Thread: Lazy day in the shed

Originally Posted by zenwood

I'm interested in the fancy dust collection you appear to have connected to the overhead part of your saw... I've got the same saw, so if you can show us a pic it'd be good. How do you connect to the underside?

Great cabinet steve - I'm still green from seeing all those router bits in the same place.

Zen, I too have the same saw, I'm still working on the blade guard DC but you may like to see my underside connection. I used the sheet of plywood and DC hose jammed in the plywood but as I only have a 1 HP DC, and a rather tortuous path to the DC I found a fair bit of sawdust collected on top of the ply, especially in the corners..
Using some Al sheet I had laying around I decided to make more of a hopper (photo 1). The connection to the hopper is using a threaded 100mm sewage connection - I just cut a hole in the Al hopper bottom and the sewage connection just screwed into the hole. This improved the sawdust collection, as you can see in photo 2, the hopper is quite clean after use. I also took the internal plastic saw cowling off as it continually fills with mm or smaller offcuts and keeps blocking the outlet. This sprays a bit of dust out the back of the saw so I added an Al panel to partially block the back opening as shown in photo 3. The funny shape is to cope with the motor tilting when the saw operates at 45 degrees. As you can see its still far from perfect but a lot better than it was.

I presume folks with more direct or more powerful DCs don't have these problems.

Stuff thrown forward is generally coming from either a {partially} blocked cowling (check the inside of the cowling) or wood touching the teeth at the back of the saw blade (check the blade guard support and/or fence alignment).

Cheers

Thanks for that, Bob. The hopper idea is something to aspire to. I assume it covers the entire bottom of the box enclosure--? I agree about the plastic cowling getting blocked with small offcuts: a PITA. I can't quite see what you've done in pic 3 to stop stuff shooting out the back though. But I do notice that your blade guard mount is much beefier than mine: I've only got a piece of sheet steel bent to shape.

My blade probably needs a bit of adjustment to stop the rear teeth contacting the work. However I find this job a major PITA, and very difficult to make the microscopic adjustments required. Any hints?

Fun hijack this, isn't it?

Originally Posted by silentC

I bet the bloke who bought it off you hasn't used it yet either. In fact, I know it

SO does that mean that you're now open to offers?

WWW.woodshopdemos.com did a how to review on lock mitre bits.

Included setup and a jig from memory. Ok I've checked and i was right.

http://www.woodshopdemos.com/cmt-lm5.htm

He also builds a big fence.

SO does that mean that you're now open to offers?

Wanna buy it back?

Nah, I'll use it one day, just haven't had time to do anything since I got it. Looks impressive though, and that's all that really counts, isn't it?

Originally Posted by zenwood

Thanks Steve. Overhead part looks pretty fancy. Did the saw come with a plastic cowling covering the blade underneath? If so, I can't imagine how you'd hook up a "big gulp".

Mine has a cowling with an odd sized (about 55mm) outlet for a CD. I've hooked up a 90mm flexy to it with some plastic ratchet ties, seems to get about 90% of the downward-directed dust: some still manages to mess up the floor. A 100% system would be nice, but I don't know if that exists outside the world of solid-base saws.

I get a fair bit of stuff thrown forward too: glad others have a similar problem.

Thanks for the reply.

The SUVA (overhead DC) and the bottom DC are quite independent of each other (asides from the fact that both are from the same extractor.

Originally Posted by Auld Bassoon

With these bits, one cuts first one end of the to-be-jointed board vertically, and then the mating piece horizontally. Well, when doing the third vertical cut the friggin' board leapt out of my hands (and, believe me, I was hanging on to it) and shot through the shed at a very silly speed indeed. It also looked as if it had had an argument with a mincer along the way...

You need a high fence.
Use a feather board to keep the work tight against the fence.
Feed the work into the bit, from right to left.
DO NOT feed the work between the bit and the fence.
DO NOT feed the work with the rotation of the bit.

Originally Posted by BobL

I presume folks with more direct or more powerful DCs don't have these problems.

Stuff thrown forward is generally coming from either a {partially} blocked cowling (check the inside of the cowling) or wood touching the teeth at the back of the saw blade (check the blade guard support and/or fence alignment).

Cheers

Hi Bob,

My DC is a 2hp unit, and it just reduces, somewhat, the issues you refer to.

When you mentioned removing the plastoc cowling, are you referring to the under-table enclosure around the blade? On my edition of the saw it's cast iron, and the dust outlet is a piffly little 50mm or so, and points at around 45degrees rear and down. This means that the "big gulp" collector gets most, but by no means all, of the dust that spews out.

I notice that you have removed the riving knife and anti-kickback pawls - or is that just a temporary position?

Thanks for that Outsider!

Originally Posted by Auld Bassoon

Hi Bob,
. . . . . . When you mentioned removing the plastoc cowling, are you referring to the under-table enclosure around the blade?

On my edition of the saw it's cast iron, and the dust outlet is a piffly little 50mm or so, and points at around 45degrees rear and down.

Yep it's the plastic cover of the under table enclosure. On my machine the cast iron cowling has a plastic cover which is what I have removed. I'm tired of having to take the blade off an pick out the thin offcuts and unblocking the opening. Sure I get a little more dust out but overall less than when the cowling opening gets blocked.
......

Originally Posted by Auld Bassoon

I notice that you have removed the riving knife and anti-kickback pawls - or is that just a temporary position?

Temporary - I took these photos while I was changing blades. I was also about to cut some shallow grooves so I needed a naked blade.

Originally Posted by Zenwood

I can't quite see what you've done in pic 3 to stop stuff shooting out the back though. But I do notice that your blade guard mount is much beefier than mine: I've only got a piece of sheet steel bent to shape.

The attached photo with overlaid lines might help. The guard sits about 15mm inside the main saw housing. The bottom of the guard has a metal lip that goes in between the main saw housing and the leg frame. The LHS top of the guard is supported by the same bolt that hold the table to the main saw housing. I suppose I should have taken pictures before I assembled it. It aint pretty but it all helps with DC, especially when the saw is tilted over at 45 degrees and the sawdust just comes squirting out the back!

Originally Posted by Zenwood

My blade probably needs a bit of adjustment to stop the rear teeth contacting the work. However I find this job a major PITA, and very difficult to make the microscopic adjustments required. Any hints?

I agree it is a PITA. As I have only had the saw for two months I am still a long way from being experienced with it. I have been using a piece of hardwood with a single longish cut down the middle to align the riving knife with the blade. Then I tighten the two hex screw at the back end of the knife, remove the wood and tighten the lone hex screw that connects the knife to the table. I was thinking of making an alignment piece which has two different thickness cuts along the same line. The front part of the cut would be kerf thickness and the inner part of the cut would be knife thickness. The alignment piece would then be inserted from the back of the knife. Another possibility I have not yet tried is to shim the aligment piece in the area of the knife - this would probably be better.

I find a bigger problem with dust being thrown forward is the fence going out of alignment usually when I take it off the table and it's sitting somewhere in my cramped shed so it gets knocked, so I have learned to be more careful with it.

Its very useful sharing tips on setting up these specific saws.

Cheers