Thread: Any of the portable table saws good enough for box making?

Re ripping at full blade projection - no problems with the stock blade ripping 2400 long x 75 thick cypress fence posts on my dewalt 745 yesterday.

I was toying with a few designs to enclose the base of a bench top saw and trying to figure out how that'd still enable access to all the bottons, levers and wheels... If i ever manage to get my hands on one of these, i intend on building it in to a semi mobile bench so i can move it to the centre of my garage for larger rips. But i want to enclose the body of the saw as much as possible and line it with foam to try and deaden the noise a bit.

I realise it won't be soundproofed as it won't be air tight, but at least muffling the sound... plus (if i've understood BobL's posts on dust extraction) it should make hooking it up to a dusty easier. If the current shop vac pipe below the saw is enclosed (or almost enclosed) in a psuedo sound proof booth, you could attach the 6" ducting to the base of that enclosure to suck the dust up as it deposits out of the pipe on the saw. Obviously this won't help at the blade, but (in my head at least) it'll simplify extraction at the base and also help reduce the noise even if it is only minimally...

Originally Posted by Tiger

Nice write-up Mark, I had a listen to the DeWalt saw yesterday and it's loud! I was always going to make a Crosscut sled for a variety of reasons, it's a little disappointing that it generates so much dust, with the noise and the dust it's starting to sound like my Triton though.

I'm not sure it's possible for a saw not to generate so much dust. It may just seem like so much dust given the ease you have when ripping through timber.

Previously, I was cutting everything by hand. The 70mm x 70mm post I ripped in half yesterday would've taken me 20 minutes by hand, and during that time, the dust wouldn't have seemed as much as it slowly accumulated. But putting it through the saw, in 20 seconds it was cut, and all that dust hit the floor then and there.

Maybe it's just perception?

I don't know, I could be talking about my rear end hear, but in hindsight, not sure there was ever a workaround for the amount of dust created.

Originally Posted by Dibbers

I was toying with a few designs to enclose the base of a bench top saw and trying to figure out how that'd still enable access to all the bottons, levers and wheels... If i ever manage to get my hands on one of these, i intend on building it in to a semi mobile bench so i can move it to the centre of my garage for larger rips. But i want to enclose the body of the saw as much as possible and line it with foam to try and deaden the noise a bit.

I realise it won't be soundproofed as it won't be air tight, but at least muffling the sound... plus (if i've understood BobL's posts on dust extraction) it should make hooking it up to a dusty easier. If the current shop vac pipe below the saw is enclosed (or almost enclosed) in a psuedo sound proof booth, you could attach the 6" ducting to the base of that enclosure to suck the dust up as it deposits out of the pipe on the saw. Obviously this won't help at the blade, but (in my head at least) it'll simplify extraction at the base and also help reduce the noise even if it is only minimally...

The only thing to think about if you were to line the inner workings of your saw with foam is the heat of the motor against the foam, particularly if you encase the saw in a makeshift cabinet.

Originally Posted by Mark_K

The only thing to think about if you were to line the inner workings of your saw with foam is the heat of the motor against the foam, particularly if you encase the saw in a makeshift cabinet.

I figured if you made the enclosure big enough it wouldn't be as big of a factor. And with a dusty running and not being a totally air tight seal, it'll be "sucking" in cool air through the gaps in the enclosure... Plus i can't see a situation where i'd be running it for long enough in a go for it to get THAT hot in there... these are all just assumptions though.

I figured that when i got that far along i'd simple ask for opinions on here to see what people thought... but judging on how my finances are going at the moment, it's still a way off. I'd probably opt for the eggshell type accoustic foam as well.. not as think as batts, and i'd imagine they wouldn't have the thermal properties of an insulation bat either... again, assumptions. I still have to do the research

acoustic foam, or for that matter any open cell foam, might just be a waste of $$.
Inside a saw enclosure, it wouldn't take very long for the pores in the foam to fill with fine dust, negating any sound deadening.

Originally Posted by Dibbers

I figured if you made the enclosure big enough it wouldn't be as big of a factor. And with a dusty running and not being a totally air tight seal, it'll be "sucking" in cool air through the gaps in the enclosure... Plus i can't see a situation where i'd be running it for long enough in a go for it to get THAT hot in there... these are all just assumptions though.

I figured that when i got that far along i'd simple ask for opinions on here to see what people thought... but judging on how my finances are going at the moment, it's still a way off. I'd probably opt for the eggshell type accoustic foam as well.. not as think as batts, and i'd imagine they wouldn't have the thermal properties of an insulation bat either... again, assumptions. I still have to do the research

If you find a way to compress the noise via a method like this, I'm all ears. Would be huge.

Originally Posted by ian

acoustic foam, or for that matter any open cell foam, might just be a waste of $$.
Inside a saw enclosure, it wouldn't take very long for the pores in the foam to fill with fine dust, negating any sound deadening.

Hmmm... hadn't thought of that... I'll have to do some digging to see if there's an alternative to use... or what effect blocking those pores in the foam will have... maybe a double layer of lining, say very thin Ply over the foam with MDF housing the lot... the thin ply acts as nothing other than a dust shield... I'll do some drawings and do some research. Thanks for the input though, definitely something i hadn't considered...

Originally Posted by Mark_K

If you find a way to compress the noise via a method like this, I'm all ears. Would be huge.

Hey Mate,

Apologies i didn't thank you for the review. Very informative.

One question i had (before i go about my sound deadening goose chase), does the noise generated occur at all times when the saw is running, or mainly when cutting? And can you tell at all if it comes from below the table, above or a combination?

Only reason i ask is that if it mainly comes from above the table, then a box below it won't do much in terms of sound deadening...

Originally Posted by Dibbers

Hey Mate,

Apologies i didn't thank you for the review. Very informative.

One question i had (before i go about my sound deadening goose chase), does the noise generated occur at all times when the saw is running, or mainly when cutting? And can you tell at all if it comes from below the table, above or a combination?

Only reason i ask is that if it mainly comes from above the table, then a box below it won't do much in terms of sound deadening...

I don't recall where the noise was coming from. I'll check next time I give it a run. As for the noise, to my ears at least, it didn't sound like it got any louder when cutting.

It was very loud, but as I began ripping some thick legs of pine, I didn't notice any uptick in noise (at least nothing significant).

When you start up the saw, the booming noise is quite loud, similar to a circular saw I'd say. But from memory, the decibels didn't really kick into a significant gear when cutting through timber, which surprised me; I expected it to become even louder, but it didn't really.

I was wearing ear protection, so perhaps it did and I didn't realise, but I doubt it.

Hi all, With all the interest in the De Walt table saw, whilst I was working today I took two pics to partly show my setup. One pic shows my sawdust being sucked from the Ryobi vacuum into a dust bucket. Prior to buying the dust bucket the Ryobi vacuum was hopeless on its own. The dust continually clogged up the filter inside it and I got sick of cleaning it out. Now about 99% of the sawdust enters the bucket. Then just empty the bucket into your green bin or garden or whatever. Give the filter a bit of a clean out now and then, very little sawdust enters the Ryobi. Having said all that a certain amount of sawdust still falls under the sawtable.

The other pic shows my zero clearance insert and my riving knife which I sliced the top of level with the blade. Still have the original in the cupboard in case I ever want to sell this outfit.

Paul

Originally Posted by Pauls321

Hi all, With all the interest in the De Walt table saw, whilst I was working today I took two pics to partly show my setup. One pic shows my sawdust being sucked from the Ryobi vacuum into a dust bucket. Prior to buying the dust bucket the Ryobi vacuum was hopeless on its own. The dust continually clogged up the filter inside it and I got sick of cleaning it out. Now about 99% of the sawdust enters the bucket. Then just empty the bucket into your green bin or garden or whatever. Give the filter a bit of a clean out now and then, very little sawdust enters the Ryobi. Having said all that a certain amount of sawdust still falls under the sawtable.

The other pic shows my zero clearance insert and my riving knife which I sliced the top of level with the blade. Still have the original in the cupboard in case I ever want to sell this outfit.

Paul

Thanks for this post, Paul.

For a dummy like me, why do you still have the vacuum connected to the dust bin? Is it to draw the dust from the saw to the bucket? What piping do you have that connects your saw dust extraction port to the dust collector?

Hey there Mark, hows it going. Your spot on, totally correct. The Ryobi vacuum sucks the dust and the buckets picks it all up before it gets to the Ryobi. From memory I think I bought the bucket and all associated hoses and connectors from Timbecom. They were having a big promotion of this outfit a few months ago and had it on special.

Paul

Originally Posted by Pauls321

Hey there Mark, hows it going. Your spot on, totally correct. The Ryobi vacuum sucks the dust and the buckets picks it all up before it gets to the Ryobi. From memory I think I bought the bucket and all associated hoses and connectors from Timbecom. They were having a big promotion of this outfit a few months ago and had it on special.

Paul

Thanks for the info, mate. Might look at a similar setup.

I'm assuming this is the one from your picture?

https://www.timbecon.com.au/extracti...st-cyclone-kit