Dust collection

Re: Dust collection

Barry Irby

I have my BS connected to a four inch hose on my 1 1/2 hp DC and it does not get all of the dust. You need lots of airflow, both volume and velocity.

Best bet would be to hook it right beside the blade just below the table. And set your expectations at about fifty percent.

Re: Dust collection

Mark Nowicki

My present connection.

Previous to this, only had the 2.5" hose and a shop-vac, didn't work very well.

Re: Dust collection

William Duffield

You need a strong air flow across the place where the sawdust is falling off the blade. This is usually just below the table top (unless you are Sam Maloof ), and around the lower guide rollers or blocks. You need to put your dust sucker where it will contribute to that flow. Sealing up air paths that don't contribute to that flow is a good idea, but sealing up major inflows to the dust hose is definitely counterproductive.

Often you will find a small brush, usually in the lower blade guard, to wipe more dust off the blade. This dust tends to fall into the lower cabinet or onto the lower wheel, where your dust hose cannot remove it efficiently. You need to either provide another pickup hose where dust comes off that brush, or move the brush to a place where you have already established a good air flow with your cowling.

You will probably want your major cowling easily removable, or equipped with flexible flaps, since you will need to remove and replace the blade, and sometimes may need to tilt the table.

Al these considerations are very saw- and site-specific, and therefore a great opportunity for inventiveness.

strong suction and good pickup

John K Jordan

The amount of sawdust depends on how much you cut. I cut a lot of thick wood with coarse teeth and it makes a lot of sawdust. I just emptied a 30 gallon bin under my cyclone and 90% of it was from the bandsaw, a little from the lathe and a little from the drum sander.

I built a shroud from acrylic to fit around the guides under the bandsaw table. I hold it in place with small magnets. It made a difference in the sawdust that sprayed from the blade just above the lower cabinet.

Note that this alone won't pick up all the dust. Besides the side pickup my saw has a pickup in the lower cabinet. In addition, I keep an flexible hose I can position on top the table as needed, not in use in this photo but ready. A strong magnet holds it in place.

I get no dust inside the bandsaw cabinet and very little on the top of the table.

Anything is better than nothing but all this is marginal or hardly worth the effort without a good dust collector. I'm running a 5hp ClearVue cyclone which has incredible suction. It will pick up a 30' measuring tape carry it down the ductwork and dump it into the bin.

JKJ

I collect about 80-90% of dust.

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Split pipe under the bandsaw ...

Running into the main dust hose ..

... and then DC.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: I collect about 80-90% of dust.

David Weaver

derek, i wonder if you'd get better performance from that setup if there was a little bit more room for air volume (thinking of how a vacuum cleaner works - not by force and high static pressure, but from volume movement).

I had a bandsaw with a dust collection port behind the blade and it wasn't that great compared to your setup - I'm sure you're miles ahead of where mine was (it was just a hole behind the blade, but not really that close and no way to focus the air on that part of the blade.

Before I switched mostly to hand tools, I was always surprised how much fine dust would be hanging in the air (and visible) from bandsaw, even using its dust collection port.

Even my new bandsaw does make a lot of fine dust (the 4 foot frame saw) - it just doesn't travel as far, but it'll travel 6 feet and I'm sure I'm breathing it.

Re: Questions for Jim, J K, & Derek and *LINKS*

William Duffield

For each of your set-ups, where does your replacement air come from?

I suppose in J K's case, it relies on the ribs cast into the bottom of the table.

Would Derek's pipe work better if there were some holes in the closed end for additional air flow?

Some links to other bandsaw dust collection systems:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRZ2tsB3bo8&t=488s&frags=pl%2Cwn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut_tqnqrRww&list=PLMNihmtdutxrcrVfILNFSb8XvyMFCHPjk&index=8&t=0s

Re: Questions for Jim, J K, & Derek and *LINKS*

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

For each of your set-ups, where does your replacement air come from?

I suppose in J K's case, it relies on the ribs cast into the bottom of the table.

Would Derek's pipe work better if there were some holes in the closed end for additional air flow?

William, as I mentioned (I think) in my post, the cap has been removed from the end of the pipe. This made a positive difference.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: I collect about 80-90% of dust.

Jim in Burlington Ont.

Hi Derek,

I like this idea, thanks for sharing

Take care, Jim

Re: Questions for Jim, J K, & Derek and *LINKS*

Jim in Burlington Ont.

Thanks for the Links,

I going to try the pipe method on my General, I've not used any DC on it since new 20 years ago, It's a good choice I think.

Take care, Jim

Re: Questions for Jim, J K, & Derek and *LINKS*

Barry Irby

I have seen this before and wondered where the make up air comes from.

I have wondered about adding a blower from an air compressor across the teeth of this or a table saw. Never tried it.

Re: I collect about 80-90% of dust.

Mark Nowicki

Rob Cosman has a video on that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut_tqnqrRww

Re: Questions for Jim, J K, & Derek and *LINKS*

William Duffield

Sorry, I didn't see that improvement. I agree with Jim. Yours is the best solution to the problem I've seen. OK if I copy it?

Re: Questions for Jim, J K, & Derek and *LINKS*

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Copy away William. I have mentioned (in previous posts) that the concept came from Rob Cosman.

Regards from Perth

Derek