A little challenge

[algale]

Ok, no snide remarks please. Here is the beginning of my outside of the box thinking.

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I'm thinking of some type of total cover using Velcro to hold things together and to the table. It's flexible enough to allow for the table to tilt 45 % I'm thinking of maybe heavy duty plastic cut in pieces to be attached with Velcro to get around the way tubes etc. You laugh, but as crude as it is now just using duct tape to hold the pieces together, it works.

No snide remarks here. I have experimented with a similar idea using a dust shroud this is intended to be used when connecting the DW735 planer to a trash can. Effectively it is a cone shaped open ended bag of a very fine mesh material with a draw string over the wide open end of the cone and a heavy elastic band built into the narrow open end of the cone which is sized for a 2.5 inch dust connector. Basically I pulled the wide end of the cone up and around the lower saw guard with the elastic end over the lower saw guard's dust chute. It worked ok but it was a pain to clean out the bag. Maybe you will have better luck.

[shipwright]

No snide remarks here either. Essentially this is the way a cabinet saw deals with sawdust.
Can it be made rigid enough to form a chute at the bottom for the DC hose?

or

Can it be made flexible enough to be sucked up against (but not into) the escapement areas by the suction on the lower guard's existing port?

Just thinking out loud.....

Paul M

[fredsheldon]

No snide remarks here either. Essentially this is the way a cabinet saw deals with sawdust.
Can it be made rigid enough to form a chute at the bottom for the DC hose?

or

Can it be made flexible enough to be sucked up against (but not into) the escapement areas by the suction on the lower guard's existing port?

Just thinking out loud.....

Paul M

Ok, I like the chute idea at the bottom. I'm now thinking maybe a combination of ridge chute at bottom and flex sides to allow tilting, attached to the table via Velcro strips. I need to get busy in cutting out panels with heavy plastic to fit around the way tubes and inside of the power head rather than around it. Elastic bands could be used to fit around the way tubes.

Fred

[dusty]

Ok, I like the chute idea at the bottom. I'm now thinking maybe a combination of ridge chute at bottom and flex sides to allow tilting, attached to the table via Velcro strips. I need to get busy in cutting out panels with heavy plastic to fit around the way tubes and inside of the power head rather than around it. Elastic bands could be used to fit around the way tubes.

Fred

Creating an enclosure around the headstock, as you have done with the plastic shroud will certainly collect the dust from the underside of the Shopsmith main table.

Furthermore, with some refinement, it will be an effective dust collector that will allow the tilting table to be used. I will be watching this thread develop with great anticipation. Keep up the good work. There are shops clear across this country that could use better dust collection. This just may be it.

In the meantime, however, I too have gone outside the box. It is not the dust (and shavings) that escape from the underside that I am working on. I am currently concentrating on dust collection with the table at 90° to the blade. The dust that I am bothered by is that dust that is brought to the top side of the table by the blades rotation.

The upper saw guard works well for this and it would work even better if it employed some of the features of the SharkGuard. But I use the saw a lot without having the upper saw guard mounted.

After I think I have a solution for this configuration, I will work on a "tilted table solution". Many of us resist tilting the table so that seems to be a secondary problem.

Most of what I am doing is already detailed here on the forum. Much of it in the beginning of this thread.

[chris jay]

this has all been good reading. I have the DC3300 experimenting with it. It does preform a bit better using the 4 inch line bushed down at the end to 2.5, but it sounds like most of you guys have much higher cfm collectors. Maybe I need to get a more powerful unit to catch the chips and dust

[algale]

Ok, I like the chute idea at the bottom. I'm now thinking maybe a combination of ridge chute at bottom and flex sides to allow tilting, attached to the table via Velcro strips. I need to get busy in cutting out panels with heavy plastic to fit around the way tubes and inside of the power head rather than around it. Elastic bands could be used to fit around the way tubes.

Fred

I'm glad you are focusing on getting your headstock outside the shroud. Upon reflection keeping the headstock inside the shroud would increase heat build up and might fry your PP or at least decrease it's lifespan.

[algale]

This isn't outside the box. In fact, it is pretty similar to the original dust deflectors designed by Dusty and mbcabinetmaker.

The main difference is an accordion design allows the deflector to work from the widest to the narrowest settings on the lower saw guard. It is built out of a thin plastic cutting board material from a kitchen and bath store that I cut to size with a razor blade (I wonder how effective a cutting board it would make ) and then folded into an accordion design. It is important to get the right number and width of accordion folds so that it doesn't interfere with the table insert casting. The plastic is fairly rigid but has enough flex to allow the table to tilt to 45 degrees without removing the deflector.

It is attached with screws and nuts to a piece of angle aluminum that is cut and shaped so that it follows the front lip of the lower guard. It is also mounted to the lower lip with screws and nuts.

Mounting it to the angle aluminum gets it a bit further away from the blade which, with the added height, seems to help catch the dust. Dust collection is about what others who made deflectors have reported.

P.S. The red on the aluminum isn't my blood by the way; it is marker left over to help shape the piece.
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A couple more photos in the next post with the table in place.

[algale]

A few shots with the table in place. You can see the deflector at the infeed edge of the table.

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[dusty]

algale: I like the accordion approach. This definitely corrects one of the issues that I have. Don't be surprised if you see a change in mine.

I assume that you have made some sawdust to test its' effectiveness.

In your last picture of the underside, you can see the blade. I wonder how much sawdust escapes from there.

[algale]

algale: I like the accordion approach. This definitely corrects one of the issues that I have. Don't be surprised if you see a change in mine.

I assume that you have made some sawdust to test its' effectiveness.

In your last picture of the underside, you can see the blade. I wonder how much sawdust escapes from there.

Dusty: Feel free to appropriate any part of the design you wish; I've done so with several of your ideas.

I've made some test cuts with a regular blade. I will test with a dado blade soon but it seems to be about as good as your deflector was in terms of dust collection.

I think dust can and will escape anywhere it can, including the area shown in the below-table shot. But as you know, by far the greatest escape hatchway is the front area.

As you play with the accordion shape you will find a sweet spot for the number of folds. More and smaller folds are better. This material was not easily folded any smaller. Also don't ignore the advantage of using the angle aluminum mounting piece to get the deflector positioned further away from the blade and, more importantly, right up under the front edge of the table insert.

Having just finished this, I think an even better approach, but one I'm not sure I have the capability to manufacture, would be made of a series of nesting, thin, rigid metal (flashing?) or plastic slats, curved to follow the curve of the blade/lower saw guard. The slats would slide across each other, like an oriental hand held fan, to adjust for width, and ideally would have a semi-soft top 1/2 inch or so, possibly rubber, that would deform to follow the tilt of the table.

Al