Table Saw Dust Collection Guard

Good guard

Works good, but you do need a dust collection port underneath the saw too.

table saw dust collection guard

To me, the guard sat a little too high, so I cut about an inch off the bottom. Also, I made a new dust port at the front of the guard and blocked off the original one. It picks up the sawdust a little better. I have an allergy to sawdust and need the dust collector to get as much as possible.

Good product but needs a little help

First of all, my saw is a Delta 10" Contractor's Saw with a 30" Unifence. The table extension is shop-built using the legs that came with the saw/fence package. The saw and extension table sit on an HTC rolling stand. When I built the extension table top 18 years ago, I fastened a front to back 2X4 rail underneath the right end of the extension table surface, little knowing at the time that it would be just the thing for attaching the vertical support column of a dust collector to the table in 2009. This product is quite substantial in its construction (42 lbs shipping) and is, for the most part, well designed. I found the installation instructions, photos and diagrams to be confusing and wanting in clarity and logic, but I was able to make it all work. The round 3" boom that runs to the blade area from the right side vertical pipe support is heavy and, when coupled with the guard/collector via a balanced height adjusting assembly, causes substantial outward swing pressure to the bottom portion of the vertical column (below the table attachment point). To combat this, the manufacturer provides 2 long threaded rod/turnbuckle assemblies that run from a connector plate on the lower section of the vertical support to two points on your table extension or base. I did not use these because of the availability of the right rail of my HTC base. Instead, I made a block assembly out of 2X6 wood stock and some scrap which had a 1X2 reinforced notch that slipped over the HTC base rail. I attached the lower column support to this block with a couple of 3.5 inch U-Bolts. The column is dead vertical and stable. In spite of the vertical column being secure, I found some minor downward deflection of the boom (about half an inch at the saw blade end). I brought the boom level with a simple movable prop that I made by bandsawing a semicircle notch in the end of a long scrap of 2X6 (match the pipe diameter)and cutting it to the needed length. The prop can be easily moved anywhere along the boom or removed if you need the whole table. Another troublesome deflection issue arises at the top of the blade guard cage. The hose that connects the cage to the the boom/vacuum channel brings some lateral twist pressure on cage. But the real problem is that the acrylic connector plate that joins the cage to its metal support assembly is not stiff enough to withstand this pressure (as well as the weight of the cage) and so the cage deflects inward from level. The connector plate is only 1/8" thick and could be made much thicker without any loss of visibility (Manufacturer, please fix this!). A 4" hose from your dust collector attaches to the outward (right)end of the 3" boom via a 4"x3" hard rubber adapter (supplied). Naturally, you have to clamp the 4" hose to 4" side of the adapter. The instructions call for clamping (clamp supplied?) the 3" end of the adapter (slips over the end of the boom) to the boom. Only problem is that 1) there was no clamp supplied and 2)if there were one, the rubber is so hard that it can't be compressed. A force fit is insufficient to hold the adapter on the boom pipe end (keeps falling off). Manufacturer, help! Aside from the problems mentioned above, it's a well designed and well made unit. You even get the necessary hardware to suspend everything from above if you want. My dust collector is only 650CFM, but I've dedicated it to this machine. There is some inherent loss in reducing down to 2.5 inches at the intake point, but it works. My shop and myself stay a lot cleaner. I'm glad that I bought it but would sure like to see the aforementioned deficiencies corrected.