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Table saw dust port

2K views 31 replies 12 participants last post by  artsci2 
#1 ·
I don't have a dust collector nor a shop vac, can I put a trash bag around the port and seal it with duct tape? Has anyone done this? I'm tired of the saw dust! Clean up is a whole another job!

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#2 ·
it beats a kick in the shin, but it isn't ideal. depending how the bag is attached and the kind of flow, it can actually help cause more dust up from the table. a shop vac can help heaps, and plenty of designs out there for DIY cyclone collection systems to keep the filters alive.
 
#4 ·
its not a bad piece of kit that HF dust collector, for the cost. the diy chip collectors are worth looking into as well, takes a lot of strain off any collection system and really do take up next to no space. a lot of them stack the dust collector on top.
 
#6 ·
This is why I cut outside in my driveway under a pop up tent. Leaf blower takes care of the cleanup.
 
#9 ·
I use a shop vac on the exhaust port of my table saw. There are a couple disadvantages. First, there is no way it collects all the dust-you will still have a lot of cleanup yo do. Secondly, the filter on a shop vac plugs up pretty quickly reducing the vacuum and efficiency-especially if you ever cut MDF. I recently moved to a new house and put my workshop in the garage instead of the basement. When possible, I will cut outside.
 
#10 ·
#12 ·
Grab an Oneida DIY Dust Deputy Cyclone and then buy a shop vac off craigslist. FYI there's a dozen shop vacs near me selling for $15 to $30 on CL. Remove the shop vac filter and then vent it outside. That will keep your area "clean" for low cost.

But I agree with @jjackkrash . The HF machine, as well as the Delta, Jet, Grizzly, Powermatic, etc., are all glorified chip collectors and do nothing for fine dust. Unless you're willing to buy a serious system and upgrade the dust ports on your machines you're only keeping your work area free of wood chips. So save your money and go with the shop vac/cyclone solution.
 
#15 ·
Thanks for the info guys. The shop vac + cyclone looks like a cheap and simple solution. How does it compare to the $200 HF or Shop Fox unit on Amazon? Looks like Oneida has a cyclone setup for about $100 on Amazon (no shop vac). The HF unit claims 5 microns @$199, the Shop Fox W1826 claims 2.5 microns @ $216. How's the cyclone solution compared to those two units? If I'm only saving about $100 going with the cyclone setup, unless it is 2 or 3 times more efficient than the HF or Shop Fox, why not just drop another $100 and go for the "better" unit? Someone explain. Thanks.

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#17 · (Edited)
Thanks for the info guys. The shop vac + cyclone looks like a cheap and simple solution. How does it compare to the $200 HF or Shop Fox unit on Amazon? Looks like Oneida has a cyclone setup for about $100 on Amazon (no shop vac). The HF unit claims 5 microns @$199, the Shop Fox W1826 claims 2.5 microns @ $216. How's the cyclone solution compared to those two units? If I'm only saving about $100 going with the cyclone setup, unless it is 2 or 3 times more efficient than the HF or Shop Fox, why not just drop another $100 and go for the "better" unit? Someone explain. Thanks.

Dust means different things to different people. In my experience there's basically three sizes of particulate discharged from your wood working tool: large chips, fine dust, and super fine invisible dust. The last being most harmful and most difficult to collect.

In the case of a table saw with a four inch port, the mini cyclone + shop vac will collect the large chips and some fine dust. You'll still have a fair amount of fine dust landing on stuff and almost all the super fine dust getting into the air. Using the HF or equivalent dust collector will improve the fine dust collection but will still leave most of the super fine dust in the air. Less mess to clean up than the shop vac. You can improve the performance of the dust collector by converting it into a two stage collector by building a Thien Cyclone Separator and venting to the outside. That 5 micron bag is probably not really 5 microns anyway. You can then upgrade the dust port on your table saw to 5” and add a 4” port above the table top. Switching your flex hose to smooth wall will also help. At this point you're getting virtually no fine dust or chips to clean up. Unfortunately the air is still filling up with the super fine dust that you can't see but your shop looks clean! All this is based on my experience, observations and testing with my air quality monitor. For some, this is OK. If you're concerned about the super fine dust and a dust collection system designed for super fine dust, such as from Clear Vue or Oneida, is not in the cards I suggest building/buying a filter fan to supplement whatever you use. Jay Bates built one using a large furnace blower and some hepa filters from amazon and I bet it's eight times as effective as one you could buy.
 
#18 ·
One thing is for sure, any kind of setup should have a cyclone to save the filters.

Note that the small cyclones meant for shop vacs are too restrictive to use with the high CFM, low suction dust collectors.

Klutzy, but you could run multiple small cyclones in parallel; probably should allow about 100 cfm per cyclone.
 
#19 ·
it's amost impossible to get the very unhealthy dust particles out of the air in a home shop without spending a lot of money. The issue is that the really bad stuff is so small that it goes right through typical filters. If it's an option, go with bluer101's suggestion. Use a saw on wheels that you can take outside.

As a second choice you can connect a leaf blower to the dust port and just have it blow the dust out an open door. Put a 1/2" mesh screen ahead of the leaf blower inlet to stop big chunks of wood from hurting the leaf blower impeller.
 
#21 ·
So after reading all of the replies, I've come to the conclusion that unless you spend big $$$ on shop quality dust collectors, any other method would be a waste of money, and the "safest" is to do all the work outside, with good natural wind and breeze along with a good respirator. I think I'll stick to that.
 
#24 ·
Wynn Environmental sells canister filters to replace the good for nothing filter bag. Quite a popular upgrade for the HF dust collector. I was going to do this but the 35BA222NANO costs a couple hundred dollars and the collector itself doesn't suck hard enough to get all that super fine dust to the collector. I do think the canister is worth it if supplemented with the furnace fan + hepa filter box. I'll probably build one too even though I already have a Clear Vue Cyclone.
 
#27 ·
... I'll probably build one too even though I already have a Clear Vue Cyclone.
My Clear Vue Cyclone is sitting unused outside behind my shop. It is the one they make to put ahead of a shop vac. That was my original upgraded system, a Clear Vue cyclone going to a big shop vac with Clean Stream HEPA filter. Even with fresh filter this system did not have enough cfm to control table saw dust. That's $250+ for an inadequate system.

The furnace fan and multi filters worked but was bulky. ~$150 if you scrounge the fan from a discarded furnace.

A shroud with a box fan did not pull air strongly enough. (plenty of volume but inadequate suction) This is not a solution.

The cheapest and best controlled dust manager was a leaf blower and cardboard/plywood/duct tape shroud that strongly pulled air down through the slot where the blade is. Just let the dust fly out the door onto the driveway/yard. This is the $75 solution.
 
#29 ·
I use the 2HP motor from a Grizzly G0548ZP and an Oneida Super Dust Deputy XL with an external exhaust and 6" ductwork around the shop. I also have a Jet air cleaner mounted right above my table saw. I still use a respirator when making a mess with MDF, but no dust settles in my shop after a day of cutting MDF out there.
It's expensive getting dust collection set up for real, but once it's done, it makes using the shop a real joy knowing that you can just put in the hours on the project at hand without having to put in the hours to clean everything up afterwards.
 
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