw, but with my dust collector attached, there is practically no dust thrown into the air. If I have to make some rough sizing cuts I take the board outside and cut it on sawhorses with a hand held circular saw.

With an air cleaner on the ceiling I can varnish and paint on one side of the room and saw or plane on the other side while the finish is drying. There are also a lot of health benefits in avoiding breathing in the airborne dust.


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## SteveKorz (Mar 25, 2008)

Thanks all, for your replies.

Schummie, That is a terrific link! I'm going to have to sit down and really think about what I can do with it.

Grumpy.. I think I'm going to have to go with some home-made shroud like yours, and try to collect as much as I can with Schummies post…

Here is a pic of my saw on my workbench in this other post....


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## Grumpy (Nov 9, 2007)

Good luck with it Steve.


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## worthdoingwellca (Sep 16, 2010)

Do you have a small portable downdraft table with removable top? The idea here is to essentially hang it on the wall behind the miter saw with the dust port at the bottom. You should catch a good deal of the dust.

Use this along with the built in dust collector and you should be able to capture a great deal of the dust.

I am in the process of creating a multi-purpose one myself. It will be hooked to my main dust collection and used on the table top when I am sanding, but when not in use the top will hang behind the box on the wall and my miter saw stand will sit in front of it. If you build it wide enough it should cover your angles too.

I built the miter saw stand on finewoodworking.com and it has my shop vac in the bottom of it connected to the miter saw port (so this would be stage one dust collection).

It may take a while for me to complete because it isn't a high priority project but if you check www.worthdoingwell.ca in the near future I should be posting final pics of it at some point.


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## mkrok (Feb 16, 2010)

I have a similar setup http://lumberjocks.com/mkrok/blog/15436

I believe downdraft is the best way to go.

My dust collection sucks. I have a shop vac under the saw and the hose fed up behind. I attached a big floor sweep to the hose and clamped back there to catch the dust. Now several months later I'm glad I did not try to do anything really about the dust. Primarily because I got the opportunity to use the machine and see where the dust will go. Granted messy, but accurate. What I found is that the dust goes everywhere, but mostly behind and down. I have piles of sawdust under the saw because I made the shelf from plywood. The dust will naturally fall down (gravity) and pile up, duh.

My solution is to build an open torsion box as the shelf the saw sits on, and build some kind of hood underneath (probobly sheet metal or tempered hardboard). This way I think the suction from the dust collector will pull most of the dust down since it's going thee anyway. I think a hood behind will alos help but you must consider the movement of your saw. I use my saw primarily for breaking down longer boards and "rough" cutting so I don't miter often, and rarely bevel.

This is my theory, I have yet to try it, maybe I'll mess around with it this weekend.
Good Luck


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## worthdoingwellca (Sep 16, 2010)

I also wanted to say that the combination of the factory pickup on the saw and the downdraft on the wall behind the saw might work best as a phase 1/phase 2 setup - hopefully the factory one would pick up a greater amount of the small harmful dust particles and the box on the wall would catch anything else. I also use an air filter hanging on the roof. We'll see.


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## boboswin (May 23, 2007)

Steve, I handled mine like this knowing that I could not follow the dust effectively with so many variables.
I have to brush out the box now and then into the DC gate but it does contians most of it.
http://lumberjocks.com/boboswin/blog/6465


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## Nevaehawk (Oct 7, 2011)

Here is a hood i just found on a search,

http://www.mytoolstore.com/rousseau/dustcoll.html


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## rance (Sep 30, 2009)

My first choice would be the Fastcap ChopShop Saw Hood. The dustcoll that Nevaehawk links to would be a 2nd choice. I'd go with the cloth version though.

If you were cheap like me, I'd suggest getting the hugest dome-iest umbrella you could find and use it the same way with the handle pointed forward toward the saw operator. Then catch the falling chunks in a wide box below.

As for a DC, I would still suggest connecting it behind the saw to catch the fine particles that tend to float in the air. These are the ones that kill you anyway. Don't expect it to catch the chucks though.


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## Nevaehawk (Oct 7, 2011)

Here is my quick fix to replace the dust bag on the dewalt mitre saw.


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