DC for BT mobile base

[poolhound]

I am in the process of working up a design for a mobile base and table extensions for my BT. I have looked at most of the threads that show what some of the folks here have done and theres lots of good ideas and implementations. My question is how folks have incorporated dust collection.

1. Right now I have a belly pan under my BT that does a great job of keeping the inside of the BT clean and the floor. I have seen various mobile base designs that have the saw hinged so you can lift it and clean underneath but has anybody incorporated DC into the base similar to a belly pan. With the base enclosed is it even necessary? I was considering building a "tray" into the top of the base the saw sits on that would allow my to plug in either a 4" or 2" dc hose.

2. I will be building a router table into my extension and will be adding DC to catch the under table chips/dust. I am trying to figure wether to just add a spearate dust port or integrate the DC hoses so I can have one port for the base and then use gates to direct to either the saw or router.


All thoughts or experiences welcome

[docrowan]

No experience, but plenty of thoughts! I am halfway through building my mobile base. I am hinging the saw base so I can clean and inspect from underneath. I plan to seal up the saw except for the vents by the motor and (of course) the throat plate. Reading other posts seems to indicate that with a good shop vac the interior should stay pretty clean. I recognize that I must have the shop vac attached in order to get enough air flow to keep the motor from overheating but I have it hooked up all the time anyway.

[poolhound]

I plan to seal up the saw except for the vents by the motor and (of course) the throat plate.

Be careful not to seal up too much as you need "make up air."

[dbhost]

I wish I could find that thread, there was one a few months ago where this was covered. The owner had a hinged mount for the saw body, underneath was a box, like you would have in a router cabinet layout, with a rear port, the plumbing runs to a sanitary tee and then into the router cabinet DC... I think he had blast gates to control air flow, from either belly pan, or router box...

Wish I could be more helpful with that....

[rcp612]

If I understand your questions I think my solutions may help.
Look at my previous post http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=24739 and see if you get any help from that.
I did not hinge or make my saw easily removed since the side panels are so easy to take off for maintenance. That way the saw is mounted solidly to the base, shimmed if necessary to level, and stays put. I have little to no dust inside the cabinet, and the collection compartment does very nicely.
I'm still working on the router section though, as only about 1/2 the dust makes it's way out of there.

[poolhound]

If I understand your questions I think my solutions may help.
Look at my previous post http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=24739 and see if you get any help from that.
I did not hinge or make my saw easily removed since the side panels are so easy to take off for maintenance. That way the saw is mounted solidly to the base, shimmed if necessary to level, and stays put. I have little to no dust inside the cabinet, and the collection compartment does very nicely.
I'm still working on the router section though, as only about 1/2 the dust makes it's way out of there.

Very interesting solution. I will need to add some of your design into my thinking. I was also considering having the router fence capable of working in both directions.

Its tough to tell from the pics in your post but the issue with the router section may be to do with the fact that the dust port is not level with the floor of the compartment. Maybe if you added a false floor and some thing across the back corners to help funnel the dust towards the port it would help.

[Tom Miller]

I don't have any special dust collection for the underside of my saw. Every once in a while when I open up the side of my saw, there's a few inches of dust in the corners -- of course I clean it up, but it's not hurting anything.

My router compartment is kept pretty clean with the airflow design. If you scroll down a few posts in this old thread, you can see how I linked the DC together.

Regards,
Tom

[poolhound]

I don't have any special dust collection for the underside of my saw. Every once in a while when I open up the side of my saw, there's a few inches of dust in the corners -- of course I clean it up, but it's not hurting anything.

My router compartment is kept pretty clean with the airflow design. If you scroll down a few posts in this old thread, you can see how I linked the DC together.

Regards,
Tom

I guess the belly pan becomes a little redundant with the saw sitting on a solid base. Its mainly there now to catch the stuff that would otherwise just fall to the floor.

There are a lot of good ideas to steal in your design. I notice that you have some form of extension at the back of the table. It looks to only be a few inches deep but is this to just get some extra surface area or does it serve some other purpose?

I see you have used 4" as close to the port as possible. I was wondering wether it makes much difference if I created a single 4" port and then used 2.5" to connect to the DC ports on the saw and router cab.

IIRC on Nahms router table design he uses 2.5" plumbing for the fence and cabinet and then joins them through a T before converting to 4".

I am trying to keep my design within the depth footprint of the rails as the new stowage place in my shop will probably only have room for something about 28-29" deep max.

[Tom Miller]

...I notice that you have some form of extension at the back of the table. It looks to only be a few inches deep but is this to just get some extra surface area or does it serve some other purpose?

This extension is kind of a filler piece to square off the back of the saw so that I can butt it up against my outfeed table. It extends just as far as the SMT will slide. Ah, I found another old thread that explains it here.

I see you have used 4" as close to the port as possible. I was wondering wether it makes much difference if I created a single 4" port and then used 2.5" to connect to the DC ports on the saw and router cab.

IIRC on Nahms router table design he uses 2.5" plumbing for the fence and cabinet and then joins them through a T before converting to 4".

2.5" is probably fine. I went with 4" up to the saw just because I could.

I have a 2.5" port on my router fence, but rather than connect a hose to it, the 4" port on the router compartment pulls air through it in the opposite direction. The DC on my router compartment has been fantastic, but some folks don't like the idea of pulling dust past the router motor.

Regards,
Tom