miter saw dust collection

[Bob Cooper]

i just bought a Bosch glide style miter saw and decided to design a new cabinet to go along w/it. i'm thinking about using both my dust collector (ClearVUE / 6" snaplock) as well as a shop vac. This is a new shop and the very first cabinet to be built. All i have in place right now is my stationary machines and the ClearVue.

so i was thinking...would it help much to try and pull dust from the miter saw base area and maybe from behind. So there would be a hollow area under the entire saw about 4-5" deep with holes in it towards the back half of the table. Also maybe a way to pull dust from behind <-- imagine a backsplash that is really a box that is 4" deep that goes up about 10" and has a bunch of holes in it. Possibly let the backsplash turn each corner.

Anyway...when i start laying it out it looks like the space needed to make a hollow box would take up a lot of room and this saw already sticks out a good bit so i'm having second thoughts. Now i'm thinking maybe just make an enclosure on the back and sides and put holes in the base.

i know folks have done a lot of designs so maybe y'all have already debated this but i haven't seen anything.

Here's a couple pictures...hopefully they make sense. The first is a view from the front and the other is a view from the top. In this picture i'm showing the backsplash as just 3/4" wood...no box. I could do this and put a top of in and just pull from beneath.

miter table v1.png

[Peter Aeschliman]

My experience with this is that the fine dust tends to blow straight back and up in a big cloud. Only the heavier chips drop.

For mine, I used my main dc for controlling that dust cloud. My 6" main is split into 3 4" ducts, that are plumbed down a three "paned" back splash, with openings at around the height of the miter saw's table. On the benchtip behind the saw, I cut as much of the bench top away as possible, and built a large funnel that leads to a 4" line plumbed to my old 1hp Jet dust collector. I connected a 2.5" hose to the oem dust port and simply let it droop down into the funnel I described above.

I think it's a fine idea to connect your shop vac to the oem dust port though.

Sorry, I don't have any pictures of my setup and my shop is not located at my home.

[Tom M King]

I built a box around my slider, and it gets all the dust with a 3hp four bagger-our portable dc that runs table saw, jointer, and this saw with no blast gates. I thought I might have to close it up more than this, but I tried it and didn't need to do anything else. There is a slot all the way across the back that is over a plenum and 6" dust port under that. This was just a prototype to test, but it worked so good that I've been using it for five or six years. Since this was taken back then, I've added a light on each side that shines down on each side of the blade. The dust port on the back was helped with the PVC pipe which aims it at the slot.

[Chris Parks]

The following links might give you some ideas. I have found that the Bosch Glide is not the easiest thing to get the dust collection right on due to its unique design and the high fence. Be aware that a vac with no HEPA filters will generate heaps of very fine dust as that dust passes right through any other filter medium.





https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ust+collection

Taken from the above link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRCgwTqJhqM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AIITfs51PE

[Ole Anderson]

Cut a hole in your wall and use the stud cavity as the box. I did that and ran my 6" into the stud cavity. Plus you pick up 4" of depth so your saw isn't sitting in the middle of the room.

[Bob Cooper]

Ole

Interesting idea but I'm sure I've got power running through there

[Paul Bylin]

I use the bottom of a storage container for mine. I need to install a couple of hinges at the bottom and put a small cable to the handle of the miter saw so when I make a cut, the "cover" will come down with it. Also, I have a Big Gulp cut into the bottom of the container. May be a bit difficult to see, but it's the red container...

[Julie Moriarty]

This monstrous thing was the smallest box I could make for catching dust & chips and still allow full movement of the saw. It's hooked up to the DC by a 4" hose. I'd rate it about a 4 out of 10 for dust collection efficiency.



A year or so ago, I installed a homemade rubber shield just behind the blade, something like what Festool has on their saw. When a shop vac was attached to the port on the saw, it worked pretty well, but it eventually failed. The miter saw is the biggest slob in my shop.

[Tom M King]

As big as mine looks in the pictures, it's really only an inch deeper front to back than the slider arms need all the way in. I'm not sure about that Bosch, but if you move enough air, and close it up enough, you should be able to get all the dust. We use mine in finished houses, and there is no dust to clean up any more than would be needed with regular household vacuuming. I think the angled sides in a close as possible for swing both ways helps to keep sawdust from bouncing out. It comes close to the fence front, and as close as possible to the saw swinging either way. The top is cutout to allow for the rise of the carrying handle. I thought I might need to cut that handle off, close up some more corners, and places here and there, but never needed to.

The slot creates suction across the whole back of the box. I just guessed at 1/2" and it couldn't work any better. If I had put a wedge shaped strip behind the slot, it wouldn't catch that sawdust there.

The 3hp Woodtek four bagger is on wheels, and is the largest I could find that would roll through common doorways. I almost got the 5hp, but decided to try this one, and it works great. I think it's still less than 700 with the pro discount.

[Joe A Faulkner]

I built a simple shroud out of some scrap 3/8" plywood, ran 6" line off the DC, cut a 6" hole in the back of the shroud to catch the bulk of natural dust spray coming off the saw. The six inch hole runs into a thin "boot" with a 4" hole that catches the cloud, and smaller ports at the bottom to catch other dust. Also connected to the 1 1/2" supplied dust port to the boot. I've since added a small fan to encourage air flow towards the dust port. Don't ask how many nights I've left the small fan run all night after closing down the rest of the shop.

My configuration is a little unconventional. I have the DC in the center of the shop and cluster the TS, SCM, Bandsaw, and Planer around the DC. Makes for short runs to the tools from the DC. I have to run a hose to the jointer, but the others are constantly plumbed to the DC.

[Bob Cooper]

All good ideas and i'll let you know what i finally come up with.

Any value in also connecting the shop vac to the dust collection port or should i just point it to the 6" dust collector intake that will be towards the back and bottom of the saw?

[Bill Adamsen]

Bob ... interesting idea with the shop vac. I don't do that on my miter ... I'm using exclusively the dust collection (cyclone) with a 6" drop. It is the least effective dust collection in the shop. Another way of saying, it is the station I have to clean via vacuum the most. As Julie said ... a 4/10 would be generous.

On my radial arm saw - which I use pretty much just for tenoning - I discovered that if I add the vacuum to the RA hood in addition to the 6" dust drop, the impact on total dust collection is really significant. Some type of a hybrid on the miter might be just as effective.

[Charles Taylor]

Any value in also connecting the shop vac to the dust collection port or should i just point it to the 6" dust collector intake that will be towards the back and bottom of the saw?

I have a DeWalt miter saw. Before I built an enclosure around it, I would often connect the dust port to my shop vac, and it seemed to work better than you might expect. Not perfectly by any means, but it did capture a lot of the dust.

The enclosure I built gives the same results as everyone else's--not so good. With a 4" outlet to the DC, it captures much of the visible airborne dust, but a lot of sawdust settles behind the saw, needing frequent cleaning out with the vac. The saw's dust port isn't routed into the DC piping.

Sooner or later I will make another attempt at a better enclosure, and I'll route the saw's dust port to the DC piping and try to manipulate the openings so there's a significant airflow through the dust port. I think it'll help a lot.

[Al Launier]

Could you use something like this? http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/144...Collector.aspx I picked one up locally at Rocklers, but can no longer find it on their web site. I use it on my miter saw with a 4" duct hose & the discharge from the saw is captured into the hood.

[Roy Harding]

I have two CMS - one slider, and one non-slider. I put a plywood box behind both, on the bottom of one and the back of the other is a "Big Gulp" hooked up to a 4" dust collector drop. I also used plastic pipe (PVC, I think - I'm not in the shop right now, but whatever is cheapest will work fine) fittings on the saws' disharge chute to direct the discharge flow all the way to the back of the saw - there's a 45 degree elbow at the back to keep the discharge aimed towards the back, even when the saw is fully depressed.

This works well - but DOES take some space. In the case of the slider (which is used for cutting rough lumber to rough length), my lumber storage is to the right, left, and above it - so the space makes sense, and little square footage is wasted as it was lost to lumber storage anyway. The non-slider is used to rough cut miters, and is located on its own, it takes more space than I'd like - but I'm blessed with a large shop. The idea someone posted above of using the space between wall studs as a collection box is interesting, and ingenious!