Is it ok to cover some of the TS openings for dust collection?

I have a Delta hybrid TS and am trying to get by with a shop-vac for dust collection. Not ideal, I know, but space is tight and I am not sawing huge volumes of wood. When I run the vacuum, I don't feel much air drawn though the throatplate as there are many openings in the saw. The largest is at the top of the hinged cover on the cabinet near the motor. Would partially covering that opening cause problems such as overheating the motor?

Even though I don't feel much air coming through the throatplate, dust collection is surprisingly good as is. I have some dado cuts coming up and suspect controlling airflow will reduce the mess.

-Steve

Reply to
Steve W
Loading thread data ...

You are kidding yourself to use a shop vac for dust collection under the deck of a table saw. There is nothing you can do that will make up for the vacuum's lack of air volume capacity for dust collection. A table saw needs higher volume movement for dust collection. Applications like router table fences and drill presses are low volume applications and work well with a vacuum.

Some people with hybrid saws ust block the dust collection port and open the cabinet frequently to vacuum out the dust collected in the cabinet between uses.

Bob

Reply to
bluemax1811-newsgroups

I use a shop-vac for dust collection on my contractor TS. It has the

4" plate below the saw. I ran an aluminum dryer hose to a 40 gallon trash can fitted with a dryer elbow under the lid. I put a 2" hole in the lid behind the elbow to make the trash can a 'cyclone'. (replies insert comments about hazards of dust and how my health is worth buying a real system here).

Anyway, this works surprisingly well. Most of the dust and all of the chips stay in the trash can. I used expanding foam to seal off between the frame and the cast iron top. I also made a cover for the back of the saw based on this:

formatting link
long as you have airflow, and you will if you are collecting dust, your motor will have airflow. Close it as much as you can, you will never get it totally sealed.

Reply to
RayV

Here is a visual of the 'cyclone' I use.

formatting link

Reply to
RayV

Theoretically you can. A TS simply does not produce that much sawdust, so a (decent sized) shop vac is more than adequate--*provided that* the TS dust space is well designed. Shop vacs cannot move much volume, so you have to isolate as small a space around the blade as possible to go directly to the vac.

Look at Ryobi's BT3K series to see great design for that. Granted, that's a small TS--not a cabinet saw, or even a hybrid--but the amount of sawdust it produces is the same as any cabinet saw (unless you're shoving an inch deep dado blade through as fast as you can, which a cabinet saw could probably handle but might stall a portable). So theoretically you can.

The difficulty is the guts under the table and how they're configured. Most cabinet saws have large trunnions and motors etc., so it's hard to isolate the space around the blade to be small enough for a shopvac to handle, without getting really innovative with flexible materials.There's no harm in trying though, and I see all sorts of "tips" in WW magazines about how to close up that space for better dust collection.

Thermal stress on a inside a TS cabinet should not be a factor, I would think, with a TEFC motor, but the electricians on board can tell you more about that.

Regards, H

Reply to
hylourgos

Nice. I have been looking for one of those.

-Steve

Reply to
Steve W

Thanks. I will try covering the large one to start. It just seems to me that the engineers probably made that big opening for a reason. Do you think it is designed to allow enough flow for a dust collection system?

-Steve

Reply to
Steve W

Nevermind. I figured out why the hole is there when I set up a bevel cut - motor clearance. I covered the space, and now dust collection and air flow are pretty good.

-Steve

Reply to
Steve W

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.