Mark V Dust Collection - Is There a Better Way??

[dusty]

Dusty, I have a wild and crazy idea for avoiding top-side dust collection. It just might work, probably isn't terribly practical.

Saw-blade gullets are designed to carry dust. Being that those gullets are flat-edged, I figure that some dust is going to want to ride in the gullet all the way through the dust-collector shroud and back up through the ZCI, where it is can come off top-side. The slipstream along the sides of the blade is probably pretty symmetrical, and passing through the ZCI on the upstroke may actually create turbulence that helps dislodge the remaing dust particles from the gullets. Your test results would seem to corroborate that theory.

The airflow in the shroud from the dust collector is pretty low velocity in comparison with the blade-edge speed, and I suspect that it does little to dislodge dust from the gullets.

So here's the idea. Instead of trying to suck the dust from the blade gullets, use an air jet to blow it out. Mount an air nozzle to the shroud such that the air jet is in line with the blade gullets, hook it to your compressor, and let it blast while sawing. It would probably be best to mount the air nozzle directly across from your DC port, so that the dust gets collected immediately, rather than swirling around in the shroud for a while.

Now personally, I think I'd rather deal with top-side collection hardware than listen to a noisy compressor. But it would be an interesting experiment.

Definitely food for thought and I'm not sure that it would require the blast that an air compressor would produce.

[Firechief2501]

I am having a blinger of a time trying to find a lower saw guard for my Mark V. It had one when I bought it but Shopsmith came out with an upgrade for it and I bought it. However now I have found I do not have all the parts and Shopsmith no longer makes that upgrade. So if someone can find me a lower saw guard I would appreciate it. Please reply to Bill at billandkathy70@gmail.com. Thanks

[chapmanruss]

Firechief2501,

I'm not sure which Lower Saw Blade Guard you have but from your description I am guessing it is the later one for the Mark V 500 as shown in the PDF below. The PDF linked here is from this Shopsmith website.

https://shopsmith.com/wp-content/upload ... 7-FREE.pdf

Although the instructions are still available at the link above the Retro-fit Kit itself is no longer available.

Your best source would be the used market. Find one that looks like the one you have. Keep in mind there were several different Saw Blade Guard set made for the Mark 5/V with the original Table System aka 500.

Please remove the email address link in your post. Communications should be made via posts in these threads or directly to a member via private messages available to all Forum Members.