I have a Dewalt 718 chop saw, fitted with a 12″ Forrest Chopmaster blade. This is a terrific and powerful saw, but it has one really big problem. It makes, and scatters in all directions, a huge amount of sawdust. The first few years I had it, I confess I rather avoided it for two reasons, first, I was really scared of it, and second, it made all that sawdust all over everything. Lately, I’m less scared, and I’m using it more often since I installed a rip blade (a Freud) that I really like on my table saw. The result? Dust all over everything. I’ve attached a photo so you can see that I’ve installed a big yellow plastic shroud over the saw, with it’s own private dust collector (small, but its own). And I still get dust everywhere. If you look at the photo carefully, you will see a lot of dust in the cowling, on the floor, on the saw, and elsewhere, but you won’t see the rest that’s strewn all over the shop.
Others must have addressed this issue; any advise would be deeply appreciated.
Replies
Rip Blade ????
Go back to the Chop Master or the proper Freud blade.
The rip blade is too skimpy on teeth and probably has way too much hook angle. Making and throwing BIG chips too.
No, I put the rip blace on the TABLE SAW; which is why I'm using the Dewalt more. The chopmaster is on the miter saw, and the sawdust looks like a snowstorm, all over me, the floor, the dust catcher, into the air. Any advise?
Miter saws are very difficult to collect the dust on. The dust shoots out the back, directly in line with the post behind, splattering everywhere. Some DeWalts have a dust chute right there. Attach a vacuum hose at that point. The hoods will work but you need enough air flow to suck your hat off.
Get the proper blade for the saw, not a rip blade. The negative hook blades are made for compound miter saws.
http://www.rockler.com/articles/saw-blades-101.cfm
The saw actually came with a little dust collection bag, to fit on a small hole at the back. Ludicrous. About 2% of the dust may end up at that spot. Someone must have had some success with something. . . dm
DC afterthought for most
I hate to tell ya but most mfgr's do not give a rats patoot about dc. That little bag is a joke isn't it. I finally decided with my last scms to get the Festool Kapex. it nails the dust, but then they start design with DC in mind with all their tools. To that I have an old shopvac attached with an autoon switch to come on when I fire up the saw and it goes off a few seconds after I cut it off. I know you don't want to but a new saw for DC, so I'd suggest building a boxed hood around it and attaching good DC to it to get as much as possible. Here is another alternative.
http://www.woodworkingmatters.com/My_Shop/sliding_compound_miter_saw_works.htm
This one is from a good guy who passed away last year and tested tools all the time with nice assistants. RIP man!
http://www.woodshopdemos.com/nprod-4.htm
miter saw dust collection
Yep, they're messy - partly because the dust path varies from one edge of the board being cut to the other. Your dust collector may not have sufficient air flow to capture as much of the dust as you'd like. I'd start by trying to eliminate the loop of hose, though. Solid pipe with no sharp turns might help, too.
Dust hood
The saw is performing as designed :-)
As Bones say, you need a hood. Even if you don't have a great dust collector, anything to contain the dust in one place is good. These saws are built for portability ie jobsites, where containing mess is not an issue.
You can build a simple hood out of cardboard.
Don
I had the same problem with a much smaller 8 1/2pm scms. Ended up solving it by attaching the dust collector to the moving part of the saw (rather than behind the saw and pretty far from the blade, especially when the saw is in the forward position at the beginning of a cut). I added another piece of plastic to cover the side of the blade during the cut.
Can't figure OT how to attach a file from my tablet, but posted one on the rockler site, listed below. Hope this is helpful and can be adapted to your larger saw.
David
http://www.rockler.com/imageGallery/CustomerComments/11312_57274158_SCMS%20dust%20collection.jpg
deleted or attempted to anyway
A
this thread is rather ancient history, but I DID come up with a satisfactory solution. I bought a Festool Kapex Which is directly attached to an old single machine dust collector. I get no more dust from this machine, and I mean NONE. Not an inexpensive solution, but I did manage to sell the old machine for a decent price on Craig's List, and, more important, my lungs are much safer than they were. Reiterating: the Kapex cuts at least as well as my old saw, and the dust control is incredibly good (a shop vac would be fine, too). Highly recommended for anyone concerned with dust issues.
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