# Dust Collection and Table Saw



## tfr (Feb 10, 2010)

I have a older General 350TS that I wanted to add dust collection. I know in a ideal world I would have suction in the cabinet and also an arm over the blade, but the arm is not going to happen because of other obstructiions. Since this was an older saw without any dc ports, I had to cut a hole in the bottom of the cabinet to add a port. And since I was running a 6" main line off my clear vue cyclone, i put in a 6 " port at the base. I still have to run the main line over to it, but now I'm wondering if I need to vent the cabinet more than the small vent on the door to maximize suction ? Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks….Tom


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

I think that reducing to 4" might have been a good idea. I would thinks with the opening at your saw blade and vent's you should be fine.


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## tfr (Feb 10, 2010)

And with a zero tolerance insert?


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

I don't think it's air tight. The proof is in the use of the dust collection and saw,If it removes the saw dust then you good to go. If not then you can test it with test it with the access door off and see if it still collects of course just as a test.


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## tfr (Feb 10, 2010)

Sounds like a good plan. Thanks for the feedback. Tom


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

The last thing you want is an air tight saw cabinet. DC works because lots of air flows from the source of the sawdust (the saw blade) to the inlet to the system (the cabinet port). The trick is to get enough air flowing in the right direction to move as much sawdust as possible into the DC lines.

I don't think it's possible to collect *all *of the sawdust that drops into the saw cabinet. On the two TS's I've owned, the cabinet was really a collection chamber that needed occasional cleaning.

Another hassle is sawdust coming up onto the table top. IMO, this is mostly because sawdust gets caught in the blade gullets and is carried up before it can drop into the cabinet. An over arm collection line seems to work great for this problem.

I'm not convinced that ZCI's really inhibit dust collection. All inserts are covered by the workpiece, so flow down through the insert is pretty much closed off when making a cut.


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Greetings Tom:.... I think you mean Zero Clearance inserts….. not tolerance…..lol… just a typo error. 
+1 for Jim and sawkerf….... I agree with what they both said. I'm not so sure about
ZCI myself sometimes. I seem to get more dust on me than in the saw cabinet. lol.
But hey…....... that's woodworking. Just have to wash clothes more often…... later.


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

I have a factory dust port on the back bottom of my TS. I also put a 3/4 piece of plywood on the moble base that the saw sits on so the sawdust cant get out the bottom. I have a good DC but even with the air flow through the cabinet, I still find the sawdust builds up in the base of the cabinet much like Sawkerf said.
The suction does seem to pull most of the sawdust down into the cabinet though. What I occasionally do is turn on the DC and open the service door and push the mound of sawdust towards the dust port and it sucks it right up…very easy cleaning.

On the ZCI, I usually dont use them since I think it blocks the DC suction, especially with the dado blade.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

That's a good point that most table saws don't get 100% dust collect no mater what you do.


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## tfr (Feb 10, 2010)

Ok Rick, you got me on the zero tolerance ! I think I'll just experiment with what I got after hooking it all up and then open the front door as needed. Thanks again…....Tom


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## Ger21 (Oct 29, 2009)

I read that if you bore a 3/4" to 1" hole at the rear of the blade in a zero clearance insert, it'll get a lot more of the dust that gets thrown out the top.


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## tfr (Feb 10, 2010)

Thanks Gerry, I'll give that a try when I get this system together. Tom


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