MiniMax smart 300 overhead Guard dust collection advice needed..

[Joe Zerafa]

Hi All, I have had a Minimax smart 300 combination machine for about 3 years. I have never used the dust collection port on the overhead guard for the tablesaw.

I really want to cut down on the airborne dust in my workshop and I think this is a good starting point. I am trying to figure out the best way to pipe the dust collection hose to the overhead guard and not inhibit the use of the jointer/thicknesser.


Has anyone gone through a similar exercise? Any advise/pictures would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks

Joe

[Jim Becker]

Joe, I bring the hose from overhead for the blade guard (when I use it) on my S315WS slider. It's on a separate blast gate and is basically a 3" drop with a 2.5" hose to the hood. When I don't have the hood on the riving knife, it stays connected to the hose and both are lashed to a couple hooks on the ceiling with bungee cords. This method should pretty much work for you with the combo, too, since the drop is directly over the machine and will never interfere with any of the other "stations".

[Cary Swoveland]

When I had a CU300 Smart, I built an overhead dust collector that attached to the ceiling. I used three pivot points and some spacers to make it height, back-and-forth and side-to-side adjustable. I made the housing itself from clear polycarbonate (Lexan). The sides dropped onto the wood by gravity, to improve collection efficiency. It worked fine, but after awhile I removed it. The problem was that I had to raise it out-of-the way for narrow rips, and I seemed to do that so often that it was too much of a hassle to move it out and then move it back.

Cary

[Steven Wilson]

Well, I have 5" blast gates and for the overblade guard I ran a 5"-4" reducer, 4" hose (suspended by rope from the ceiling), to a custom 4" to 60mm fitting on the guard
If you turn to this thread (from 2005) you'll see more http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=27874

[Joe Zerafa]

Awesome!! , thanks fo the idea's everyone.

I really like the idea of suspending the hose via the ceiling.

I'll pickup some hose asap and run with a temporary setup until i find something that works best for me.


Joe