17 February, 2014

Finding design flaws in my miter saw dust hood.

First off, let me be the first to call myself an idiot... I did this to myself, I needed no help in my stupidity, this is 100% on me...

The idea for the hood is to come around to just short of the fence , which I simply fail to do, by about 4"

Not sure if it is obvious from the photos, but I made a HUGE measurement mistake... and kept going with it...

I did however manage to figure out a quick and dirty way to rig up a production stop... Yeah I still need to set up an auxiliary fence with some T track and stop blocks...

I did want a reasonably clean pass through for the power cord, to where it will be useful. Yeah I have to drag the cord to behind the mortiser, small price to pay for space efficiency!

I did notice in this project however, that the table heights between the mortiser and the miter saw weren't level, so I levelled them up, and verified with known straight edges.... Good thing I have those parts bins. The old washers from God only knows where sure came in handy! It's dead flat, and neither the miter saw, nor the mortiser interfere with the other... Assuming of course the mortiser fence is in the rear most position..

You may also notice that I absconded the hose from a "Hyde dustless drywall sander" as the entire sander kit is cheaper than any 1.25 inch shop vac hose I have found so far.. Might as well reuse what I have! (I never should have sold that old shop vac on Craigslist so cheap!). I will order a second one before I actually cut the hose to finish the install. I actually use this thing, and it IS helpful. Lord knows even with this so called Dust Free Drywall sander, there is still a considerable amount of dust, but 90+ percent reduction in dust is better than none!

On top of this work, I managed the following in the shop over the weekend.
  1. Hauled all the totes that don't belong, up into the attic. The giant pile of extension cords and adapters got into their own tote and jammed up into the attic next to the reindeer and that big fat elf that ticks me off every December 1...
  2. Organized, or at least tried to organize all of the automotive stuff into one place, lawn and garden into another etc... I have so much more to do...
  3. Swept, cleaned, blew off, and generally tidied the place up. Again, a bunch more to do!
  4. Took apart the existing arrangement and installed the riser for the band saw dust collection / blast gate... Now the band saw dust collection blast gate is within easy reach, no back strain trying to get down to where it is... 
  5. Cut and installed slats mounted between the spreaders of the workbench base. This has the unanticipated result of firming up the base and making this bench a LOT more pleasant to use. I would highly recommend anyone using the Get Started In Woodworking plan for the bench to add the base shelf, it REALLY helps!
  6. Moved all of the handheld power tools from the miter saw station, and into the lower section of the workbench.
  7. Came up with a materials list of what is needed to finish the dust hood / drop plumbing for the miter saw.
  8. cleaned up the old silicone caulk off of the spare blast gates, got them ready for reuse...
My next steps are to....
  1. Disassemble the miter saw dust hood, rebuild the side frames with ones that, well are sized right. 20" deep instead of 16. This was an embarassingly stupid mistake, but live and lear... 
  2. cut extensions for the top to bring it a fully 20" deep as well. I will attach these with biscuits
  3. Reassemble, including the replacement back panel. 20" should give me a couple of inches to set up an auxiliary fence to rig some stops onto... 
  4. Disassemble the miter saw bench, and reglue the thing. Insuring it is square. Add 2x6 corner blocks to keep it square, and glue / mounting blocks for levelers. Probably just going to use bolts and Tee nuts for levelers. Not sure yet...
  5. Install dust collection ducting through the inside of the miter saw station. Get everything plumbed through the side ready to make the turn up.
  6. Reinstall / level / insure squareness of miter saw / mortiser station.
  7. Complete the riser to the ceiling, and the across ceiling run for the dust collection, tie into the main trunk just before the turn down to the collector.
  8. Complete and install the accessory drawers for the miter saw station.
  9. Re-populate the base of the miter saw station..
  10. Create bit trays for the router bits, and blade dividers for the saw blades. Migrate all of my table saw/ router accessories from the nasty tote and into the drawers.

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