Miter saw dust hood question

I know this has been discussed many times, but I'm looking for the most recent opinions.

I built a hood above/behind my miter saw, and have my dust collection port behind the saw. It does a nice job, but I do get an explosion of dust that tries to jump out of the hood area.

I have seen people extend the port on the saw with a small length of hose so that it aims dust to the DC collection point. How has performance been with this method?

I am considering some sort of "front" on my hood to contain the explosion of dust. Something flexible or removable so I can change saw angle when needed. Have you tried a method that you like?

Attachment 195782

I have a similar setup as your's. It works OK, but I don't think there is a really good way to collect dust from a miter saw. I've seen some very expensive manufactured systems, and NONE of them get all the sawdust.

How well does the Kapex collect dust. Just from performance on other products, I'd bet it collects dust better than any other miter saw. If it still leaves a significant amount of dust, then I'd bet this beast can't be completely tamed...

What I'm considering is a curtain, or possibly a bristle system, that basically encloses the front side of the hood. The idea being to prevent the "bounce off the back of the hood" effect.

The Kapex does a nice job of collecting dust, I'd have to say 90%. The beauty of the Kapex system is the "hood" moves with the blade. I have mine hooked to a CT22 vacuum, at the end of the week I will turn the vacuum on and suck up the extra dust as the hose is easily disconnected.

I have a retangular box behind my miter saw set up wiht the dust collection in the bottom. I put 2 "sliding plexi glass pieces in aluminum track on either side of the saw and it keeps most everything inside. The plexi glass is perpendicular to the saw fence. When I need to angle the miter saw, I just slide that side back to make it work. Otherwise, there is just a wide enough opening to allow the saw to push forward.

Hope this is clear, I am at work and cannot take pictures.

If needed, let me know and I can take later.

Jim

Jim, I would be interested in seeing what your describing if it's convient for you to post a couple of pictures when you have the time.
I've considered something like the flexible clear curtains they make to cover overhead doors to keep weather out but allow forklifts to drive through.

Bob,

Here is a couple of photo's of my miter saw dust collection. For 90 deg cuts I have the front panels install, and I get 100% dust collection. The front panels are removable, and held in place with magnets. When I make a miter cut I can remove one of the panels. With a panel removed for a miter cut I still get great dust collection. Hope this helps.

Sam


Attachment 195804Attachment 195803

That's a great setup Sam! I could easily adapt my (much more rudimentary but similar to yours) hood to incorporate that front piece and the hose.

Jim - I'd also like to see a picture of your solution if possible.

Thanks guys!

OK, I snapped a few pictures of my miter saw dust collection set up. I purposely did not clean the dust off the plexi glass so that they would show up better.;)
As you can see, it is pretty simple but really works very well. The dust collection size on this is a 4" connected to the Oneida dust collection system. The opening seems to be just the right size to create a draft into the box that sucks the dust into the box. One of the pictures shows the saw at an angle with the plexi adjusted on both sides to crate the necessary clearance, but keep the opening at a minimum.
Hope this helps.
Jim

I have rectangular box similar Jim Tobias has, but without the plexiglass front. I have connected the hose to the DC, but also have a 4" whole\dust port in the back center wall. It pulls some of the "cloud", especially when cutting 90 degrees. I think extending the hood a bit more would help with the cloud, as would adding some additional pieces to the sides to "box in" the dust like Jim did.

I saw one guy mount a 4" port on the back wall of his "box" that was plumbed with flex hose and could slide from side to side to track with the saw based on the angle that is being cut. I'm not at my home computer at the momement. I think I have that solution book marked. I will try to post it along with pics of my set up in the next day or so.

I built a collector shroud in the shape of an arc, without square corners. The shroud is made from plastic laminate and 3/4" sheet goods with a couple of 1" x 2" stiffeners standing vertically at the front corners, and two more at the rear behind the duct. I made it as an experiment, and used laminate because that was what was on hand that Saturday morning. However, it has worked so well, no change as been made. If I were to do it again, I would use a piece of light gauge sheet metal instead of the laminate. Dust is collected through a 6" duct that enters from the top of the shroud. The bottom of the duct is cut at a 60 degree angle (approximate), with the "point" of the duct mounted on the rear wall and bottom sitting just off the rear bottom of the shroud. I started out cutting a 45 degree angle. It worked OK, but decided to cut more off to see what happened. The steeper the angle, the better it worked, so I kept cutting. It is used with a 12" DeWalt chop saw, and very little if any dust escapes the shroud and/or collects on the bottom. I think the arc shape helps the air flow pull both the air and any dust in the air stream toward the opening in the duct. Before I built it, I ran the idea by my brother who is both a mechanical engineer and pilot. He told me that boxes with square corners don't guide/focus the air flow very well, and allow for eddys and other flow disturbances in the air stream that result in less efficient collection. Its hooked up to a 3hp Oneida collector, and I think that high air flow also helps a great deal.

Sorry no photos - my camera is not cooperating at the current time.