enough dust manage to stay in between the teeth that it doesn't come
> out until blade has got around to the upswing? Or does it deflect off
> something else first and end up there? I can't figure it out.
>
> I'm open to ideas, and thanks for reading all this.
>
>
> -Leuf
Your saw is missing one important thing that helps keep the sawdust from spewing out the front at you.
This is going to be hard to explain, so bear with me. The part in question is about 1/16" thick metal, and about 8" tall and is shaped like a "U", as you look down into the saw, with the insert (shoe) off. It comes very close to the blade, perhaps 1/2". It's purpose is to separate the air (and sawdust) that is circulating with the blade, and split that airflow and deflect it down into the bottom of the cabinet. If the bottom of the cabinet is at enough angle, most of the big dust will slide into the collector.
The other place to catch a lot of dust is directly over the blade. One of my saws has a place to hook a 2" hose on the top of the blade shield, and a
1/2 tube going down to almost the top of the blade, with the open end towards the oncoming dust rotating with the blade.
Hope that helps.
-- Jim in NC