Sawstop Dust Collection install "tricks"

[John Coloccia]

Not really tricks, but there are a ton of pictures I see of Sawstops with the dust collection arm and 36" fence, and they all look whacky. I've also seen some funny outfeed table solutions because of how the brackets sit. Just a couple of simple things that take about 10 minutes and will make most of the funniness disappear. I just installed mine, so I thought to snap some pictures.

You don't have to install the brackets the way they say. Install them upside down and you'll be able to ALMOST get them flush. Not perfect, but far far far better than the stock install.
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The same tubes are used for the long fence as for the short fence. Obviously, they're too long for the short fence! The bottom one's fine. 2 minutes with a good hacksaw blade will fix the top one in a jiffy. Another minute deburring with a file, and done.
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And shorten those plastic hoses. The ends screw on. It's a reverse thread (lefty tighty, righty loosey). Unscrew, cut, rescrew and done.
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Just because they didn't get it right doesn't mean WE can't get it right

[Jon Nuckles]

Thank you for posting that, John. I will definitely come back to this thread when mine is delivered. That also looks like a pretty impressive dust collection setup in the background of picture 2.

[John Coloccia]

Thank you for posting that, John. I will definitely come back to this thread when mine is delivered. That also looks like a pretty impressive dust collection setup in the background of picture 2.

That's the ClearView. It's a little beat up now. It's been moved a couple of times, and there are some stray hoses that are left over from the CNC machine I just got rid of. They'll come down at some point...one day. Probably after I'm tired of having them hit me in the head.

If I felt like taking an additional hour to drill and countersink the rear bracket, and then drill out the holes in the dust collection pipe brackets, I could just mount the entire thing underneath the rear bracket and there would be no more outfeed clearance issues. The original way gives less that 3/4" between table top and dust collection hose. My way gives over an inch, I believe, though I haven't measured it. It's good enough, anyhow. Mounted completely under would obviously be best, and IMHO it's a rare design booboo on SawStop's part that it's not like this to begin with. Obviously the issue is that the dust collection was designed long after the original SawStop, and there's just no provision on the rear bracket to mount anything.

[Rick Potter]

John,

I have always wondered how well it works hooked to a DC system. The right angle for the small hose coming off the 4" fitting seems like it should be at least on an angle to work well.

How well does it work??

Rick P

[John Coloccia]

John,

I have always wondered how well it works hooked to a DC system. The right angle for the small hose coming off the 4" fitting seems like it should be at least on an angle to work well.

How well does it work??

Rick P

Not great. This is my second SawStop. My first was a contractor. I bought it about a month before the PCS came out, so I was pretty annoyed at that, having spent a lot of money upgrading it. I had the dust collection blade guard on that one as well. At first, I ran it off the hose you see in the ceiling (that later hooked up to my CNC machine by happy accident of location, but it was originally for the SS blade guard). Well, that truly worked like cr...er...not so good. A 6" Clearview, sucked down to whatever that cute little port is, just doesn't work that well.

So then I ran a shopvac line overhead and ran it off my vac, while running the main dust collection off my Clearvue. Now THAT worked pretty well indeed!

Later on, I got the overarm collection tubes. For whatever reason, it did a better job than just the Clearvue reduced down. Why? I don't know. The only thing I can think of is that with the large airflow of the Clearvue, there's perhaps a venturi effect at the T that enhances the airflow through the small tubing.

The interesting part is if you have no dust collection hooked up to the blade guard, it actually spits some dust out of the port. I guess there's a good deal of airflow in the blade guard that flings the dust out. Between that, a decent blade guard design, and some airflow from the dust collector, the entire thing as a SYSTEM gets the job done reasonably well. It's not as good as some of the overarm guards you see on some sliders.

I had a Shark Guard at one point too. I gave that away to someone when I upgraded to the new (at the time) SawStop dust collection guard. The Shark Guard worked pretty well, if I remember correctly. I had the 4" port. I didn't think it was particularly convenient to use. The SS guard has little plastic skirts that drop down and seal off the guard if the cut doesn't extend to the other side of the guard. The Shark Guard was useless in that case, and it happened more than you would think when you're sneaking up on a measurement or cleaning up rough cuts after breaking down stock.

Also, the skinny SS guard means that the guard stays on for all but the narrowest of cuts.

If I had unlimited funds, I would use the overarm dust collection piped to something like a Fein vac, and leave the cabinet on the big dust collector, but as it is it's probably the best, stock guard and dust collection system on a table saw that I've seen. I bought the thing twice, this time a PCS, and bought the overarm DC for it twice two, so that should tell you what I think of it. It's adequate to get the job done, but it's not perfect.

[Keith Hankins]

When I put my 5hp ICS in I did not like that 90 angle from top blade dust pickup to the rear dust pickup for the saw. That just reduces too much pickup for the run. I changed to a Y and it had a lot better pickup. Works great. I also sprung for the Grngate automatic DC gates. A luxury but nice to just turn on the saw and have the gates open and the DC comes on. Also a trick someone else pointed out. For the above table DC the black pipe is on a swivel and in most pictures it parallel with the rear table rail. If you push that pipe slightly away from the saw and level out that flexible pipe that attaches to the riving knife, you will see better DC. (note the picture has an error in that the Y is reversed. I corrected that so that the Y was pointed the right direction and shortened the pipe from the steel pipe down to the Y. Also you see the manual gate that was replaced with the grngate so it's just lying on the floor now.



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[Bernie May]

I did not find that the included piping for the over blade dust collection worked very well. It steals air from the 4" hose and the piping is too small and too long. As a temporary solution I use a shop vac hooked to it. I am going to replace that with a 2" hose going up to the main 6" dust collection line over the saw.

[Rick Potter]

Thanks guys,

Suspicions confirmed. I got the DC cover for the blade, but not the pipe setup. So far I haven't hooked it up. I have a 2 1/2 shop vac connection for it that I plan to try off the main DC. If that doesn't work, I guess I will put a shop vac behind the machine for that. Trying to avoid getting too cluttered though.


Rick

[Peter Aeschliman]

I have mine hooked up to my dc via a drop from my ceiling.

It works well enough for my needs, but I'm sure a shop vac would be better. I don't want to have to hook up and turn on a shop vac and my dc every time I us the TS. Call me lazy.

My dylos doesnt fuss too much when I'm using my TS the way its hooked up, so I'll call it "good enough".

[David Ragan]

I am with the crowd that has the SS dust pick up guard hooked up to a 4" takeoff from the central vac.

Also, be sure you occlude the open slant on the front of the machine.

I had a fancy Excaliber overhead DC arm at one time. Got rid of it, though, cause, as has been said, the duct run, etc just put too much drain on system

The 4" flex down pipe is a little of a hassle at times, getting in the way--but I deal with it

[glenn bradley]

I'm curious about the difference on the brackets. Mine are mounted as per the manual and have plenty of clearance. Maybe they corrected something?

SawStop Tube Clearance (2).jpg . SawStop Tube Clearance (1).jpg

Like others I was surprised how well the overarm worked despite a pathetic design. It works fine for me but, is a far cry from what a shop vac hooked to the tube can do. Like you CMS, ROS or router, a shop vac is going to outperform a DC when it is playing in this arena. Right tool for the job and all that ;-)

[John Coloccia]

I'm curious about the difference on the brackets. Mine are mounted as per the manual and have plenty of clearance. Maybe they corrected something?

SawStop Tube Clearance (2).jpg . SawStop Tube Clearance (1).jpg

Like others I was surprised how well the overarm worked despite a pathetic design. It works fine for me but, is a far cry from what a shop vac hooked to the tube can do. Like you CMS, ROS or router, a shop vac is going to outperform a DC when it is playing in this arena. Right tool for the job and all that ;-)

It's not plenty of clearance anymore if you try a put an outfeed table there

[David Ragan]

As above......I have considered that option. For real? Yet another shop modification.