Hello All,
I have a Craftsman contractor’s tablesaw and I’m doing some dustproofing on it.
I applied Boeshield’s T-9 to the height and bevel adjustment screws. I think that will work okay on those parts. It’s not oily, anyway.
Is there anything I can put on the interior to help the dust not collect as much? A spray or a wax or anything?
Thanks!
–Jonnieboy
Replies
Not sure if you get the FWW magazine or not, but recently there was an article in there about dust proofing a table saw here is the link, I hope this helps you out.
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/Workshop/WorkshopPDF.aspx?id=32303
Thanks mike, I'm using a number of ideas from that article.
Maybe I asked the question a couple days too soon. I'm going from using a shop-vac on the saw to a dust collector. While working on this "retrofit" I saw the article and decided to try some of those ideas as well.
I haven't had it hooked up yet and I didn't even stop to consider that it might actually work, and to apply a wax or spray to the walls of the cabinet would be unnecessary.
No dust... What would it be like?
--Jon
Keep in mind that the goal here is to (a) prevent dust from spreading around the shop, and (b) prevent dust from accumulating over time inside the cabinet. If there is a little pile of dust that ends up in a corner of the cabinet, and stays there, or a thin film of dust on the sheet metal, then who cares? As long as the amount of dust is the same after you've used the saw as it was before you used it, you've succeeded. You're not going to be graded on how spic-and-span the inside of your saw is.-Steve
Ditto Steve.. a shop vac every few days as I use my TS daily gets the dust out of the corners. The good news is the dust is contained inside the cabinet and not dispersed all over the shop after it escaped. There is no such thing as perfect in dust collection even though the claim is made frequently. Reality dis-agrees with anyone that makes the claim IMO.
Have fun...
Sarge..
Here are some pictures of my Craftsman TS setup. They cover two cabinets I've built for the saw. (Picture 1441 is the newest.)
The "drawer" directly under the saw is actually an access panel to the collection space under the saw. The other drawers are used for blades, dado sets, various inserts, tools, etc.
First of all, I don't think that you'll ever get 100% collection. There's a "shelf" where the saw housing joins the cabinet that will always collect sawdust no matter how slick you make it. In addition, the geometry of the saw doesn't make dust collection easy. I suppose that you could rig some baffles to direct the dust closer to the port, but it would probably be more trouble than it's worth. - lol
Picture 452 shows a fairly typical amount of sawdust in the collection area of the old cabinet. In the new one, I cut the height to ~5" and added a 4" x 13" heating duct to the back of the cabinet between with my blast gate between the duct and collection hose. I was hoping that reducing the volume of the collection space would increase the velocity of the air flow and improve the collection effeciency. It helped some, but not as much as I had hoped.
The panel on the back of the saw (picture 453) made the most difference. It took me a couple of hours to figure out the "hole" in the back, but it directs the incoming air flow while allowing me to run the saw through it's full range of blade height and angle. It's just a piece of 1/4" ply attached with a few sheet metal screws.
Also note the orientation of my blast gate. If you have the gate opening upward, dust builds up in the channels and the gate won't close completely. If you have the gate open downward, you won't find yourself cleaning the gate channels with a piece of bent wire every few days. - lol
Overall, my setup does a pretty good job considering that my saw was never designed to use any form of DC. I'm in the market for a new TS and it will have design features making dust collection much more effective.
Dave45,
Thanks for your response and suggestions. I've been trying off and on for a couple das to get some pictures uploaded in my reply but I can't get them compressed enough. No big. I'll get them sooner or later.
Your saw cabinet is rectangular and mine is plastic and funky and not a straight angle to be found. Also my motor is direct-drive, so it's inboard.
I couldn't help it. I waxed the new dust chute. Get me going and pretty soon there I am, reaching for white paint and Renaissance.
I have the cabinet sealed off except for three places -- the bevel adjuster, the height adjuster, and the blade (no zero-clearance insert).
A trial run with the dust collector on and the saw cutting shows dust spitting up from the back of the blade. Not nearly as much as it did, but it's still there. Also some dust piling up in the right front corner. I would expect this with no intake ports. All the air is choked off.
My next step is to drill holes in the cabinet to direct the air. I happened across some little directional air vents today while at the hardware store. Didn't even know they had such things.
I'l let you know the results when I get the cabinet ported.
I do know there will be dust. But it can be far less than it is now.
Hey, by the way, nice saw table/cabinet.
--Jonnieboy
Are you using one of the lightweight "jobsite" saws? I've seen them fitted with a square (or rectangular)sheet metal "floor" that tapers into a round collar that accepts a DC hose. It fits under the saw and is attached to the stand. I think that someone with moderate sheet metal skills could make one fairly easily.My saw cabinet was made from a bunch of scrap I had left over from a large cabinet job I did last year.
Edited 6/8/2009 11:52 pm by Dave45
Hey Dave,
Not really sure about the model, but it's a "Limited Edition."
I'm all signed up on Photoshop now so I should have better luck with compressing photos. I'm sure there's a way I can do it already, but I haven't been able to find it.
I'll get back soon.
--jonnie boy
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