Dust collection culprits.

[dbhost]

So with Loring's drill press dust collection post, it got me thinking, what are the worst large tools for dust collection in your shop, and why?

For me, the miter saw. No matter how I have rigged it so far, dust seems to escape the dust hood. This is also my most used cutting tool in the shop. At a factor of like 10 to 1 compared to the table saw. The dust even with the dust collector on spews everywhere. I am going to have to redesign the dust hood / enclosure to fix this. The Metabo HPT is MUCH better at dust capture than the old Harbor Freight saw, but it is still abysmal...

Next, and this should surprise no one, the lathe. Simply put, stuff shoots off of it it such volumes, and in directions nowhere near the collection hose... I can capture sanding dust on it, but the turning shavings, nope... I end up standing wearing a pile of shavings...

Then, the Rigid oscillating sander, This is more or less user issues. I keep managing to kock the DC hose out of the port moving workpieces around.

The drill press is only a problem in as much as it is difficult to hold the hose where I want it, and I simply bypass dust collection all together. I shouldn't but I do...

The mortiser is kind of the same, but I never bypass because well I need to keep the chips cleared out as I work...

The least problematic is the saw. With the Shark Guard, belly pan, and rear shroud ports, the big problem is making sure I don't vacuum down the work piece, or pick it up. Do NOT use the shark guard port without directing some of the dust collection below the table, it WILL pick up work pieces off the table and potentially contribute to kickback!

[Jim Frye]

My CMS is bad and it has a vac port in the hood that just doesn't catch what is thrown from the actual cut line. The good thing is that dust collects at the base of the saw. My hand held plunge router is the actual worst spewer of wood waste. There's just no way to position a hose near its operation.

[leehljp]

My miter saw also is the worst. As far as the lathe goes, since I turn pens more than large bowls, I have a good dust collector up close that pulls everything in from pen turnings. Otherwise, when I do turn bowls it does get a bit messy, but I have a vac hose for that.

My router throws stuff everywhere since I run it around edges in all directions; I haven't hooked a hose up to my router table yet, so it creates a mess too.

[LCHIEN]

My CMS is bad and it has a vac port in the hood that just doesn't catch what is thrown from the actual cut line. The good thing is that dust collects at the base of the saw. My hand held plunge router is the actual worst spewer of wood waste. There's just no way to position a hose near its operation.

My CMS throws a lot of dust into the dust chute which I have connected to a small shop Vac, there's a lot of dust collected there. Unfortunately the CMS also tosses a lot of dust elsewhere. Its not so much that it doesn't go into the chute but that maybe its only half- to two thirds..

The router is always a nightmare dust collection problem. Which way the dust goes depends a lot on the kind of cut so there is not one dust collection chute that can handle it. I mean you have edge forming, groove forming, and surface finishing types of cuts each of which sends the dust in different directions.

I tend to do most of my router work on the table rather than hand held. When I do edge forming I try to have the bit recessed into the gap in the fence and have a vac hose sucking on the back side of the enclosed gap. When I do grooving with the fence and a grooving bit the dust tends to be pushed out the newly created groove so I use a wide vac just off the end of the table. For surfacing I should really have a vac sucking on the area around the router bit collet area. But I often just let this fly as I don't have that enclosed.

[twistsol]

The worst is my Porter Cable half blind dovetail jig model 4112. The router I have dedicated to it can't use the dust collection with the template installed in the base. The sawdust from all the cuts are blown straight out at me as I use it. I end up covered in sawdust from chest to toe and the resulting mess has about a 10' radius. Every time I use it, I dread the mess I'm going to have at the end.

My radial arm saw is the second worst culprit. I haven't used it in the new shop, and won't until I get some ambition and figure out dust collection for it. It sits under the stairs with the Shopsmith I own that still needs some work.

The lathe makes a big mess, but I don't turn enough for it to be seen as a problem.

My Festool Kapex miter saw which is supposed to have the best dust collection is still pretty messy. It has a dedicated Festool CT15 dust extractor and is mounted in a hood attached to my main dust collection system. It's not as bad as it could be, but worse than it should be.

[Jim Frye]

Lathes are messy, but don't throw stuff all over the place like routers do. My lathe sits in a torque box which contains things pretty well.

[dbhost]

LOL... I was considering stationary, more or less tools. You guys come back with hand held routers... I get it, left them out as I KNEW those are a disaster. My router table is fine because the dust is captured by the fence pickup REALLY nicely, but handheld, as the old mob movies say. Fuggitaboutit...

[twistsol]

Both of these Festool routers have nearly perfect dust collection in handheld use whether edge routing or plunging for mortices. I just don't have the budget to dedicate a Festool router to a seldom used dovetail jig. I'm not sure if either of these would do a great job with my dovetail jig but would certainly be better than my Metabo with no dust collection.

Festool OF1400 with upper and lower dust shrouds.


Festool MFK700 trim router

[dbhost]

For those of us that can't afford Festool, what are you doing for dc on handheld routers?

[Jim Frye]

If you don't have to have the coins for a Fesstool, Ryobi offered handheld router dust collection with the old model 1802M machines. Both the two handled and D-handle bases.

[LCHIEN]

Bosch sells a side of the base collector like that for my router with a fixed base but not a plunge base, but I don't have one. I would say it probably works well for surface routing but not groove forming and edge routing I described as main uses for routers.

[Lowell]

... it got me thinking, what are the worst large tools for dust collection in your shop, and why?

A stock BT3100 is the worst offender in my garage, er, shop. I have not invested time or money in improving dust collection because I seldom use it. As I get further along on my current cabinets build (on 4 of 7), I wish I had.

Second would be a sliding CMS. I supplemented the stock dust port with a hood but still end up with a considerable amount of dust after an extended cutting session.

Third would the RIDGID Oscillating Edge/Belt Sander, which has poor dust collection (even when the DC hose doesn't get knocked out).

[Lowell]

For those of us that can't afford Festool, what are you doing for dc on handheld routers?

For my three Bosch routers (1617EVS, 1618EVS, 1619EVS), I mostly use Bosch dust collection attachments on both fixed and plunge bases. They work well, for the most part.

When using the 1618EVS on a dovetail jig, a Leigh RVA1 Router Vacuum Attachment paired with the upper Bosch hood do a good job of containing dust.

If only I could find a solution for the RIDGID R2400 Trim Router.

[LCHIEN]

Regarding BTx00 dust collection,
my belly pan connected to a HF dust collector also Y'd to a hose to the dust port in the back does a pretty good job on through rip cuts, cross cuts grooving cuts and dado cuts.
The cuts that spew dust all over are the shaving cuts off the edge where I rip to final width. I presume the dust comes off the side of the blade on these cuts where I prepped the rip to 1/16th to 1/8" oversize.
I suppose a overarm collection hose on the blade guard housing might take care of some of this but I do'nt have one at this point.

THe belly pan post https://www.sawdustzone.org/articles...-dust-pan-easy

[twistsol]

Regarding BTx00 dust collection ...
The cuts that spew dust all over are the shaving cuts off the edge where I rip to final width. I presume the dust comes off the side of the blade on these cuts where I prepped the rip to 1/16th to 1/8" oversize.
I suppose a overarm collection hose on the blade guard housing might take care of some of this but I do'nt have one at this point. ...

I have a SharkGuard with a 3" port tied directly into my dust collector, and shaving the edge off a piece of stock is the only time I end up sawdust on my table saw. I did see a Youtube vide where someone had a zero clearance throat plate that had a bunch of holes drilled in it to make the throat plate into a mini downdraft table. I haven't tried it yet, but it supposedly solved this problem.

[Jim Frye]

I drilled a 1/2" hole at the ends of the slot in my ZCTPs to increase airflow.