I take dust collection pretty seriously. The fine particles are a health hazard, and it makes a mess anyway. So I've been rigging up ways to improve the dust collection of my tools over the years. The chop saw makes a lot of dust, and it's tough to collect because it won't work with a bunch of shrouds and things near the blade. I tacked together a very quick hood to help my dust collector capture most of what it generates. After using it for a year, I think it works pretty well. It's just three pieces of 1/8" lauan plywood tacked to a top and bottom trapezoid of 5/16" osb sheathing. ie, I made it from scraps. Dust collection is pretty effective. With about 600 cfm of air being sucked into a port directly behind the blade, the fine dust gets captured pretty well. Some bigger bits bounce off the hinge mechanism and are thrown around the room, but I'm less worried about that. I've thought about making some kind of angled deflector to put on the saw to reduce that, but haven't got around to it.
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| Miter Saw Stand |
I built it as a small rolling cart, with a bunch of storage below. There are three small drawers in the top section, plus a flexible storage scheme I devised where sheets of hardboard slide in slots. This makes very compact little drawers, perfect for bits and other small items. The lower area has three larger drawers where I keep my cordless drills and small clamps. Yeah, I've only put a front on one of the drawers and I'm using screws as handles. I'm classy.
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| Storage Below |
I attached a plastic dust collector fitting at the bottom of the dust hood, then a short length of 4" hose, with a quick-connect on the end. I attach the hose from my dust collector to each machine as I use it for maximum airflow. I tacked a piece of plastic gutter screen over the opening to keep from losing chunks of wood and other large debris down the pipe.
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| Dust Collection |
