Ugh. Dust, amirite?

My shopvac isn’t very high quality and a proper dust collection system is a long way off for me, but I’m sick of tasting pine with my evening meal. And I can’t leave anything in my shop without a thick coating of dust forming on it.

I left my bike in the shop while I made a few cuts, it now looks as though it’s been ridden through the desert, I’m over it and I need to do something about it.

The main culprit is my table saw. The panel with the dust port doesn’t fit underneath it properly, it leaves gaps on two sides which allows dust to filter through. Then of course there’s the slightly obvious problem where I don’t have the right size connector to hook it up to my vac, so I just let the dust fall down into a bucket underneath…ok, I guess that part might be slightly my fault.

But now I have a problem, so let’s build a solution!

Step 1: Cut and Fit the Panels

I started cutting up 3mm MDF sheets to fit, I have lots of this left over from an old project.

You are placing the panels inside the leg assembly, so we cover up the big quadrangle area.

Firstly, cut the mdf to height, and then mark the required angles on it.

I cut the angles using my miter gauge and test fit them. Once it was in place, I marked the holes for the bolts. The legs on my saw already have slots through them for me to fit the bolts in.

Nothing special about the bolts I used, they're just the first ones I found that would fit, I put a large washer on each side of the sheet too.

Then do the same for 3 of the 4 sides of the saw. I wanted my dust drawer to be accessed from the front, so that's the one that I left empty for now.

Step 2: Create the Dust Drawer

To provide support for the drawer, I sliced up a spare length of 12mm mdf into two long strips which I press fit inside of the frame. They are supprted by the metal frame along one side, and on both ends. I later came back and glued these strips to the side panels, as there was a slight gap between them.

With the supports in place, I cut a rectangle panel for the drawer bottom. I also glued a small strip of plywood offcut and glued and screwed it to the front of that drawer bottom. It’s screwed in from beneath.

Step 3: Finish It Off

Then cut one last quadrangle panel to be the drawer front.

A bit of glue and some screws right through the front keep the false front attached to the drawer.I added a spare handle I had kicking around just to make it a little easier to open.

And that was it. It’s not over engineered in the slightest but it performs its task very well. Dust falls straight down from the cut and stays in the cabinet. I can let it settle, then simply pull the drawer out and vacuum it up or slide it straight into a bin.

If you have a similar saw to mine and have the same problem, give this a try.

I've had it in place for a month or so now, it has made a huge difference to the general cleanliness of the shop.

If you like what I do, check out my other instructables or my website, www.thewoodfather.com

Cheers, mario