dust hood set-up question

[jeff]

You guys are some awesome kind of thinkers/doers!  I have learned a lot from you about dust collectors... what about the other end?  What do y'all do at the tool end to capture the max amount of dust/chips?  Some of my tools (band saw, miter saw, various hand sanders) have dust ports, while my contractors table saw (craftsman) does not.  I'm sure there is some great advice out there for me!?!

We just moved in this past summer, and I'm finally getting around to setting up shop at our house... I get a walled off part of the garage about 21' x 11'... and I'm planning to make a version of the Trash Can Topper like the one posted last month by vawoodworder84 (only using smaller ducts).  My thoughts at this point are to use an old squirrel cage fan I've had lying around for a while (salvaged from a junked air handling unit) and put it inside a box with an inlet filter and outlet filter... this would be my vacuum generator.  It's a big fan... maybe too big, but it seems like a fun project, so...

Thanks in advance for any advice (especially pictures!!) on dust hood set-ups.

Cheers,
jeff

[dbhost]

Contractor saws, due to the belt creating it's own method for pulling dust out of the machine and into ambient air, are REALLY tough to collect dust from...

My TS is not exactly like a contractor saw due to the fact the motor is in side the saw body. So I can't directly address your issue, but I can say I have seen folks make special blocking devices to block off the rear opening of the saw and THEN do what I did...

On the base of my saw, just under the body I added a simple belly pan, actually the previous owner of the saw did it for me, but I would have done exactly the same thing... Which is to make a pan out of 1/4" hardboard, and add a 4" dust port to pull dust from the bottom of the saw.

From the back I still pull the 2.5" stock blade shroud dust collection through a Y fitting....

Since I use a ZCTP, top side dust is a problem. I have a shark guard, which helps, but that means I have the table saw, dust collector, AND shop vac running at the same time to get enough air flow to catch it all... I have recently started experimenting with porting, or simply drilling breather holes in the ZCTP to allow the dust / air to get sucked under the table, it's not as effective as the shark guard, but it helps...

[jeff]

Thanks for the reply... I've added it to the file I call "why I need a new table saw"   ;D  Eventually, I'll have enough evidence to convince she-who-must-be-obeyed.

In the meantime, I'm thinking of messing around with a 3-prong attack: installing a chip bag underneath the saw, blocking the back as much as the belt will allow, and strategic placement of an "elephant trunk" behind the saw to attempt to capture as much dust as possible.  This idea is open for y'all's critique... the more the better.

Any comment from anyone  on the idea of enclosing a centrifugal fan in a filtered box atop the mighty Thien separator?