I found the perfect dust collector for a one man shop. I installed a Record CamVac 4hp/220v/triple motor vacuum with a Oneida Super Dust Deputy cyclone separator. This gives you both high volume and high pressure suction. It's a cheaper alternative to the Oneida Supercell except with much better filtering.
I have the same table saw and just switched out the stock dust port as well for the reasons you mention. I have a stub out in place for overhead dust collection and have been looking for ideas on how to execute something like what you have. I think I’ll end up investing in the shark guard.
I would love to know how your experience goes with putting a shark guard on that saw. I have thought about it so many times. I don't love what I have. It is better than nothing but I always wonder if it might be better with a shark guard. If you do end up getting one and don't mind, drop me a line and let me know how it goes: liberatingwood@gmail.com
Firstly, I really prefer overhead dust collection on my table saw. Over the years, I’ve had none and then a boom but both just don’t work for me. I agree with all your comments on the Rockler item and so, I made my own. Very easy. Like you, I have overhead metal ducting (in my case 200mm). I made a spur which stopped just off directly above my blade and riving knife. That spur ended with a metal 8” to 4” reducer. Onto that reducer I put a shut gate and then a length of 4” flexible tube which goes to the dust hood. I made the dust hood out of 1.5” wide plywood (2 x 3/4” doubled up) just for the arc that goes over the blade and knife. I then put clear acrylic sheets on either side. Into one side, I cut a hole and screwed in a 4” flange plate onto which the flexible tube is secured. For flexibility, i made that 1.5” arc piece with a 2’ long straight piece coming from the top (a kind of T piece). I then made a square tube out of ply so that the straight of the T piece was a good fit inside it. That square tube is secured to the ceiling directly above the blade. To allow my to slide the inner part up and down (to get different heights above the blade) I put a steel insert into the square tube and a Bristol lever (or any machine screw type of handle) which I tighten or loosen according to where I want the dust hood. I’ve overcome all the issues about width of the dust hood being too much and easy visibility to see what’s happening. With a minimum of 4” hose and the port about 2” above the top of the blade, dust collection is brilliant. Wish I had as good an answer for the under table dust collection. My table saw has a port attached to a shroud surrounding the blade under the table. It is awful
Wow. Thanks for all the info on your setup. I wish I could see a picture or two. I am in a different shop space now. I still have the same basic setup as in the video but it works a little better for two reasons I think. First, is that I have a more powerful dust collector so I just get more air flow. Second, is that this shop has more space and the way that the overhead collection is arranged is just a little easier to use. I am with you. The under table collection helps but the overhead really makes the difference. I hope to make a new shop tour video later this year or early next year. Take care!
I was busy this morning and couldn’t watch the video in its entirety so you may have covered this. But, are you also using the bottom dust port of your saw? What HP is your dust collector? Thx
Yes. I am using the bottom port, as well. When I made that video, I was in my basement shop and using a 1.5 hp V-system from Oneida. I have since moved to a bigger shop and have upgraded to a larger dust collector from Clear Vue but I am still essentially running the same set up at the table saw.
Nice explanation of your guard. I have a Sharkguard on my Unisaw and it's fantastic. Highly recommend it and the folks there are excellent to work with.
Thanks for the comment. Nice to hear from someone who has a Sharkguard. I definitely plan to contact them at some point. Does it attach to your stock riving knife or do you have a riving knife from Sharkguard? Is it easy to attach and detach?
@@liberatingwood I have the riving knife from Sharkguard. It attaches to the stock Unisaw location. The guard goes on and off easily with just two knobs to loosen/tighten. I have a 2” port on mine that I adapt to a 4” overhead drop of flexible hose.
Nice..I was looking for a video like this where someone addressed the hose inside the saw cabinet…I got rid of the same port you did that had the connection for the overhead dust collection that came with the saw and just put a 3-4” adapter. I planned on replacing the 3” hose inside to a 4”but I wondered if it would make any difference since I still would have to have a small section of 3” to make the connection to the shroud…did you notice a difference when you changed yours or was it minimal? Without using the overhead of course
It has been a while since I did all of those internal modifications and I wasn't rigorous about it in terms of taking measurements or anything. The other complication is that the first thing I did after removing the old connection and widening the hole in the side of the cabinet was remove the internal hose and shroud around the blade. I also put a board in the bottom of the cabinet to close that off. It may have been a dumb idea but I'm not that stupid. I know that some true cabinet saws operate in that way and I thought I would try it. I used it that way for a while but it was clear that it was a downgrade. Way too many air leaks since the cabinet wasn't designed to be used in that way. Now I was somewhat stuck in terms of going where I ended up. I needed to reinstall the shroud and reconnect a hose to it. Since I was running a new internal hose, I figured I might as well keep that at 4" as long as possible. I didn't go into more detail on this whole process in the video because I was trying to get to the overhead part. That was supposed to be the main point of the video and sometimes people get testy if the video is supposed to be about one thing and I spend time on something else. (Sometimes people get upset easily online - who knew). I get it. When I am looking for information on TH-cam, I want people to get to the point. So, in the end, I would say that what I have now for the internal collection is superior to how the saw came but it is hard to quantify that. It is also hard to say which of the changes had the most benefit. My instinct is to say that getting rid of the original inefficient connection was more beneficial than the internal 4" hose but I can't back that up with anything. As I explained above, the internal hose upgrade (if that is actually what it was) came about because my original plan didn't work out more than anything else. Hope this helps.
After rereading my reply, I realize that it may be hard to follow. That is also partly why I left it out of the video. Let me know if I just made things worse and I can try again. Or if you would rather not be subjected to more of my ramblings, you can just leave it alone. Either way, thanks for watching.
@@liberatingwood no no, I appreciate the detailed response…I’m not a overhead dust collection guy, I feel it just gets in the way and although I know it’s not necessary, I like to see the blade, especially cross-cutting….my dust collection is good but I’m sure it could be better …anyway I may try out extending the 4” …thanks for the response!
The Grizzly guard looks as if it might have been effective with a 3-4” side-mounted coupler to high volume dust collection. ….hard to see if there is room for that.
I have a Harvey cabinet saw with the Shark overhead Guard. The saw has the same dust port as you demonstrated containing a port for the overhead dust collection. I agree it is restricting the dust flow capacity. Question for you, is there any difference if I use the 4" ABS Universal Dust Collection Port that is slanted as you installed verses a straight 4'' Universal Dust Port from Rockler? Also when you installed the two dust ports did you have to drill new holes into your cabinet to fit the new dust ports? My goal is to improve the overall dust collection in my table saw which is currently terrible to my standards. Good video and thanks for sharing.
So I can't say anything definitively about comparing the two different types of ports. I haven't tried the port you indicated nor have I done any sort of comparison. However, I think that the two would be comparable since they are both 4" ports. I do believe that I had to drill new holes. I had also already done a good bit of Dremel work to widen the opening in the cabinet. I would say that my current table saw dust collection is adequate but not ideal. I would like to upgrade to the Shark Guard, but I may change out my table saw in the not too distant future so I don't want to spend money on a guard for that specific saw. Good luck.
I was just looking for something like this! I'll definitely be checking out the shark guard. I also really like the router table setup in the table saw with the incra fence, but I'm thinking I'd rather put it on the left side of the blade. Do you have any issues with reach when using the router table?
Be sure to let me know if you end up getting a shark guard. I'd love to know if it works out for you. I definitely want to get one at some point. As for reach with the router table, I haven't had issues but it was something I was worried about. Normally when you see a router table, you envision standing in front of it to use it. With this setup, it is like I am using the table saw when I use the router table in terms of my position relative to the table and that hasn't been a problem. There are two things about it that I would possibly change if I could. The first is that the table itself isn't perfectly flat. It isn't a huge deal but it bugs me. Because of that, it is basically impossible to get it perfectly flush with the edge of the table saw and believe me I have tried. The second is that I think I would prefer that the router table was separate from the table saw. There are times when I need to go back and forth between using the saw and router table that it just becomes an inconvenience. Again, not a huge problem, just an annoyance. If I figure out a good place to put it and can afford it, I may switch to a separate router table at some point. For now, it works well and I am happy overall. Just thought I would throw those things out there. As with all of these shop decisions, there are tradeoffs especially when dealing with limited space.
I think it may be my comment you are addressing. Thank you for such an informative video. I would look at the hookedonwood channel to look at his special home made zero clearance plate which improves his dust collection.
I bought the Sharkguard and think it’s great although I was defeated by the upper elements you detail so well. If you had a Powermatic, I’d send it along for you to test for your purposes.
I wish you could send it, too. That would be great. I would love to get to see one up close to get a better idea of how I might be able to use it. As I said in the video, I don't know if I would prefer to have it attach to the riving knife or to my overhead arm. I'll look at it more one day and hopefully figure it out.
@@liberatingwood I’d be happy to send it anyway so you could experiment with it or at least formulate a plan. I suspect you could work out the riving knife conversion to your saw, or maybe the Sharkguard fellow has the hardware on his shelf, or might help with drawings perhaps. Having the 4” connection made so much sense to me.
Wow. That is very generous of you but I don't think I will take you up on the offer right now. If and when I get around to getting a Sharkguard of my own, maybe we can compare notes.
Great video! Thanks for helping me think through this problem/solution. Out of curiosity, would you consider selling your extra arm (the one you said is in your attic)?
Thanks for the comment. I'm glad to hear that you found it helpful. Sorry but I'm not really interested in selling the other arm. I plan to use it in the future.
I really dislike these types of videos yet this, and your shop tour, are two of few videos I watched all the way through. Keep up the great stuff man. You’re clearly a very knowledgeable woodworker stepping into the video making realm and I can’t wait to see your quality a year from now!
Because of your shop tour I contacted Blastgateco and they quoted my dust pipes 30-35% less than I got from my local Norfab dealer. Thank you so much.
That is great to hear. I was hoping that would happen for someone. I'm really glad you let me know.
Just looked up your website. Beautiful stuff!
I found the perfect dust collector for a one man shop.
I installed a Record CamVac 4hp/220v/triple motor vacuum with a Oneida Super Dust Deputy cyclone separator. This gives you both high volume and high pressure suction. It's a cheaper alternative to the Oneida Supercell except with much better filtering.
Wow. That's great. I had not heard of those before. That's for the info.
That's a good idea! I think I'll get one of those articulated arms to improve the dust collection in my homemade tablesaw! 👍
That's great. I hope it works out for you.
I have the same table saw and just switched out the stock dust port as well for the reasons you mention. I have a stub out in place for overhead dust collection and have been looking for ideas on how to execute something like what you have. I think I’ll end up investing in the shark guard.
I would love to know how your experience goes with putting a shark guard on that saw. I have thought about it so many times. I don't love what I have. It is better than nothing but I always wonder if it might be better with a shark guard. If you do end up getting one and don't mind, drop me a line and let me know how it goes: liberatingwood@gmail.com
This video is a valuable contribution. Thank you.
Thanks!
Firstly, I really prefer overhead dust collection on my table saw. Over the years, I’ve had none and then a boom but both just don’t work for me. I agree with all your comments on the Rockler item and so, I made my own. Very easy. Like you, I have overhead metal ducting (in my case 200mm). I made a spur which stopped just off directly above my blade and riving knife. That spur ended with a metal 8” to 4” reducer. Onto that reducer I put a shut gate and then a length of 4” flexible tube which goes to the dust hood. I made the dust hood out of 1.5” wide plywood (2 x 3/4” doubled up) just for the arc that goes over the blade and knife. I then put clear acrylic sheets on either side. Into one side, I cut a hole and screwed in a 4” flange plate onto which the flexible tube is secured.
For flexibility, i made that 1.5” arc piece with a 2’ long straight piece coming from the top (a kind of T piece). I then made a square tube out of ply so that the straight of the T piece was a good fit inside it. That square tube is secured to the ceiling directly above the blade. To allow my to slide the inner part up and down (to get different heights above the blade) I put a steel insert into the square tube and a Bristol lever (or any machine screw type of handle) which I tighten or loosen according to where I want the dust hood.
I’ve overcome all the issues about width of the dust hood being too much and easy visibility to see what’s happening. With a minimum of 4” hose and the port about 2” above the top of the blade, dust collection is brilliant.
Wish I had as good an answer for the under table dust collection. My table saw has a port attached to a shroud surrounding the blade under the table. It is awful
Wow. Thanks for all the info on your setup. I wish I could see a picture or two.
I am in a different shop space now. I still have the same basic setup as in the video but it works a little better for two reasons I think. First, is that I have a more powerful dust collector so I just get more air flow. Second, is that this shop has more space and the way that the overhead collection is arranged is just a little easier to use.
I am with you. The under table collection helps but the overhead really makes the difference.
I hope to make a new shop tour video later this year or early next year.
Take care!
I was busy this morning and couldn’t watch the video in its entirety so you may have covered this. But, are you also using the bottom dust port of your saw? What HP is your dust collector? Thx
Yes. I am using the bottom port, as well. When I made that video, I was in my basement shop and using a 1.5 hp V-system from Oneida. I have since moved to a bigger shop and have upgraded to a larger dust collector from Clear Vue but I am still essentially running the same set up at the table saw.
Nice explanation of your guard. I have a Sharkguard on my Unisaw and it's fantastic. Highly recommend it and the folks there are excellent to work with.
Thanks for the comment. Nice to hear from someone who has a Sharkguard. I definitely plan to contact them at some point.
Does it attach to your stock riving knife or do you have a riving knife from Sharkguard? Is it easy to attach and detach?
@@liberatingwood I have the riving knife from Sharkguard. It attaches to the stock Unisaw location. The guard goes on and off easily with just two knobs to loosen/tighten. I have a 2” port on mine that I adapt to a 4” overhead drop of flexible hose.
@@DavidR8 Thanks.
Nice..I was looking for a video like this where someone addressed the hose inside the saw cabinet…I got rid of the same port you did that had the connection for the overhead dust collection that came with the saw and just put a 3-4” adapter. I planned on replacing the 3” hose inside to a 4”but I wondered if it would make any difference since I still would have to have a small section of 3” to make the connection to the shroud…did you notice a difference when you changed yours or was it minimal? Without using the overhead of course
It has been a while since I did all of those internal modifications and I wasn't rigorous about it in terms of taking measurements or anything. The other complication is that the first thing I did after removing the old connection and widening the hole in the side of the cabinet was remove the internal hose and shroud around the blade. I also put a board in the bottom of the cabinet to close that off. It may have been a dumb idea but I'm not that stupid. I know that some true cabinet saws operate in that way and I thought I would try it. I used it that way for a while but it was clear that it was a downgrade. Way too many air leaks since the cabinet wasn't designed to be used in that way. Now I was somewhat stuck in terms of going where I ended up. I needed to reinstall the shroud and reconnect a hose to it. Since I was running a new internal hose, I figured I might as well keep that at 4" as long as possible.
I didn't go into more detail on this whole process in the video because I was trying to get to the overhead part. That was supposed to be the main point of the video and sometimes people get testy if the video is supposed to be about one thing and I spend time on something else. (Sometimes people get upset easily online - who knew). I get it. When I am looking for information on TH-cam, I want people to get to the point.
So, in the end, I would say that what I have now for the internal collection is superior to how the saw came but it is hard to quantify that. It is also hard to say which of the changes had the most benefit. My instinct is to say that getting rid of the original inefficient connection was more beneficial than the internal 4" hose but I can't back that up with anything. As I explained above, the internal hose upgrade (if that is actually what it was) came about because my original plan didn't work out more than anything else.
Hope this helps.
After rereading my reply, I realize that it may be hard to follow. That is also partly why I left it out of the video. Let me know if I just made things worse and I can try again. Or if you would rather not be subjected to more of my ramblings, you can just leave it alone.
Either way, thanks for watching.
@@liberatingwood no no, I appreciate the detailed response…I’m not a overhead dust collection guy, I feel it just gets in the way and although I know it’s not necessary, I like to see the blade, especially cross-cutting….my dust collection is good but I’m sure it could be better …anyway I may try out extending the 4” …thanks for the response!
No problem.
Thank you
You're welcome
The Grizzly guard looks as if it might have been effective with a 3-4” side-mounted coupler to high volume dust collection. ….hard to see if there is room for that.
Thanks. Not sure if I know where to find it at this point. If I come across it again, I'll give that idea some thought.
I have a Harvey cabinet saw with the Shark overhead Guard. The saw has the same dust port as you demonstrated containing a port for the overhead dust collection. I agree it is restricting the dust flow capacity. Question for you, is there any difference if I use the 4" ABS Universal Dust Collection Port that is slanted as you installed verses a straight 4'' Universal Dust Port from Rockler? Also when you installed the two dust ports did you have to drill new holes into your cabinet to fit the new dust ports? My goal is to improve the overall dust collection in my table saw which is currently terrible to my standards. Good video and thanks for sharing.
So I can't say anything definitively about comparing the two different types of ports. I haven't tried the port you indicated nor have I done any sort of comparison. However, I think that the two would be comparable since they are both 4" ports.
I do believe that I had to drill new holes. I had also already done a good bit of Dremel work to widen the opening in the cabinet.
I would say that my current table saw dust collection is adequate but not ideal. I would like to upgrade to the Shark Guard, but I may change out my table saw in the not too distant future so I don't want to spend money on a guard for that specific saw.
Good luck.
I was just looking for something like this! I'll definitely be checking out the shark guard.
I also really like the router table setup in the table saw with the incra fence, but I'm thinking I'd rather put it on the left side of the blade. Do you have any issues with reach when using the router table?
Be sure to let me know if you end up getting a shark guard. I'd love to know if it works out for you. I definitely want to get one at some point.
As for reach with the router table, I haven't had issues but it was something I was worried about. Normally when you see a router table, you envision standing in front of it to use it. With this setup, it is like I am using the table saw when I use the router table in terms of my position relative to the table and that hasn't been a problem.
There are two things about it that I would possibly change if I could. The first is that the table itself isn't perfectly flat. It isn't a huge deal but it bugs me. Because of that, it is basically impossible to get it perfectly flush with the edge of the table saw and believe me I have tried.
The second is that I think I would prefer that the router table was separate from the table saw. There are times when I need to go back and forth between using the saw and router table that it just becomes an inconvenience. Again, not a huge problem, just an annoyance. If I figure out a good place to put it and can afford it, I may switch to a separate router table at some point.
For now, it works well and I am happy overall. Just thought I would throw those things out there. As with all of these shop decisions, there are tradeoffs especially when dealing with limited space.
I think it may be my comment you are addressing. Thank you for such an informative video. I would look at the hookedonwood channel to look at his special home made zero clearance plate which improves his dust collection.
Glad to hear the video was useful. I'll check out that channel. Thanks for the tip
I bought the Sharkguard and think it’s great although I was defeated by the upper elements you detail so well. If you had a Powermatic, I’d send it along for you to test for your purposes.
I wish you could send it, too. That would be great. I would love to get to see one up close to get a better idea of how I might be able to use it. As I said in the video, I don't know if I would prefer to have it attach to the riving knife or to my overhead arm. I'll look at it more one day and hopefully figure it out.
@@liberatingwood I’d be happy to send it anyway so you could experiment with it or at least formulate a plan. I suspect you could work out the riving knife conversion to your saw, or maybe the Sharkguard fellow has the hardware on his shelf, or might help with drawings perhaps. Having the 4” connection made so much sense to me.
Wow. That is very generous of you but I don't think I will take you up on the offer right now. If and when I get around to getting a Sharkguard of my own, maybe we can compare notes.
Great video! Thanks for helping me think through this problem/solution. Out of curiosity, would you consider selling your extra arm (the one you said is in your attic)?
Thanks for the comment. I'm glad to hear that you found it helpful. Sorry but I'm not really interested in selling the other arm. I plan to use it in the future.
expensive fun for the hobby carpenter
Yep
I really dislike these types of videos yet this, and your shop tour, are two of few videos I watched all the way through. Keep up the great stuff man. You’re clearly a very knowledgeable woodworker stepping into the video making realm and I can’t wait to see your quality a year from now!
Thanks. I really appreciate that.