After finding that a sliding mitre saw throws dust everywhere, I needed to find a better system than either a useless collecting bag or an inadequate pick up from a collecting vacuum. Looking at the saw, the problem is being caused by the saw blade being too far from the pick up point for sawdust. The solution appeared to be to extend the collecting chute downwards towards the base of the saw. It is however necessary to be able to slide the collecting chute up and down to allow for different thicknesses of wood. The id of the existing collecting chute is 58mm, so a 58mm tube seemed the logical solution. That was when I found that a
58mm tube would foul the motor mounting, so 58mm was a no no. The solution was to take a piece of 50mm pvc drain pipe about 15" long (stocked only by Homebase in 1 off 2M lengths!)Cut one end to 45degrees, then using a piece of 20mm masking tape, cut a 20mm slot from the sharp bit of the 45 degree end with a tenon saw for some 8.5". This allows the tube clearance for the saw blade. As the tube is too small for the chute and needs to be offset backwards from the saw blade, a piece of 6mm thick x 8mm wide hardwood is screwed to each edge of the slot. Each is 6.5" long and spaced to start 4.5" from the 45 degree end of the tube. The combination of the slot and the hardwood makes the tube a friction fit in the chute and easily adjustable. The result is a sawdust collection system which gets >90$ of the sawdust going towards the collection point. It works nicely with the vacuum cleaner, but is still not that good at putting sawdust into a bag! I still need to complete the rest of the ducting between the saw and the vacuum so I'll report on that when it's done.- posted
9 years ago