Dust box for Triton Saw Bench

Some years ago I picked up one of the Aldi wet and dry vacuum cleaners, which has been really good; except for the screaming noise it makes.

Originally I attached it up to my Triton saw bench via the Triton bucket attachment, it worked very well indeed and kept things quite clean on the top, with the Triton dust bag doing a reasonable job underneath.

Over the years the dust bag (second one) deteriorated to the point that it needed replacement. Now that I’m retired, time isn’t that hot an issue, so I thought I would build a box and make the saw bench as dust proof as I could.

With that in mind and wishing to make the best use of space, I acquired a small cyclone dust inlet system. Using hard rubbish collection stuff I managed to build a housing for the vacuum cleaner with the cyclone on top, a set of quality but cheap Aldi wheels finished it off.

Some more hard rubbish in the form of a near new laminated chipboard desk was located on a nearby nature strip; this was perfect for the dust collection box. Being retired and having a tray back ute certainly has advantages, wonderful combination that.

Bit by bit I put it together, no adhesive, just screws and some tape where there are slight cracks. The reasoning behind this is to allow me to pull it apart to access the saw. The downside, so to speak, is that the saw bench is fixed for one purpose, which doesn’t worry me unduly as it has not been changed in the last 3½ years of use.

On another hard rubbish trip I acquired 8 metres of blue flexible hose, which in another life powered a swimming pool vacuum creepy crawly, perfect for the box suction system.

Some time ago I also acquired a roll of insulation with double sided tape after some one finished their renovation, this was used to seal the top onto the box and saw bench rails. The yellow bottom C-section Triton rails had a cut up T shirt front quartered and stuffed in them, the top small aluminium C-section rails had some of the previously mentioned insulation shoved in.

The saw motor really does require fresh air, with that in mind I cut the Triton dust bag up and the missus extended the motor breathing side somewhat. I made a round hole, stuck some Velcro on the outside and the motor now breathes better than it has ever done as there is a very slight draw of air through the motor housing due to the slight vacuum of the dust box.

The inner of the box has a false sloping floor tailored to the hose outlet. One side is 50mm higher than the other. It took me a while to plug up some of the tiny holes, but once that was done I now have a virtually dust free saw bench. Cost was under $5.00 for screws and plumbing fittings for the hose to the dust box and the hose to the dust cyclone.

Mick.

Look like a good idea. I've always found the Trton rather messy.
I've got a ShopVac and a Dust Deputy so an enclosure for the Triton might be a good project.

How does it go getting the dust/chips from above the table?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Optimark

. . . . . . . but once that was done I now have a virtually dust free saw bench. . . .

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Sorry but I can't let that statement pass without a comment.
I reckon you might get 70 cfm with your setup.
It might be OK for chips but a long way short of the 1000 cfm need to capture the fine dusts that most likely to affect health.

Firstly to BobL, I agree with you especially if you are talking fine dust particles. I have two garage roller doors with the prevailing winds always running through the garage, plus I have the vacuum outlet placed four metres from the vacuum, outside and running with the prevailing breeze. These two garage roller doors were a carefully worked out dust control point, it is remarkable how different this workshop is compared to my previous single opening garage in exactly the same place.

As to how good the cubic metre a minute (CMM) is, well, a couple of CMM is certainly better than nothing There are thousands upon thousands of Triton owners out there, most without any kind of dust control and often cutting MDF. I do at times worry about them, but I cannot do much other than show what I’m doing to ameliorate my own situation and hopefully others can take it in and maybe think how they can fix their own circumstance.

Having known one person who suffered from mesothelioma, I can tell you I have a very healthy respect for airborne stuff. As a result I try to minimise the risks resulting from shredding materials with the equipment I have, and what I can reasonably do, to the best of my ability and the depth of my pocket.

What I have now is a system that is affordably priced, with a minimal floor space requirement, is doable for the DIY person and the biggest plus is that it is user friendly, so I use it and I’m sure anyone building something like this will also find it so.



Geoff, I have found the best way to reduce stuff to the bare minimum on the tabletop is to ensure the blade teeth are free from the timber being cut so that the teeth are all enclosed in the dust guard. I wouldn’t say it is clean after sawing, but it is noticeably different with the blade teeth being proud of the material being cut but kept inside the dust guard, rather than just proud of the material being cut.

The Triton saw guard/dust collector has a pair of kick back thingies at the rear, this ensures that the saw guard/dust collector sits about 5mm to 8mm above the material being cut, allowing more dust than others I have seen to escape onto the tabletop. I have been contemplating removing the kick back thingies for a small while now, not sure whether a cleaner tabletop is better than doing Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet around the shed?


I have a small HEPA bagged vacuum cleaner that is used almost after every saw cut to quickly clean the (now miniscule by comparison) top, this certainly helps in keeping stuff clean and does just that little bit more to help the workshop.

It has made a big difference to my workshop, people who have seen the saw in action look at the floor and saw top after a cut, then they usually look very carefully at the dust box, vacuum and cyclone system and I can see the cogs ticking; then the questions start!

Mick.

Has been a while since taking a wander down the familiar path of the Triton Forum.

Mick, I love the concept and ingenuity of your dust collection system.

The reason Triton Engineers went for the dust bag over a dust extractor, was the amount of air flow the saw produced was greater than that which the vacuum removed.

This created 2 problems.

First, they found a build up of positive pressure within the dust housing, causing some dust to be blown up through the cracks in the table.

Second, the reduced air flow through the saw had the potential to increase the core temperature of the motor.

I suspect that both of these concerns would apply when the saw is under a consistent load. If a Triton saw overheated in a Triton dust collection system, they would have a problem.

The idea of the dust bag was that it had a huge surface area of filter, through which air could escape.

Sounds like your system is working a treat for you. Job well done!

Steve

Steve, I mentioned when I picked this saw bench up from you that I would look after it, as well as use it, it was wonderfully accurate and I have kept it that way.

I put the accuracy down to your impeccable original set-up, I eventually figured out just why there were several small felt pen markings in various places on the equipment. :D

Very interesting reasons why Triton went the dust bag route, makes sense. I have found that the amount of air flow generated by the Aldi wet and dry vacuum unit, is paramount to the success of my system.

As a control test, I tried running things with two smallish household vacuum cleaners which are in separate use in the shed, not enough suck and as a result, I had sawdust and wood particles starting to gather on the sawtop while the dust box underneath wasn't really cleaning; I was getting swirl pattern shaped piles of material in the dust box.

One thing I hadn't used since adding the dust box, was the planer attachment, doesn't get used that much but it works a treat.

Today I ripped five of about 15mm thick veneered chipboard down to 902mm, then set the planer up to bring them down to 900mm with a
super finished edge for a neighbour.

After the ripping was finished, I checked out the floor and tabletop, I
really couldn’t see much at all, in fact only a very small spattering of particles on the tabletop, nothing on the floor; this was better than anything I had done to date. Even so.

I hadn’t used the planer with this new vacuum and cyclone system before, so I was very interested to see how effective it would be. Using only one hose for the planer, there is more suction, so I thought it would be pretty good.

After pushing the first sheet through and with the vacuum still on, but the planer stopped, I looked around and thought I hadn’t shaved anything off, then I looked at the cyclone and could see stuff swirling in the top section.

A quick measure told us we needed to take another 0.5mm off, and then we could plane the edges of the others in one hit as we had the correct width.

When we finished we both looked on the floor for debris from the planer, nothing. I am very impressed with this set-up, so is the neighbour.

Mick.

In answer to a couple of PM's I have received, in picture one of my original post, you can see a foot switch under the unit. This foot switch operates the Aldi wet and dry vacuum unit, not the saw bench itself.

I did think about using one of these foot switches for the saw bench, but after a couple of times of accidentally stepping or touching the foot switch on the vacuum unit, I decided it was a bad move to hook up the saw bench.

For what it's worth, that foot switch is from Aldi, @ $10.00 and can switch over 2,400 Watts and is worth it.

I have one on my pedestal drill and another operating the vacuum system on that pedestal drill. A huge improvement.

Mick.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Optimark

I put the accuracy down to your impeccable original set-up, I eventually figured out just why there were several small felt pen markings in various places on the equipment. :D

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I have had my Triton for around 10 years and when I got it I was extremely careful about the original assembly. In fact the first time turned out to be a practice run so I did it twice to make sure it was right. :2tsup:

That has definitely paid off over the years. It is still an extremely accurate machine and I still use it for some jobs, such as breaking down sheet goods, even though I now have a 12" contractors saw with cast iron top and an Incra precision fence.

Every machine I own I have taken the time to set it up properly from the start. I even go to the extent of custom-making adjustments that were not allowed for in the original design when there is something to be gained from them.

I cannot stress the importance of proper setup especially to beginners who may lose heart very quickly if their equipment is letting them down.

Doug :2tsup:

Mick,
just came across this thread. any chance you could show a photo with the workcentre top off? how does the box mate with the top?
thanks
Chris

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chrism3

Mick,
just came across this thread. any chance you could show a photo with the workcentre top off? how does the box mate with the top?
thanks
Chris

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Yep, can do, probably in a day or two as the camera is not here at the moment.

Are you thinking of building something like this?

After running with this for a few years I would put one of those big gulp rectangular units in the bottom, this would work better.

https://www.carbatec.com.au/dust-con...ulp-dust-chute

I may, in the near future reconfigure the dust box with this, wouldn't take much to do that.

Mick.

Mick,
I'm particularly interested in trying to reduce dust on the many occasions where you can't have the saw guard dust collector in place. Such as cutting grooves, tenons etc. Does this box cause the dust to be sucked downwards?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chrism3

Mick,
I'm particularly interested in trying to reduce dust on the many occasions where you can't have the saw guard dust collector in place. Such as cutting grooves, tenons etc. Does this box cause the dust to be sucked downwards?

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Yes, and, no.

With my Triton, when used without the saw guard and the dust extraction connected to it, dust collection downwards is reasonable to good, not excellent, about the same as the Saw Stop at my Men's Shed.

If one is cutting all the way through, you really need the guard over the blade as well as dust extraction, in this mode a Triton as equipped like mine, the dust extraction is quite good. If you are doing finger joints or cutting grooves where you have timber above the blade, my dust extraction through and around the saw slot is reasonable. Once a cut or series of cuts are made, you will always be left with stuff on the top, a simple swipe with a handy vacuum is perfect and is what I do, takes about 15 seconds.

I know it takes about 15 seconds, one of my brothers was harping on how this vacuuming the top of the saw was slowing us down when we were cutting a shed load of drawer sides and drawer ends with slots for 3mm ply bottoms into sheet material. Eventually, and unknown to me, he timed me when I vacuumed after every 4 or so cuts, the answer was 15 seconds. He conceded defeat after about 40 cuts of sheet material, noting that the shed floor and saw top, needed next to nothing to be cleaned up and I had only increased the total time by about 2½ minutes.:D

Attached are some pictures that should be reasonably self explanatory. Essentially I used a couple of pieces of Oregon that were left overs from a pergola build on each end on the bottom. I cut them to size including cutting out for the Triton rails. From then on it was pretty much measure and cut a pair of sheets for both bottom sides, both top sides and both ends.

If you look carefully you will see one screw missing, this was a mistake. Well not quite but I totally forgot that the Triton Planer attachment requires space for the two arms that go down to the rails. I have included some pictures of the holes, the rails and the planer set up for some planing I did this afternoon. I needed to bring some bits down to 48mm, which the Planer did pretty much spot on. Many people, myself included, do not really see that the Triton planer attachment is good value. It isn't good value in some sense, but, if you have it and set it up correctly, you would be as amazed as I was with it's ability to accurately plane material to a required size, square material up (within reason) and to be able to edge plane huge sheet material using the sliding table, to either a required size, or for cleaning up.

Basically I had to pull that single screw, drill out then shape two vertical slot holes for the plastic feet of the planer attachment, then seal the unit up. You can see how I sealed the box up by using some kind of insulation material picked up from a nature strip forage. Under the table top I bought some sealing or door sealing foam tape to make the seal between the top and bottom pretty much absolute. The silver tape on the side walls is there to seal the small cracks between the pieces of timber. I haven't used any adhesive as I wished to make the box easy to pull apart and reconfigure or whatever. The inside seams/joins have tape as well, so far everything is working well.

As I mentioned I have been seriously thinking of adding the big gulp to the bottom panel, it was something I just didn't think about doing the build. As it is now, I need to regularly clean up the inside corners of the box, the end away from the hose hole certainly gets a deposit along that wall/floor edge.

Mick.


Attachment 371461Attachment 371462Attachment 371463Attachment 371464Attachment 371465Attachment 371466

Remaining pictures.

The second and third pictures, show the planer attachment and the amount of dust after doing around 30 planes of material to get each piece to 48mm. Having even basic dust extraction is great, having above basic dust extraction is bliss.

Mick.


Attachment 371467Attachment 371468Attachment 371469Attachment 371470Attachment 371471

FWIW I use the big gulp to catch the heavy stuff at the bottom of the workcentre. I found that the big gulp actually fits perfectly between the workcentre's bottom rails without any drilling or extra work. I kept the top section of the dust bag in place and substituted the bottom section for this method. It works well. Isn't perfect, but in conjunction with my custom overhead guard, room filter and mask it could be worse.
The guard is suspended which means I could actually keep it attached when doing non-through cuts....obviously overhead collection is a moot point in this config though.

Trav

Thanks for the inspiration. I have long been thinking of adding a collection box under my Triton. By simply adding a vacuum attachment it should work more effectively. I'm doin' it.