A quick fix for older tools

One of the things the Doctor keeps telling me is to stay away from wood dust. I agree and for my table saw I have a HF dust collection system that works great. The problem is all the rest of my power tools are old...40+ years old and none have any kind of dust control system on them. My band saw is the worst offender as it creates a ton of dust and I couldn't figure out how to control the dust on it. I don't need new tools as the ones I have work great and I know all their little problems and glitches. So I made my own dust collection system for the band saw and it works pretty darn nice. Probably cut my dust down by 90-95% so I'm pretty happy with it.

How I did it:
1.5" PVC conduit
1.5" PVC elbow
1- Harbor freight 6 gallon shop vac
1.5" flex hose (I got mine some years back when I was working an electric company and they were throwing reel after reel of this stuff away (what a waste). Wish I'd got more).
4 rare earth magnets
2 saddles (I made myself)
The dust collection system is held in place on the saw by the rare earth magnets (Compliments from my wife's hobby of making greeting cards for the troops...long story)

Here's some photo's (with and without the dust collection system on)



The first photo shows with the system on (notice very small trace amounts of dust on the band saw stand)
The second photo shows the system off (notice the amount of dust on the band saw stand). It also shows how the system is attached.
I've also noted a very small amount of dust when I have to change the blades on the bottom of the metal wheel guards.

Thanks for looking.

OOPS almost forgot. This was cutting off the scales on three knives which is a two cut process (one side at a time).

Fantastic solution! Nice work.

Good to see someone up north with good southern ingenuity!! Lol

Cool. I did something similar by tapping a Loc-Line (segmented hose) into my regular dust collection port and "aiming" the end nozzle at the blade and bearings just under the table. I noticed the same kind of dust reduction as you did. - Dave

Looks great! Last winter I took my calipers around my dad's entire woodshop and wrote down the diameter of every single dust output tube on each of his power tools, as well as his shop vac hose. When I got home it was trivially easy to 3D model some friction-fit TPU adapters for each one that used neodymium magnets. Now he can easily stick the hose of his shop vac onto any dust collection output of any machine while he's using it. Wish I had room in my own tiny garage shop to put a shop vac in there In a future house, perhaps.

Great idea

Tom great idea .

Suggest , if there isn't one already fitted to it internally (?) fixing a brass brush in contact with the side of the blade just below the lower bearing assembly as up blade travels to the lower wheel . This scrubs dust n debris out of the blade teeth just where the extractor is at max effect. vastly reduces dust n clogging of blade too

Nice fix.
I am in the same boat. Been woodworking as a hobby for 50+ years and now have some lung issues. Never a smoker other than the occasional cigar with a pour of good bourbon or sour mash. I am in the middle of upgrading my DC and connecting to all the tools and have not been motivated to do anything. I will snap out of it soon.

Mike

howsitwork said:

Tom great idea .

Suggest , if there isn't one already fitted to it internally (?) fixing a brass brush in contact with the side of the blade just below the lower bearing assembly as up blade travels to the lower wheel . This scrubs dust n debris out of the blade teeth just where the extractor is at max effect. vastly reduces dust n clogging of blade too

Click to expand...

Hmmm, now you've got me thinking Ian. Never a very good thing.

Mike said:

Nice fix.
I am in the same boat. Been woodworking as a hobby for 50+ years and now have some lung issues. Never a smoker other than the occasional cigar with a pour of good bourbon or sour mash. I am in the middle of upgrading my DC and connecting to all the tools and have not been motivated to do anything. I will snap out of it soon.

Mike

Click to expand...

Thanks for everyone's comments. It does get me to thinking though, which never a good thing. Today will be the true test. I've got 16 knife scales that I need to resaw which normally causes a ton of dust and debris. I'll let everyone know how it turns out. Maybe a photo too. Thanks again.