Old Delta band saw dust extraction?

[Breadman]

Hello All,

I?ve been looking at my old Delta band saw to determine the best way to extract sawdust from it.  This band saw is probably sixty years old and has nothing but a dust chute under the frame, which is, of course, close to worthless.  Some articles on the internet say to use a dust port under the bottom wheel, others say to pull air and dust from around the lower blade guides, and still others say they had to do both  in order to get good results.

At the moment, all I have to work with is a shop vacuum, so I doubt that I can pull enough CFM for two dust ports.  Instead I'll try to pull dust from both places with a single air stream. 

I?ve decided to remove the chute and install a piece of plywood between the frame and steel stand, using foam weather stripping to seal up the gaps, and install a dust outlet port at the bottom.  Then I?ll seal up the lower wheel space as best as I can with baffles, weather stripping, duck tape, etc., except for the area around the lower blade guides.  So my goal is to pull air in around the lower blade guides, send it down around the lower wheel and out the bottom outlet, hopefully collecting dust from both places with a single air stream.   From the bottom outlet I?ll use 3? flex hose over to my new DIY cyclone less than three feet away and lower than that bottom dust port.   

Has anyone out there tried this, and how well did it work?

[alan m]

have you got any pics of the machine. maybe we might be able to congure up something.

i think the best place to ectract  from is under the table and around the guides. then make a funnel arrangement to drop the dust away from the blade and into a container (or place where you will put a 4"+ dc port later. put a little brush  in there like you see on th efancy machines to stop the dust building up on the blade and wheels.

[retired2]

Not sure if this will be of any help or not, but it is the story of my bandsaw dust collection.

http://www.jpthien.com/smf/index.php?topic=537.0

Oh, and it is not the end of the story.  In the end I removed the 2" dust chute and closed the notch in the door with a piece of sheet metal.  Dividing the suction between two pickup locations was not nearly as effective as just letting the 4" port on the door have all the suction and do all the work. 

Good luck.

[Pillguy]

I started with a 2.5" port at the bottom of the wheel and enlarged it to 4". It works well, but could use some at the throat as well. However after reading retired2s post I may just leave it.