Shop-made Table Saw with integral Thien DC

[Tacuabe]

I have been using Thien Top Hat separators for a long time and with great success. My latest application is an on-board dust collector for a shop-built tablesaw.

The system has five ports (blast gates) no less! Two connect to the table saw (one under the blade, one on top to a blade guard). Another two collect from a router on the right hand (again from the top and bottom of the bit) and the last one serves a small shop-built jointer powered with still another router. After this veritable porcupine started operation I was intrigued on how well the system would work.  I was gratefully surprised to find that dust was 90% sucked away.

Power comes from a surplus shop vac motor (I have several from old vacs) which I conveniently located under the table and included an easily replaceable filter(held in place with a spring loaded toilet paper roll) . Years ago I had conceived a similar system which performed very poorly and was a chore to clean and maintain.

There's a simple arrangement with relays so that as each machine is started the DC motor starts too. I only have to arrange those blast gates adequately beforehand.

An interesting breakthrough is the wedge-shaped dust bin. It bears against weatherstripping along the top four sides and, after being pushed in place, it becomes really airtight. I provided a push-in door with rubber sponge blocks to keep it in place, but suspect it could do without all this. A simple arrangement that really works.

The table saw itself was built back in 1997 and subsequently modified and upgraded many times. In its last incarnation evolved into an European Format style, got a new paint job (as it was a veritable patchwork of materials and different shades of colour) and even a logo (just for fun!).

I enclose a few photos of the DC system but if anyone is interested, there's a lot more written material, photos and plans in Google Drive. Here's a link to get there:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0Bx5bCqSCHh0Na0RFWTFPZV9yb3M&usp=sharing

The most interesting folders for forum members are Thien Dust Collector (obviously) and Latest Photos (which also has some of the DC dust bin).

[phil (admin)]

This is so awesome, I have only given it a glance but I look forward to studying the photo albums.

Thanks for posting!!!

[Tacuabe]

Thank you Phil for the kind words! Just to round up the post, I've added a cover for the unsightly array of blast gates. It works as a control panel and improves the looks of the backside of the machine.