The reason it happens is because people give far too much credit to their brain as being their number 1 safety device. Granted it's good except it has the problem of being easily distracted at times and other times just going into an idle/sleep mode.
When the brain is performing properly, it is great but that's not always the case. How many times have shop accident reports started with something like, "I've been doing this for XX years but today for some reason without thinking I ….".
That's why devices like guards and yes, SawStop, are useful. They prevent many of the accidents that are caused by silly, non-thinking actions like reaching over a spinning blade to move a cut-off.
I'm not sure of the type or age but mine is the replacement for a 6" jet jointer. Never miss it. Always ready,no dust collection,no noise. I love my #7 stanley.
I don't have pictures, and I have forgotten what I knew about posting them.
What I did was create a box out of sheet metal, think large cereal box, that comes up from the bottom and encloses the blade. The top is cut off at an angle that allows the full 45 degree tilt. A top sits on it closing the blade opening down to a slot. I installed a "End boot" from four inch ducting on the bottom toward the front of the saw. There is a blast gate with a micro-switch that turns on the DC when opened. It might have been better for the ducting to go out the rear, but I wanted the gate in the front near the switch for the saw.
Reach down, open the gate, turn on the saw and you are good to go. No restriction on height of the blade or the tilt. No problem changing the blade. No change to the saw. About 90%+ effective. Cost about $20 and a few hours, mostly thinking.
If you are still interested, I will send you some pictures if I can not figure how to post them.
I had minor surgery under anesthesia Monday morning. They sent me home, no driving, no cooking, no power tools, no sharp objects, for 24 hours. They did not say don't poke the bear.
Charlie, You are right, WoodCentral is practically my second home and I have posted hundreds of pictures over the years, but I asm aging out and have changed my phone/camera. I tried trimming the pictures down to size with my bandsaw, but apparently that is not the right tool.
I have sent you three to your Email address and I may try to make a sketch later today and send that also.
It's been at least ten years since I installed the dust collection on my Delta/Rockwell contractors saw, so taking even those poor quality pictures was a trip down memory lane.
There was a little half chute that deflected the dust off the blade downward. I removed that and used the screws to mount the box I built out of sheet metal to the trunnion. The box hangs straight down and is lopped off at a 45 on the left to allow the blade to tilt. The bottom of the box angles over to the right and is connected to an End boot with a piece of inner tobe as a flexible connector. This sends the duct out the front of the saw so the blast gate is right below the switch. The blast gate turns on the DC. There si a top that sits on the angled surface next to the blade that closes down the opening to about 3/4". All this trimming and angling was don't to allow the blade to tilt fully with out the legs of the saw getting in the way.
The end result is that he blade is nearly encapsulated. When you turn the saw on first, you feel wind off the blade and it will throw dust in your face. When you turn the DC on, the wind off the blade and dust are dramatically reduced. The angled cover just sits in place. Lifts off for blade removal.
A lot of thought went into this. Obviously the saw was not designed for Dust collection. A simpler approach would be to just put a hopper under the blade, attached to the cabinet on four sides and hook you DC to that. Not a bad Idea and certainly easier to do that what I did. That would leave the back of the cabinet open and you would not get the suction around the blade I get and you would probably need an over the blade pickup more than I do. An over the blade pickup would be better , even with my setup, but I rejected it because my shop is tiny and I don't need anything else cluttering up the place.
I have this connected to a 1 1/2hp DC through a 4" pipe. The suction is good and it collects the majority of the larger chips and seems to get essentially all of the very fine stuff. The coarse stuff is messy, but won't hurt you because you don't inhale it. It's the fines that will get into your lungs. This seems to do a good job on those. I also have two ambient air cleaners running, one home made and one a Jet. And I wear a mask most of the time. I don't blow black anymore.
I got your pictures, thankyou. I'm sure it works good, and I'm sure you know the approach I took with the Delta Contractor's table saw that I own, which I also have hooked up to a 1 1/2 hp DC with a 2 nd stage separator. You do know why they still continue to sell those cheap shallow trayed plastic dust hoods for table saws don't you ? Anything better like our dust hoods don't sell cabinet saws.
The plastic under the saw dust hood is cheap, easy to manufacture and easy to adapt to most any saw. And Semi effective. I gave a lot of thought to something like that. Even looked into buying some of those laong brushes you see under tractor trailer trailers (I call them Hula Skirts) to help close off the back. I looked at attaching thin plywood with magnets. But I wanted the saw to be fully functional and it would be like me to forget to take it off when I tried to tilt the saw. And any significant improvement on contractor saws would cut into the sales of cabinet saws.
If you wanted to try to make something like I did, I will send you some sketches. I made mine out of sheet metal, but it occurs to me you could use rally thin plywood. And some sort of flew tube would simplify the bottom. You just need something that will not collapse under the suction.
The difference with and without is impressive.
It might help a lot to just strap a piece of four inch hose looking straight up under the front edge of the blade.
Barry, actually I took care of the dust collection a few years ago, and in a user friendly manner also where nothing gets in the way. Back then I was serious enough about dust collection that I bought some sheet metal tools and machines to do that type of work.
I’m a professional, don’t want or need a domino. I don’t own a sawstop, in fact I just bought a tablesaw. I do own a tracksaw and yet I use it not that much.
