Thread: Bandsaw dust collection

That may just help me Derek. Been thinking for some time how to get extraction at the top of the cabinet. Over the years I have seen plenty setups and some quite elaborate. That looks simple enough for me to have a go at.
Regards
John

Great idea....always better to collect dust as close to the source as possible.

Derek, that looks interesting. Have you got any pics, front on with the door closed, angled from floor to table, to show clearances? Also, is the lower blade guard redundant with the port?

Have you thought of drilling a ventilation hole in the lower front door, diagonally opposite to the main dust port? This is for cross ventilation.

Bandsaw dust collection, even for the Hammer is a PIA!

Derek,
good timing as I am putting a cyclone-based dust collector for my Hammer bandsaw and seeing your setup in photos is helpful.
Some questions:
Did you make a new insert for the bandsaw table with lots more dustholes than the plastic original?
Did the Festtool vacuum unit struggle with having 2 input hoses running into the cyclone unit?
How well did dust pickup work via just the 50mm diameter hose for the PVC pipe directly attached to the bottom of the table and with the 5" inch hose at the bottom disconnected?
Thanks in advance

Paul, I can answer the first question

Originally Posted by paul.cleary

Derek,
good timing as I am putting a cyclone-based dust collector for my Hammer bandsaw and seeing your setup in photos is helpful.
Some questions:
Did you make a new insert for the bandsaw table with lots more dustholes than the plastic original? This is an aftermarket item, made by a member of the forum, years ago. It's cnc milled ali.

Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by Pat

Derek, that looks interesting. Have you got any pics, front on with the door closed, angled from floor to table, to show clearances? Also, is the lower blade guard redundant with the port?

Have you thought of drilling a ventilation hole in the lower front door, diagonally opposite to the main dust port? This is for cross ventilation.

Bandsaw dust collection, even for the Hammer is a PIA!

Pat, I could not answer your questions till now.

I did not want to live with a double vacuum system, so connected the main 5" hose to the collector at the blade ...



This is a 2 1/2" hose ...



With all dust collection switched off, this is the result after sawing 1500mm of MDF ...





Now I tried a few variations after this: removing the end cap for increased air flow/ventilation (the cap on was slightly better), and taping up the blade kerfs in the tube (this was slightly better). Essentially, these all resulted in this ...



Bottom line: I think that the little dust in the corner is a dead spot for cleaning. The system is working so much better than ever before, and now it only needs one switch at the DC to get it going.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by derekcohen

I tried a few variations after this: removing the end cap for increased air flow/ventilation (the cap on was slightly better),

Derek, thank you for this thread on your below table port design.

From your report I interpret that it is downdraft and not cross-draft that is doing the job directly below the table.

Have you considered what adjustments you would make if/when you tilt the table?

Did you consider running the tube from back to front? If so, what factors came down in favour of running it transverse?




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Hi Neil

I think tha your interpretation is spot on. Down draft.

This modification continues to delight me. Inside the bandsaw remains spotless after running it through the day. The dust that is present is on the table top. While the amount is vastly reduced, this is the more serious dust for personal health. I suspect that that will have to wait on a more powerful DC.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Like the dust collection idea a LOT, but was surprised to see those ghastly euro-style guides on a classy saw like the Hammer. My rubbish Scheppach 4 bandsaw uses the same guides, and if I could find ANY retrofit system of bearings or ceramic runners to replace them I'd do it in a flash. Even tried Carter, but they don't have anything that is a guaranteed fit on my saw. Looking at the photos of the lower back guide on your saw it has the same sort of grooves worn in it as I see on mine - this guide is supposed to rotate freely when the blade is pushed back far enough to contact its surface, but clearly doesn't. I've pulled mine apart, cleaned everything, lapped the face of the guide flat again, put some dry-slip lube on the shaft to allow rotation without things getting gummed up - but it still needs replacing.

There are ceramic guides available from Felder for retrofitting. However, they are about $600, and I have to be convinced that they are worth doing in terms of performance gains. I do pull the existing guides off every now-and-then and lap them (not for a while). So far, the performance is good. Can it be better? Not sure. I would be keen to receive feedback from those who have made this swap.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks Derek - I was about to pick up some spare metal ones for Scheppach from H&F before they stop supporting these saws altogether. I'm not sure the ceramic face material on the Felder ones will help much - the fundamental flaw with these guides is the fact that it relies on a metal shaft on the back of the guide rotating in a hole, which is impossible to lubricate, and needs everything pulling apart to clean periodically. I wouldn't throw any more good money after bad on this Scheppach POS bandsaw, just keeping it going until I can afford something better. Almost every plastic handle and control on it has snapped off, and been replaced with cobbled together bits of wood or metal. If Hammer use the Euro guides on their saws, I'll cross them off my shopping list. Incidentally, I find the dry-slip lube works better than any oil to keep the guide shafts spinning longer in the holes without getting clogged up. Any oil, even light sewing machine stuff, just attracts dust.

Will definitely give your dust collector a go - I already had an extra DC hose cable tied under the table near the lower guides (didn't work well), so will be easy to adapt this to the PVC pipe arrangement you used. I even have some suitable PVC pipe and an end cap lying around, so it was clearly meant to happen !!

Cheers.

Hammer/Felder now supply the bandsaws with the ceramic guides - you pay for every upgrade. The design of the ceramic guides is a great, great improvement over the existing Euro guides, and my logic says that they must improve tracking.

Old ones (pictures from Google) ...




New ceramic:



Regards from Perth

Derek

Yep, I upgraded last year. As usual for Felder gear, it's not cheap, but the quality of the cuts makes the memory dim to the pain of paying.

Ahhh, I see, I thought you were referring to ceramic-faced Euro style guides, which do exist. I came across them somewhere, but (of course) the shaft diameter was different to those on my bandsaw.....won't fit.

Those ceramic Felder guides look like a huge improvement. Similar setup on the Laguna saws which quite a few forumites have. Pity you have to pay Felder so much to get decent guides on your bandsaw !!

Very, very few bandsaws on the market still use Euro guides - ceramic would be my first choice, followed by sealed bearings.