Thread: converting Sawstop from 4" to 6"

My Men's Shed has one of these and dust extraction underneath is not great. We've been looking into changing things, my mind is that we should construct a box, like your third picture and attach a 150mm pipe.

The reasons for this are various, but the main reason is weight on the tilt and rise and fall function of the saw. We have found that there is a build up of saw dust on the drive mechanism and eventually the saw blade will not stay where you place it, it just drops down. After a clean, we are back to normal usage. We have reasonably effective dust extraction, but the mechanism no matter what we do, holds dust and clogs the helical gear.

Your third picture would not put any more weight on the shroud, and should also extract dust from the entire under carriage area. I note you are getting the same build-up of dust on the frame ledges, as we do.

Mick.

yeah i've had the problem where the blade won't stay up. its just part of the safety feature. but as you said, a quick clean and all is good.

looking down the top the shroud i think does its best to catch what it can but obvisously dust still gets every where.








Sawstop actually make there own "dust collection panel" which is just a short length of hose that connects to a pre-made panel for the back of the saw. you can see it in this youtube clip, but the short length of hose still allows the arbour to pivot.












its almost as if it needs both the shroud and a port on the bottom... so a mix of the two like my crudely drawn picture. it wouldn't be TOO hard to have a 6" to 4" step down TEE that attached to both. so blue 4" green 6" but came off the same line that goes to the dust extractor. not sure if 2x 6" and a 4" line off the one extractor might impede performance a little.

Going to try closing off the cabinet as per page 3 of my build thread here
New dust extractor reccomendations and build log