Dust collection design help

[fredhargis]

Well done! The tool manufactures still for the most part only give DC a passing thought...too bad, it's becoming more important to a lot of woodworkers. Some day they will all have usable/functional dust ports.

[photobug]

As I broke my knee and have some downtime, Doctor says no weight bearing for another week, I have time to prepare a plan of attack on the rest of the dust control issues.


Currently my 1970s era Unisaw does not collect any dust even when connected to the ducting.  I have built a motor cover for it.   Even with a box over the motor opening and a 4" dust pipe inserted into it, I probably get more dust on my feet than makes it to the dust barrel.  There are so many gaps in the saws body, I don't think dust collection was ever part of the saws design.  Last weeks project was to put foam in the cracks and put tape over the gaps.  Non-weight bearing I was able to crawl on the floor to get this done.  I still have some more gaps I need to cover that i could not reach.

I need to figure out how to create a ramp to direct sawdust towards duct location.  I would like to make a sloped ramp dust diverter but that won't work when the blade is tilted.
I also need to come up with above blade dust collector.  

I have long thought about the Lee Shark Guard but now that I am using and loving my crosscut sled, I feel if it is not an easy on-off collector, it will be an on-off-on and off and stay off for the rest of it's life.

I would like to consider an overarm pipe that would continue to work with a sled.

Any comments on the Lee Shark Guard?

Any recommendations on a good overarm guard?

[photobug]

Any recommendations on a good overarm guard?

I envision one day soon buying a sawstop.  If sawstop makes a good overarm collecto that might work with my Unisaw I would consider it.

[JimV]

I envision one day soon buying a sawstop.  If sawstop makes a good overarm collecto that might work with my Unisaw I would consider it.

I have an old excalibur overarm guard/dust collector that was first mounted on my old unisaw and is now on my Inca 2100SE 12".   Works great and I don't find it gets in the way of anything I'm doing.

[photobug]

I have an old excalibur overarm guard/dust collector that was first mounted on my old unisaw and is now on my Inca 2100SE 12".   Works great and I don't find it gets in the way of anything I'm doing.

I remember hearing good things about it, but think they are no longer made.  I will begin the search for one of these or it's modern equivalent.

[fredhargis]

I had the Excalibur on my Unisaw, and it's now on my SS. SS now markets them (I think they bought the Excalibur design) as their own. I didn't care at all for the factory over blade setup, it only has a 1.5" port, and while it does OK with a shop vac attached, it doesn't do much with a DC connected. I sold mine to someone who wanted to put it on a Rigid contractor saw (this is a common thing to do, I guess). Anyway, back to the Unisaw. Mine had a 6" connection under the motor, and when hook to a big DC didn't have any dust in it at all. All those holes and "leaks" you mentioned allow a lot of make up air in, and with good air flow really scrubs the cabinet. I'm actually a little less happy with the SS DC set up. Because they only have a 4" port built in it's hard to get good air flow through it. That port is plumbed in a way that it would be some work to enlarge it (which is what I did to my other tools) so I'm stuck with what I consider less-than-optimal performance, at least as far as DC goes.

[photobug]

I had the Excalibur on my Unisaw, and it's now on my SS. SS now markets them (I think they bought the Excalibur design) as their own. I didn't care at all for the factory over blade setup, it only has a 1.5" port, and while it does OK with a shop vac attached, it doesn't do much with a DC connected. I sold mine to someone who wanted to put it on a Rigid contractor saw (this is a common thing to do, I guess). Anyway, back to the Unisaw. Mine had a 6" connection under the motor, and when hook to a big DC didn't have any dust in it at all. All those holes and "leaks" you mentioned allow a lot of make up air in, and with good air flow really scrubs the cabinet. I'm actually a little less happy with the SS DC set up. Because they only have a 4" port built in it's hard to get good air flow through it. That port is plumbed in a way that it would be some work to enlarge it (which is what I did to my other tools) so I'm stuck with what I consider less-than-optimal performance, at least as far as DC goes.

Thanks for the info Fred.  I find that interesting that SS is the Excalibur.  

A historic search for the excalibur show's great reviews.  The $200 and $400 Sawstop overarm dust collectors both have poor reviews.  I am willing to pay the toll for a good collection solution but I have trouble paying top dollar for anything without stellar reviews.  My current setup would be well balanced for whatever I come up with.  I have 6" duct leading up to the table saw then a 4" pipe leading to both the tablesaw and overarm location.  A blast gate at both locations would help me balance the draw at each suction location. 

I have taken another look Lee Shark Guard as it looks like it would work all around, collecting dust when using the table saw normally.  When I would want to use the cross cut sled I could remove the over blade guard and still have the riving knife installed.  Maybe create an overarm setup to hold the dust collector when needed.

[photobug]

 Anyway, back to the Unisaw. Mine had a 6" connection under the motor, and when hook to a big DC didn't have any dust in it at all. All those holes and "leaks" you mentioned allow a lot of make up air in, and with good air flow really scrubs the cabinet.

What year was your Unisaw?  Was the 6" connection in the motor cover door or at the base of the cabinet.  My setup which is self built is in the door, sawdust literally spews out the gaps between the table top and saw base, leaving dust on all 4 sides of the table.  I think I need to plug up lots of the gaps and test again.  Last time i has a wood cutting party though the garage was filled with dust.  I think the dust from the base is just an annoyance needing occasional vacuuming, the dust from the overhead is the real danger, and makes my shop dirty.

[fredhargis]

   
My Uni was a 2001, and yes..the connection was just under the motor cover. To get the 6" duct to fit, I actually had to squash it a little...so it was more of an oval than a circle where it connected. I cut a plywood baffle to hold it and bolted that to the saw cabinet. The pis below shows a broad view of it. I should add, before I bought the Excalibur (used) I had a Shark Guard on it, and I actually liked it better than the Excalibur. I threatened for a long time to change it back to the Shark, but sold the Uni and the Shark went with it. Can't imagine why the reviews wold be bad for the SS version of the Excalibur...all they did was change the paint to black.

[photobug]

My Uni was a 2001, and yes..the connection was just under the motor cover. To get the 6" duct to fit, I actually had to squash it a little...so it was more of an oval than a circle where it connected. I cut a plywood baffle to hold it and bolted that to the saw cabinet. The pis below shows a broad view of it. I should add, before I bought the Excalibur (used) I had a Shark Guard on it, and I actually liked it better than the Excalibur. I threatened for a long time to change it back to the Shark, but sold the Uni and the Shark went with it. Can't imagine why the reviews wold be bad for the SS version of the Excalibur...all they did was change the paint to black.

Thanks that photo helps a lot.  So far I can't bring myself to cut a hole in the base of the cabinet.  It seems sacrilegious to butcher a classic tool like this but will probably be needed to get a working dust collection going.

My impression of the SS is it is a great well built saw but the accessories don't match up to the same quality.  I'm guessing the expectations are high of the product quality and the overarm dust collection and slider don't meet those expectations.