Dust Collectors and the BT3100

[Turaj]

What do you think about closing off the blade's dust port (cap it), and removing the blade's dust cover side?

I am not an expert but it seems to me that you will be preventing a natural flow of dust (saw dust coming off the blade and pushed out). But again it would easy to try and you can always go back if it did not work

[final_t]

Gave it a shot

Closed the back of the saw off with stylish masking tape, and gave it a shot. I should have taken pictures before I broke down the previous stand & plate similar to the above pictures. The "money shot" for me is the one that shows the buildup where the closed off port is at; the rest of the saw dust pattern is pretty similar to what I saw before. As you can see I've closed off the area underneigth the side panels; I will probably keep the one on the right closed off and open this one back up in order to improve airflow. There seems to be quite a bit of good flow coming from the front and the side vents. DC is the standard HF unit.

Since we have a annoying limit of how many off-site urls we can link, breaking this into two posts:

Back shot:


Dust port showing ramp:


Dust port, rudeness:


Front shot:

[final_t]

Gave it a shot 2

Link to overall inside shot:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v48/final_t/ts/Overalldustinsideshot.jpg

Money shot port buildup:


Dust on ledges:


Dust in corners:

[LCHIEN]

hmmm, my unedited pic shows my DC does a fantastic job cleaning the inside of the saw even with the back slot open where you taped it up. I think you need some air flow - if the saw is too tightly closed then you slow down the air verlocity/volume and create deas spaces inthe corners. The only place where my saw collected dust (and this was probably from before I installed the belly pan) was the "ledges" in your second post. I don't have duct tape around the bottom and only the side panel was removed for the pic.
As you can see, there's more dust on the outside than the inside.

[final_t]

hmmm, my unedited pic shows my DC does a fantastic job cleaning the inside of the saw even with the back slot open where you taped it up. I think you need some air flow - if the saw is too tightly closed then you slow down the air verlocity/volume and create deas spaces inthe corners.

Yes, that's what I thought also, but was surprised that the before and after results were pretty close. I'm going to remove the left-side strip I put in place to block it so that air flow comes from underneith and down the pipe, and see how that works out.

[pber2025]

Should I close the bottom of the saw? I have a piece of 1/4" MDF in the shop I could cut to size to close the bottow of the saw. I don't want to add a Y and a belly pan just yet since my setup must be mobile.

So I'm thinking to just close the bottom of the saw and use the shop-vac once in a while to clean the inside if there is too much dust?

[cgallery]

Should I close the bottom of the saw? I have a piece of 1/4" MDF in the shop I could cut to size to close the bottow of the saw. I don't want to add a Y and a belly pan just yet since my setup must be mobile.

So I'm thinking to just close the bottom of the saw and use the shop-vac once in a while to clean the inside if there is too much dust?

I used a 1/4" piece of tempered hardboard (MDF is fine, I just used what I had). I temporarily removed the two tool holders on the left-hand side of the stand, and I was able to slide my bottom above the bolt heads that hold the saw to the stand, and below the bottom of the left side of the saw. Once it is pushed in, it sits down between the four bolt heads that hold the saw to the stand. I left a 4" tab on the end of the bottom to make it easy for me to remove it should the need arrive.

When I put the two tool holders back on the stand, I installed lock washers under the bolt heads and used wing nuts from the bottom. Now I can remove them and remove the saw bottom in thirty seconds.

The results of having a bottom have been dramatic. I always had dust under the saw before. Now I have none. And I only use a shop vac for dust collection.

The dust that accumulates on the bottom needs to be cleaned-out every once in a while. I usually just pull the bottom out half way, and then use the shop vac hose to reach in and suck all the dust out.

[JimD]

Final t,

I have a dust port out the back like you show that sucks from underneith. I use it with the normal dust port of the BT3100 with the rest of the back blocked by one of the Jim Frye design articulating covers. I need to leave the openings on the front open but when I do, it pretty well cleans things underneith. I am using a 1hp Delta DC. I have blocked the ports on the front with magnets before but that led to a bunch of dust buildup.

Jim