Dust collection shrouds effectiveness
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Hello everyone!…this is my first msg. as a newcomer.
I intend to buy a 14 in bandsaw and looking for past history/experience, regarding dust shrouds effectiveness on that type of eqpt.
I own a central dust collection system, 1 1/2 hp which has been quite satisfactory to-date. The 6-in input is reduced to 5 or 4 as needed, and I intend to hook up the new bandsaw to a 4- in line, although most of them seem to have only 1-1/4 in to 2-1/2 in dia ports.
I understand of course, that I loose efficiency with the smaller dia. ports, but that is a fact of life… unless I move to the 16-in class.
Thanks for the info and the pleasure of reading you.
Replies
i once read a story about adding holes to the machine's collection port t enlarge it to 4". don't recall the mag. you could the attach a pvc piece like a toilet inlet or something similar.
I had to make a dust shroud for my 14" Reliant DD-90 Bandsaw. Rather than cut holes in the lower wheel cover, what I did was glue some 1/4" hardboard to the trunions underneath the table (on the 3 sides) and on the bottom of the glued-in pieces to box in the lower blade guides and bearings. A 4th side is attached to the side of the lower wheel cover with 2 bolts and wingnuts and has a hole for the DC hose. This side is adjustable so that I can lower it to clear the table if I tilt it.
The sides are not air tight to each other. I purposefully left the rear section open so that air flows from from the rear, across the blade and into the DC port. The dust is captured in the air stream and I get almost no dust in the lower wheel area with this setup using a shop vac. I believe that a DC would capture everything.
Thanks harpy for the info!
If I understood right, you must have made a hole in the bottom wheel cover so that a dust port could be fitted.
But in this configuration and if you can slide the 4th side when tilting the table, would the cover hole be round or rather elongated, and after sliding it, does it still box the bearing/guide group?
This is good constructive feedback
red
I DID NOT cut a hole in the lower wheel cover to mount my collection port. If you look at your Bandsaw cover you'll see that where the blade enters the cover, the cover is cut at an angle to clear the blade guides and such. What I did was mount an external collection port to the NARROW SIDE of the cover using 2 existing screw holes. The collection port points up into the boxed in area which (mostly) encloses the angled cutout area of the wheel cover. This gives me free space to clear the opening of the collection port without cutting into anything. The boxed in trunion area acts to direct the airflow from behind the blade and into the dust port. The sliding collection port lets me get to the blade guides when adjusting the setup. The sliding cover comes off with the lower wheel cover when doing blade changes so it's out of the way at that time.
When I slide the collection port down it is still in the angled cutout area of the wheel cover since it only needs to drop an inch or so with the table fully tilted. The drawback is that when the table is tilted the boxed in area no longer touches the table underside so collection is reduced in this configuration.
The port also only has a 2" shop vac sized opening instead of the 4" or 5" that DC's use. I did this so that none of the opening is covered/obstructed by the frame or wheel cover. However, a reducer will allow a DC hose to fit the opening.
I can try to post a pic if you really want one but I warn you, my setup is crude looking.
Bob P.
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