Shopsmith Forums

OK....my shop is finally wired, tools on the wall, accessories mounted in home built stations, AND shop vac with cyclone seems to be working great, and shopsmith sheaths have been oiled and the machine has passed all of the alignment tests.

I just made my first official set of cuts with the table saw. I mounted the dust collection hose to the back of the table saw and taped it tightly using duct tape. I'm anticipating nice clean cuts like I see on all the videos.

I turn the machine on and VOILA, it as if someone attached a waterhose full of sawdust spewing out the front of the machine on the floor. After ripping about 9 1X4's into strips for mounting peg board, my floor is about 2 inches deep in sawdust.

I'm feeling quite sheepish. And as happy as I am about the performance of my circa '1984 Mark V, I'm wondering just what I'm doing wrong with my dust collection....Do I need to change my setup OR change my expectations.

Be gentle.....

David

One more piece of data. I was using just the standard insert which is about 1/2 - 3/4 " wide....not the zero clearance insert.

djscruggs wrote:OK....my shop is finally wired, tools on the wall, accessories mounted in home built stations, AND shop vac with cyclone seems to be working great, and shopsmith sheaths have been oiled and the machine has passed all of the alignment tests.

I just made my first official set of cuts with the table saw. I mounted the dust collection hose to the back of the table saw and taped it tightly using duct tape. I'm anticipating nice clean cuts like I see on all the videos.

I turn the machine on and VOILA, it as if someone attached a waterhose full of sawdust spewing out the front of the machine on the floor. After ripping about 9 1X4's into strips for mounting peg board, my floor is about 2 inches deep in sawdust.

I'm feeling quite sheepish. And as happy as I am about the performance of my circa '1984 Mark V, I'm wondering just what I'm doing wrong with my dust collection....Do I need to change my setup OR change my expectations.

Be gentle.....

David

You are not alone in wanting better dust collection. There are many threads on here about how to improve the dust collection of the SS table saw set up. Do a forum search and the different threads may give you some ideas to try. The problem is the design has to accommodate the table movement. When the SS was designed, safety guards for the table saw were a luxury item and dust collection was not even heard of. I think they did a good job of adding it to the existing machine. Advances have been made since it was designed and added in materials and in what people expect it to do.

I agree wholeheartedly with Brenda's suggestions, and might add you will find this may be one of the most discussed topics.

Which type of lower guard do you have?

In my case, I have the cast aluminum lower guard, with a 1.25" aluminum spacer permanently installed. I have experimented with sealing the spacer to the guard with duct tape to eliminate small cracks. My best improvement has been extending the right face, front and rear of the guard to the same height as the left side of the guard, and adding a piece of 1" thick foam on top of the guard between the table and the guard. Right now, that means a lot more blade is exposed than necessary for cutting thinner stock, but I hope to remedy that by adding and stacking more foam inserts, or making inserts out of a variety of thicknesses of foam. A zero clearance insert also helped me. Most of the dust that does escape is usually from the top side of the table, and that is a relatively small amount. The attached pictures show the amount of dust that was not collected after ripping approximately 60 LF of 4/4 oak. I use a DC3300 dust collector. This approach works well when the table is not tilted, and I have not tried to improve dust collection for when the table is tilted, as I seldom make those types of cuts.

Congratulations. It certainly looks as though you have accomplished that task very well. Well done!

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody hears it, did it make any noise?

If there is no sawdust under your Shopsmith, did you actually cut any wood?

Thanks for the responses, and Brenda, yes, I will now search the whole thread for suggestions. It is actually helpful to know that my problem is not unique and related to me doing something WRONG! I have several ideas already thanks to the suggestions and photos!

David

In answer to the question "what kind of sawguard assembly", I just learned from searching this thread that I have an assembly form the mid 80's that has only a 1 1/4" hose attachment, and there is a lower sawguard upgrade available (#55294 - 500) which I am now looking for!

thanks all!

djscruggs wrote:In answer to the question "what kind of sawguard assembly", I just learned from searching this thread that I have an assembly form the mid 80's that has only a 1 1/4" hose attachment, and there is a lower sawguard upgrade available (#55294 - 500) which I am now looking for!

thanks all!

I am very new to this forum, and I recently purchased circa 1984 machine as well.....actually purchased it this past weeken.
I am now going through the process of cleaning all components etc.
I would be very interested in knowing what you came up with, regarding sawdust collection, as i believe our saws to be built in the same year.

My dust collection.