Bandsaw dust extraction that actually works!

Steve Maskery makes a simple but very effective dust extraction system for his bandsaw. It's even inexpensive! You won't believe the efficiency rating, but it's true, I didn't fake the numbers!
Is yours as good?
www.workshopessentials.com

[@woodstockwayne533]

Thanks very much, I think you may have just saved me £600 on a dust extraction system that wouldn't have addressed my current needs!

[@peterszutu555]

I use a 4” PVC elbow cut to surround the lower tracking rollers and connected to my 4” diameter dust collector. With the large volume of air getting sucked down I hardly get any dust on the table top. Basically I doubled the volume of air sucking the dust close to the actual generator of dust.

[@briankimmel3057]

Hi Steve. One idea to improve your percentage of sawdust capture is to layout and drill holes in your throat plate, to allow air to pass from the top of the table surface at the throat plate into your collection nozzle, just under the throat plate. This way you will have more air flow around the point of saw dust creation and raise your capture percentage. Good luck! Brian.

[@mauriceryton]

That is a very good result. My bandsaw is the bane of all the sawdust in my shop. Your design has given me an idea or starting point l too can use to gather the sawdust. Thank you so much for sharing. I so enjoy following guys like yourself who use common sense then share it. Well done. I have hope now.

[@terrytopliss9506]

Pleased to see you back Steve.👍👍

[@TokyoCraftsman]

Great idea Steve! I'd also note that the sawdust sitting on your saw is the heavy stuff that is messy but NOT dangerous. The dangerous sawdust is the super small stuff that hangs in the air and you can breathe in damaging your lungs, and I'm betting that because your pick up point is so close to the blade cutting the wood that you are getting the vast majority of the dangerous sawdust. Another thought is that the sawdust left on the tabletop, the bigger heavier stuff is most likely sawdust that stuck to the blade and made it all the way around the blade to the top wheel where it finally came loose on the downward trip towards the tabletop. I wonder if you put a port on the top wheel cover just before the blade exits the top cover if you could get a lot of that excess sawdust as well, maybe a job for your larger dust collector. I have a Delta 14" bandsaw and while I'd have to route the pipe differently I can certainly use your idea to make a system similar to yours. Great job at thinking outside of the box! Cheers from Tokyo! Stu

[@adamthewoodworker2571]

That's a very interesting theory and it would be really cool if someone were to test your theory/idea. I was trying to think of there's a way to add a hose close to the table of the band saw to suck dust that's on the table top

[@David-hm9ic]

Steve, this is the best looking solution I've seen so far. At this point the bandsaw and drill press are the messiest tools in the shop; everything else had good dust collection. I'll attempt to integrate this into my bandsaw. It's a 14" common to Craftsman, Rigid, Grizzly and other brands so it doesn't have the massive space of your monster. It's really tight between the table and the lower guides but it it can be done it will go a long way toward keeping the shop and the air cleaner. Thanks for posting!

[@melw1000]

😅😅😊😊😊😊😊

[@erikscrase579]

I think I give this a try, I do have a problem with dust in a small work shop

[@timblackwood1531]

Wonderful idea 👍👍 I'm just fed up with dust and this is a great way to put an end to the problem. High pressure seems to be working for u well done 👌👌👌😀

[@BrockHenry]

I was going to make a shroud to enclose the area under the table, but this should be much simpler. Will be giving it a go.

[@Woodgate425]

Thanks Steve, definitely one to try.

[@philipstunden9027]

Going to try it. Thanks Steve

[@erniehenshaw4161]

Great Video.

[@mikelawrence8308]

Genius! Thank you.

[@NMranchhand]

Good clean fun!

[@ZrubekFamily]

Did you get that piece that fell off at 7:01 ? Great idea, thanks for sharing

[@SteveMaskery]

Oh yes. Thank you 👍

[@joakimappelqviststudent8668]

Does this work great for the planer and table saw to?

[@SteveMaskery]

It's not suitable for a P/T, you need High Volume Low Pressure system for that - there is a lot of waste to shift very quickly when you are planing a 10" wide board. It would probably work quite well on a tablesaw IF you could find a way of getting the business end round the teeth after they exit the underside of the table. I think that would be quite difficult to do, but if you could, it should be quite efficient.

[@ShawnHeath]

I have 0 bandsaw buddies (otherwise I wouldn't have bought one), but thanks anyway for sharing another (and perhaps the best yet) way to improve dust extraction on a BS. It's a f*ing joke as it is. I don't even have a 100mm dust extractor. Actually, my bandsaw is my ONLY large woodworking machine. I just got my BS and immediately, before the first cut, constructed a dust solution. But it's sketchy at best, partly because my household vac is underpowered for it. So your video also helped guide me on what kind of shop vac to get. Thanks again!

[@SteveMaskery]

Really glad you found it useful. I've had it a couple of months now and I love it.

[@SteveMaskery]

If you are struggling with your new machine, can I suggest you look up my Bandsaw Essentials video? It's available on my website www.workshopessentials.com as a download. There is an independent review of it here: www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=5363&p=84303&hilit=Thanks+maskery#p84303

[@SteveMaskery]

www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=5363&p=84303&hilit=Thanks+maskery#p84303

[@SirBenJamin_]

I did pretty much the same thing which I posted on UkWorkshop. Did you steal my idea!? :D .. just kidding. It's not exactly rocket science.

[@SteveMaskery]

LOL! No I didn't. But you have obviously been using it longer than I have, so how are you getting on with it?

[@SirBenJamin_]

@@SteveMaskery It works great! .. not going to lie though, I'm usually too lazy to get the vac out. If I had the space, I would have it permanently linked up to a cheapo vac from Screwfix. Although it does take away from hw quite bandsawing can be

[@davidroper494]

Great idea thanks! Just 1 question….Did you close off the four-inch port, or just leave it open?

[@jonhuus1925]

@@davidroper494 Great question... I'd love to know too.

[@MrPatdeeee]

A GREAT idea on your BS. Sadly, many BS's prevent using it, because of the lack of space between the table and the structure holding the BS together below the table.. Most BS's have a very small space between the table and that structure. Thus there is not enough space for your GREAT idea. But there is something else; and you "hit the nail on the head" at what causes most BS's to have poor efficient dust collection. IE: The 4" duct "port" is on the WRONG side of the BS; rather it is on the BACK side of the blade where there is little sawdust. It is one of the stupidest things manufacturers have ever done. For it is almost worthless! Oh indeed yes. So a very clever friend of mine many years ago solved that problem; by simply putting a 4" shoot on the other side of the BS. He did this by drilling a 4" hole on the bottom safety door; IN line of where the sawdust is guided OFF the "gullet" of the blade; traveling at a whopping circa' 3500 FPM (Feet per Minute). Now the 4" inch duct on the wrong side is still put to good use; by acting as a variable dust "gate"; if you attach that accessory item onto the "WRONG" shoot. This allows you to "Tune" the amount of suction air coming through the 4" duct on the RIGHT side of the BS. If this makes sense. IE: The air coming through the "wrong" port is feeding the "right" port; across the blades teeth. This helps immeasurably by forcing the dust in the gullet to be captured by the input port.. It does work AND it catches yet more of that sawdust on the table as well; which is the hardest to capture on MOST BS's. Try it and see for yourself! In any case our "Steve Maskery" always has a treasure of good "ideas". And they all show the genius Steve is. Thank you kind Sir.