SCMS dust hood ducting done, workbench mod, and a new tool!

[dbhost]

I have a fresh post up on http://daves-workshop.blogspot.com/2014/03/miter-saw-dust-hood-plumbing-complete.html

Quick summary though. The ducting for the miter saw dust hood is done, tied into the original system. With that part of the bench done,

I have started moving hand held power tools off of the workbench, and no to the miter saw bench cubby. I spent some time reorganizing some items, and finally am able to at least give you a peek at the plywood scrap shelf on the base of the main workbench. It's not fancy, it is literally made up of scraps I sources out of the cutoff bin, but it really solidifies the bench, and provides the storage I so desperately need!

And lastly, Harbor Freight strikes again, and this time it is a home run with the variable speed oscillating multifunction tool. Not a fine woodworking tool, not something I will use a lot, but it is helping me do a job I was not having any luck getting done!

[unclecritic]

Ive been reading your shop progress both here and your blogs, and its been quite enjoyable as im going thru a revamp as well. Started in september and thought it was only going to take a few weekends. Add a free RAS and an almost free delta darkside, and its, well, been a challenge to say the least and i cant quite seem to see the home stretch yet. Its there.... somewhere.

Ive been meaning to ask you why youve decided to remove your floor sweeps. Thats been a priority for me almost a year (some priority list ive got.. a year?) and am actually to the stage of piping in the new equipment with floor sweeps in mind. I had one rigged together before with an old metal dustpan with some hardware cloth as a "filter" to stop larger stuff from getting sucked up. I only got to use it 3 or 4 times before i had to tear the shop down and relocate to the basement. Granted, im only using a shopvac and 2"pvc now as i just havent came up with a good spot for an actual dust collector, but the sweep before was on a shopvac and seemed to work well. But since then ive built a seperator into the system and the suction is no longer based on the state of my filter at the time so suction droo shouldnt be an issue.


Oh, and now would probably be a good time to thank you for the write up on how you went about building your seperator. I didnt necessarily do it the way you did, but being abke to read it while putting my kids to bed was a huge benefit. So thanks for taking the time to do that as well.

o l

[dbhost]

Thanks for the kudos on the writeup. I found a lot of people were confused about how it went together. Since that time there seems to be a HUGE growth of the Top Hat style builds. No need to cut into the container if you are doing a side inlet which is good, and it allows you to use all the volume of your vessel which too is good, however it makes your separator that much taller, which if you are doing a side flip DC or a Delta 50-760 type build and putting the separator UNDER the impeller, the impeller either needs to go UP, or the vessel / separator needs to go down, which is why I haven't done a top hat yet. I am wanting to side flip my HF DC eventually...

On the question of the floor sweep. I found in actual use, I was ending up sweeping everything to the floor sweep, and the bigger stuff like larger cutoffs, I ended up picking up with a dust pan, and I simply realized I stopped using it. Instead I am using one of those flip open dust pans like you see the kids at the fast food joints use.

In case my description didn't make sense here is the link to the Samsclub page for that dust pan. I tossed the broom. It is WAY too short to be useful.

http://www.samsclub.com/sams/libman-....ip?navAction=

So long story short. I decided there was no need to reinstall something I found I didn't use, so I left them out to simplify my install.

[unclecritic]

Ive since switched to the top hat design as well, more for ease of switching containers than anything. My buddy uses sawdust in his shop to clean up spills so he set me up with 4 30 gallon steel drums so as i fill o e up i can just switch it quick to an empty and he picks up the full one and drops off an empty. Works pretty well

[capncarl]

unclecritic, I can't help but ask, do you read dbhost's write up to read to the kids to put them to sleep?

Dbhost, when I was building my top hat I was stuck on how to fasten my 30 gallon galvanized garbage can under my delta 50-760, The can just slides under the Thein with about 1/4" clearance. I fumbled around with bunji cords, a cam lift bottom and any means of attaching it. During the process I turned the dust collector on and it sucked the can up tight, dang that was easy, problem solved. It even lifts the can when it is over full. When I turn the collector off it just drops down with a nice clunk. Has anyone else used this method to secure the dust can or is my collector haunted?
capncarl

[unclecritic]

Teehee.. My 4 yearold daughter would yell until i read something she liked. My 10 yearold son woild ask me toread parts over again so he fully understood what we were gonna do

[JimD]

Dave,

I visited your blog site. Nice. I went back a few posts and came across your review of the HF 12 inch slider. I am moving shops and need to do something and had been discounting the HF due to accuracy. I have a 10 inch CMS and a double bevel 12 inch Hitachi and an old Ryobi radial arm. I need to get down to one tool and would really like to be able to do 12 inch cross cuts on it. But I need precision enough for furniture and moldings.

So my question. Is the HF capable of fine furniture and moulding accuracy? I realize from your post I'll have to tune it and find the thread locker but tuned, with a good blade, will it do this level of work? Any idea whether it has a stop so you can cut partially through stock and slide across? I do this on the radial arm saw to make rough tenons in long boards. The Hitachi I'm considering (sometimes available for $300 as a rebuilt) will do these cuts. The Hitachi also requires less space behind the saw.

Thanks for your posts, I will visit your blog again sometime.

Jim

[dbhost]

I have used my HF for lots of trim work so far with no problems accuracy wise that aren't issues induced elsewhere such as walls not being square / plumb and me not taking into account those variations...

I am pretty sure I made ti clear I don't find the HF slider ideal. It is workable, but not my dream SCMS as it were. It is big, lunky, and requires several hours of your time to tune just right. If I had the $$ to buy the one I wanted and a need to replace my SCMS, I would go with the Hitachi 12" double bevel with the front biased slides. I believe the model # is C12RSH. Honestly, if I wasn't trying to dump debt off so aggressively, I would grab one now...

Don't get me wrong, the HF saw does everything I need it to. It is accurate enough for fine work once tuned. But getting it to that point is a bit of work, and I cannot guarantee every unit will be like that. The newer model slider from HF is getting really good reviews particularly on accuracy right out of the box. Same complaints about the blades, but no shock there. And the other issue is the new one is belt driven, with no belts available... I am sure replacements can be found, you would just need to dig...

If you are needing to consolidate, and keep the budget hit low, while being willing to fiddle with the HF say, it is / has been a good saw for me, and I can recommend it, I just don't want you to expect perfect right out of the chute...