The amount of dust and wood chips I clean up everytime I use my table saw is amazing. I feel like I have 2 jobs when I use my table saw. The 1st job is cutting the wood and the 2nd job is cleaning up afterwards. The clean up is no fun and seems to last the longest. I think I have created a solution to at least decrease the amount of clean up significantly and help you spend most of your time cutting and less time cleaning.

Step 1: Main Problem Identified

I have a typically lower end table saw. I noticed the bottom of the table saw has no bottom. The blade is sending all the wood chip below with a mess of them on my shoes and legs after a good table saw use.

Step 2: Material(For Draft Version-cheaper and Sturdy)

The best solution is to put a bottom on the table saw to catch most of the debris. I took measurements on all sides. I also picked out a board that had a slippery surface so the dust could be easily collected. Pic above shows the board I used. It is about a 1/4 in thick.

Material:

1-Board big enough to cover the bottom of the table. You will want one with a slippery surface and about 1/4 in thick. The board I used is scrap wood I had in my basement. I would guess it was from an old black board.

1-Drill and drill bits

4-pieces of scrap wood. Only need to be about 2x2 inches

4-wood screws to hold scrap wood in place

1-roll of duct tape or similiar. You want the duct tape to have the same color as your table. I chose silver for my draft version, but ended up with black.

Cardboard.(See step 15 if you want to use wood instead of cardboard.)

Step 3: 1st Measurement Up Front

I took the first measurement up front. Make sure you take it from the inside since this is where the board will sit. Also, take the measurement up as high as you can on the table for this measurement.

Step 4: Side Measurement

I took the next measurement on the sides with about a 2 to 3 inch drop at the back of the table. This would allow the dust to collect downwards better. See pic.

Step 5: Back Measurement

I took the back measurement based off the lower side measurement. This is where the debris will be collected and swept up.

Step 6: Cut the Board

Cut the wood and make sure it fits underneath the table saw. It should be nice and tight with the front part of the board up top and the back part about 2-3 inches lower. This is a pic of the back of the table saw. You can see that it slopes from front to back. We need to cut some scrap wood to hold it in place.

Step 7: Getting Ready to Set Board Underneath

I used some scrap wood to hold the thin board underneath the table saw. This should be thick enough to hold it in place without too much movement. I chose about an 1/2 inch thick.

Step 8: Drilled Holes to Hold Scrap Wood

We then drilled holes where the scrap wood would be to hold the board.

Step 9: Pic of Underneath

New underneath with board and scrap wood holding it into place. The scrap board is held together with wood screws that were drilled in the table on the earlier pic.

Step 10: Side Pic

This side pic shows the angle from front to back with board. We now need to cover the sides and gaps. In the draft, I used cardboard and tape. This held very nice, but i changed it later out with wood to make it look nicer.

Step 11: Used Cardboard and Tape to Seal the Gaps

To keep cost down, I used cardboard and tape to seal the gaps on the sides. I just ripped the cardboard and then placed the tape to hold it in place. It is best to use duck tape or some tape that will hold for a long time.

Step 12: Seal Gap Between Table and Saw.

I also had to fill in the gap between the table and saw. The prevented the dust from flying out of the bottom. I had to go all the way around the saw.

Step 13: Cover the Front

I again used cardboard to keep the costs down to cover the front. This is where the dust will be swept up instead of landing on the ground.

Step 14: Final Product Video

This is a video of the final product working. There was still wood chips that came at me from the front of the saw and this was a very small amount. These were mostly from the blade and the area that is used to move the saw blade up or down. I might try to fix those in the future. I appreciate the easier and less clean up that is done afterwards. I expect this addition to my table saw to stay on for a long time since I used duct tape and it seems pretty sturdy. The one issue I had is how I set up the back cover for the cardboard version. I only used a piece of duct tape to hold it into place. After I figured it would work, I worked on replacing the cardboard with my left over wood. The following steps I used wood instead of cardboard to make it more sturdy.

Thanks and hope you enjoy.