Table saw mods & overhead dust extraction (lots of pics)

[CraftNav]

Greeting fellow 'woodies'

I've had a Kity table saw for a good few years and I have always thought the space underneath was wasted so this weekend I 'knocked up' a new base with room for plenty of storage

Its only made from scraps and offcuts of ply and 'caber' floor, no fancy joinery just loads of glue & screws.

Now I must confess that in the past I have been a bad boy & removed my crown guard especially when cutting big boards and it was while cutting the chipboard for this project that I finally decided to do something about it.

The first thing I have done is to seal the base of the saw and fit a 4" outlet on the back (I took the saw to pieces and did a few mods inside as suggested in another post )

Next I trawled the net for ideas of overhead crown guards and came up with my own interpretation of the Axminster one but at Zero cost

The main arm is from an old vacuum cleaner attached to a metal bar via an aerial bracket. The plastic is lexan from an old propagator (I hope SHMBO doesn't read this :shock: ) superglued and screwed. The rest is just bits of wood and metal. The hood stays in any position thanks to spring washers and 'ny-lock' nuts.

I have given it a test with some MDF and I am very happy with the dust extraction and feel a lot safer with the blade covered.

I am not too happy with the aerial bracket holding the arm (any suggestions ?)

If you look closely at the fist pic I moved the on / off switch up near the sliding carriage (where I can see it !) which I thought would be much safer than fumbling around below,
and it is ........until you come to cut a large board and then the board covers the switch (homer) DOH so I am planning to mount the switch on the main arm and fit an extra emergency stop button at knee height.

Next step is to make drawers and doors, I'll keep you posted.

John

 

[wizer]

=D> Fantastic, I love this sort of ingenuity. Well Done mate

 

[DaveL]

John,

Useful looking bench, I made something like it for the cheap B&Q saw I used to have. Modified to hold the mitre saw now.
I have the Axminster overhead guard, LOML got it for me as a christmas present a few years ago, yours looks just as useful but cost a fraction of the axminster price.
Could you use a scaffold clamp to hold the pipe? It might need a bit of packing but should still be a good steady support.

 

[lurker]

no riving knife

 

[Gary]

Nice work Johnny.


Makes my Kity on it's standard base look very basic.

 

[Scrit]

Hi John

Good job. Commercial hoods generally have either a large diameter wheel/roller at the front or a "ski ramp" - this is so that if you accidentally set the guard too low it wil be pushed to the correct height by the material rather than possibly getting damaged. I like the idea of using nylocs to provide a friction parallelogram

Might I suggest that you'd be a bit safer if you replaced the riving knifewhen ripping?

Scrit

 

[CraftNav]

Well spotted guys

Riving knife now back installed

I only removed it when I was modifying the 'insides' ...........honest

or did I remove it for photographic purposes :?

john

 

[Bean]

Nice one Johnny, i made a mobile cabinet for mine some while ago now but it does not have the storage room of yours.
The guard/extractor is something I am interested in making, and yours gives a few good tips

 

[greggy]

johnny, nice cabinet, its just like mine i made last year for my k 419 and your dust extaction is great too. well done mate.

 

[seaco]

Nicely done John, the only thing I would possibly alter is I'd make the connection a bit stronger where you've used the ariel bracket as it seems to be taking alot of stress and if God forbid you did need the guard to protect you would it easily push away exposing the whirling cutty bit?

 

[ikoz]

for the problem with the bracket i would fix a bracket to the back of the fence up to the pipe, this should stabilise it, also you could put a spring running from the bottom nut on the guard to the bottom nut on the bracket

 

[artie]

Overhead dust extraction is a chore on my to do list.
I recently hooked up a vac to the blade guard on my jet saw, but it is pretty useless.
Mostly, I think, due to the fact that the dust is coming off the blade in the opposite direction to the extraction port.
When I get around to modifying or creating a new blade guard/extractor port I intend to reverse it so that the dust coming off the blade is carried somewhat by it's own momentum and assisted by Lidls finest vacuum.

Is there a reason that I am not aware of, to not do this?

Should this be less than clear I have attached a detailed technical drawing to assist.

 

[Chippymint]

You've done a splendid job.

If you are intending to use your saw as the main workhorse, its likley that you will have, at some point, cut tall timber, say on its end for a Tennon or finger joint. This will necessitate having to move your extractor hood out of the way to allow a passes over the blade. It would therefore be beneficial, when designing your new bracket, to have one that will swivel the whole arm assembly out of the way. You will need it to have a locking device that you can easily release or increase tension on the main vertical support. If you make it yourself, find a a fabricator who could make one - all you need is tube to slide over the horizontal pipe and be able to lock it and fixed to it a tube/bar to slide inside the vertical scaffold tube but here you will need a locking lever that will lock it at any point.

Just some observations to hopefully help. 1. You seem to have a lot of flexible hoses and with some tightish bends - try to reduce any flex down to minimum and keep your pipe runs as straight as possible; this helps reduce static pressure in the ducting system which is a good thing. 2. Your extractor hood has been centralised over the blade. It seems that you may have difficulty in moving the fence close to the blade for cutting certain stock width, meaning you will have to raise the hood above the fence height which may reduce the efficiency of dust extraction. Also consider safety - with your hoods central position and the fence moved close to the blade it will prevent you from using a push stick or similar holding (through the entire cut) device when ripping narrow/thin stock. To help make a secondary fence that clamps to the main fence but will slide underneath the hood - 2 pieces of wood joined at 90 degrees (say one at 75mm wide and one at the height of your fence; both about 20mm thick) and offset your hood to the left and reposition the extraction pipe to the right-hand side of the hood (by doing this you can use a push stick and push/secure stock through the entire cut). 3. Make a zero clearance insert plate - this can help duct extraction and reduce breakout. Good luck.

 

[Doug B]

Blast from the past this thread is nearly 14 years old