Review of Laguna 2hp Mobile Cyclone Dust Collector

So a couple days ago, I posted a review of the Sens-Gard hearing protection... I never would have thought it would get the draw it did!  Hearing protection: the new sexy!

Other interesting thing... I got a bunch of emails asking about the Laguna 2hp Mobile Cyclone Dust Collector shown at the end of the video for the noise test.  What's funny is that I recorded this review before the Sens-Gard review.  Here I thought I'd get ahead on video for a change...

The summary? I love it.  Give the video a looksy to see why.  Some good stuff in there even if we're just talking about a dust bucket.

As mentioned in the video, many woodworking retailers are carrying this now including Rockler and Woodcraft.  Since I don't see it on both of their sites but have seen them both available in my local stores, it is possible that only certain stores carry them.

Hose Hanger for your Festool Boom Arm

I know I've documented this in the past, but it was likely on a forum. A friend just wrote me asking for details so here we go :)

If you have the boom arm, you know it's fantastic keeping the hose off the ground, telegraphing over tools or curious dogs, and keeping the hose off your shoulder (what I used before the boom arm).  Problem is when you aren't using the hose, it hangs there like an elephant's trunk.

My $3 solution is a drill holder for pegboard (note that I got mine from a local big box, but that link is for reference if the pictures aren't clear).  Click the image below to see it full size to see what I mean.  I attached it to the boom arm with 4 ties, 2 crisscrossing each peg hook.  Ridiculously easy to install; I straddled one of the hose holders so it wouldn't slide down.

The benefit is that I can place the hose there quickly.  In fact, I usually throw it there.

Note that I have a D-36 hose on the boom arm.  The 'throw' trick works best with the D-27 as it is considerably more flexible (kinda miss it actually).  I use a D-36 because it works so much better with routers.

Dust Collection Improvements for your Bandsaw

I recently got a Laguna Tools Italian-Made LT-18 bandsaw.  There's a 4-part video review of it if you are interested.  The one thing that bugs me, though, is that the dust collection is really bad since it doesn't have an under-table port.  In this video, I discuss how to modulate your DC's air flow to a shop-made shroud for cleaning right under the table.  The results were very good; not dust-free, but very good.

While I did this for my Laguna Tools LT-18, the modulation method and some ideas on how to build the shroud can carry over to your bandsaw.  Frankly, I wish I did this on my Rikon 14" I owned previously.

Not the most interesting topic, I know, and certainly the video could use some bikinis (not on me...) but it should give you ideas on how to make your bandsaw reasonably dust free.

I also want to direct you to Chris Wong's recent review of his Laguna LT-16 3000 series bandsaw. He was able to insert a piece of ply inside the cabinet to get much better collection for very little effort; it's food for thought.  Turns out that same trick is commonly used on Agazzani bandsaws.  A chat via Twitter tonight brought up several other possibilities.  I can already smell a second episode with more ideas...

If you have a great dust collection idea for bandsaws, please post it in the comments.

Guided Tour of my Pimped SawStop :)

I ordered my SawStop 3hp PCS cabinet saw during the pre-release.  Since I received it, I've made a number of modifications to it that have been documented here such as adding a router wing with dust box, adding an overhead collection arm, wiring a single pigtail to the wall to power everything at the saw 'station'.  (All of these are easily found under the 'SawStop' label in my blog's sidebar)
Well, that's a lot to read.
Since I had the video camera out, I shot a tour of these SawStop modifications as well as one that has not been documented here before: a dust port for catching the dust when edging a board (cuts that aren't captured will spray dust to the side that isn't normally collected).
If you want your SawStop and router table to be as dust-free as possible, give these ideas a looksy.

DC Hose Lift for the Drum Sander

While drum sanding a project yesterday, my pet peeve about drum sanders reared its head: that the dust port is on top of the door.  There's no good place to put the hose.  You put it over the carriage housing and it'll fall off changing the height knob or fall the other way and pop open the door to the drum, which sends dust in hundreds of directions (all towards your face).

I recently added a number of circuits to my garage shop specifically because I rarely used my drum sander... it needed to be plugged in the family room via extension to use the DC unit with it.  Now I needed to address the lack of decent DC connection.

The solution is woefully easy: a stick with a 1/4" groove in the edge to grab onto the carriage housing and the bottom end cut like a half-lap so I could fit a bolt into the drum sander's base.  On top, a spring-clamp-like holder for the hose.

Note that the top of my Performax 16-32, I put a Dust Right compatible connector.  The new hose I added also has a Dust Right handle since it will be handy for the floor cleaning attachment as well.

As you can see, I have a Ridgid 12" lunchbox planer installed into the Performax stand (if you want to do this, realize that you have to take the stand apart and build it around the planer... not fun, but a space-saver!).  I ran a hose up to the stick and mounted it with a similar spring clamp.  Now I can just move the hose connector over when I used the planer.  While this isn't ideal having to lift chips so far, I've found in the past it wasn't an issue.  If it is after this modification, I can simply disconnect the planer hose and lay it on the floor with the DC connected and use the spring clip as a convenient stow.

Now, my drum sander is very convenient to use; it'll touch every project here on out.

Festool MFK-700 Demo

Over at the FOG, they are running a contest on doing tool reviews.  Specifically tools of the Green n Blue variety.  I've made a few reviews and posted them over there, but will be posting them here as well throughout the week.
This review is of the MFK-700 trim router.  I pick this one as the first to post because it seems to have the most love/hate opinions.  I cover parts of the tool, the common accessories, then describe some modifications and work-arounds for the common complaints.  Yes, Festools aren't perfect, just closer than other manufacturers in my not terribly humble opinion.  :)




Here's also a link to a quick video I did for someone else on a forum who had questions about the dust collection of this router.  In a nutshell, the dust collection impresses me every time I route with it.  This video link was posted previously on this blog, but thought to put it here so you don't have to go dig for it ;)

Here is the link to the thread on my review at the FOG.

D'uh!-Moment to Improve Dust Collection

Last night, I was edge jointing and ripping 8/4 Walnut to make several handrails; these are rough dimensioning cuts.
I know the TS-75 saw has better dust collection with the D-36 hose vs the usual D-27 "tool" hose due to better air flow, but I had a d'uh moment after the first pass.  That pass left a lot of dust behind and the saw seemed starved for power.
Normally I plug the TS-75 into the CT-22 dust extractor for the automatic turn-on function when starting a tool.  Works great.  Except in this situation, that saw was working much harder than usual with a 12' run of 8/4 Walnut.  With the saw plugged into the extractor, the extractor limits total amperes to 15A.  With the extractor on high and the saw working hard, I was needing 21-22A, but it was still limiting.
Easy solution was to plug the saw into its own source and manually turn on the extractor.  Night and day difference on these passes.  There was literally nothing to clean after ripping the 10" wide by 12' long Walnut into 3 rails.
So, moral is, if your saw (or router) is going to be working much harder than usual, give it its own source!

SawStop Overarm Dust Collection (with light!)

Since writing this entry, I rolled a video giving a tour of the final assembly including the router wing, dust box, and custom power connection used to power the whole thing with 1 cable.  This article is still what you want for assembly details, but the video gives you a better idea what it will do.

Over on the WoodTalkOnline forum, Brian Q and I were exchanging ideas for the SawStop.  In my case, the router wing with dust box (I blogged in more detail here) and in his case his version of the SawStop Overarm Dust Collection.  I believe he's making my dust box and I just finished his overarm guard.

SawStop sells an overarm guard, which is what started the discussion, but it's $200, which is a little steep for what it is.  Brian's post on WTO describes how he did his and here I'll describe my version.

First, a view from the front then details of the build and special features.

The arm is made of 1 1/4" EMT conduit mounted on the back fence rail; it swings up to the far right side of the table keeping this addition out of the way for any width cut.  I added a boom arm with a florescent light to give better lighting on the business side of the table.  Though I added a lot of lighting to the shop recently, the garage door is directly above the saw when it's open; with the exception of summer, my garage door is always open!  This will help.

It was important to be able to stow the collection arm when using the router table.  For some operations, it isn't a hinderance at all, but for running long molding, it's in the way.  This picture shows a view from behind where I'm loosening a star knob...

...rotating the unit down...

...into a stowed position where it is still attached but completely out of the way.

The main component is the J-loop of EMT shown here.  The loop is what reaches above the table.  The straight is what is in a holder I'll explain later and allows the rotation.

The pieces are connected using a water-proof compression-fit coupler.  There are other couplers with set screws, but they press against the conduit and could open leaks.  A water-proof couple looks better and likely holds the vacuum better.

The long part of the J fits into a box attached to the back fence rail.  While it is difficult to see here because I had already painted it black (yeah, I paint shop stuff), it is just a long box with an inside dimension to just fit the 1.5" OD EMT (1.25" is the ID).  The outside face of the box has a portion of the side removed, 2 holes drilled through that side, and star knobs attached.  When the star knobs are tightened, that side squeezes down on the pipe to keep it in place.

Here are some additional closeups:

Note that I drilled 3 holes into the back rail fence to attach the box.

And a closeup of how the star-knob screw passes through.

The following three have an exaggerated fill-light on them so you can see the ends of the box in case the description wasn't clear:

The box simply squeezes the EMT to keep it from spinning; very effective.

This one is from the other side of the pipe from where the last photo was taken; you can see this is just a square column made to fit the pipe perfectly then a side had a kerf cut put into it to allow you to squeeze the pipe.

The end of the J attaches to a 2.5" hose that joins the main 4" DC feed at a 4-2.5 Y junction.  Between that junction and the connection to the saw cabinet, I put a blast gate.  Naturally, I wouldn't shut off access to the cabinet, but this lets me close the gate slightly to increase the flow to the collection arm.  As it is, the flow is significantly better than my previous make-shift setup, but close the gate a bit and it's a regular vacuum up top.

The hose at the top of the J to the blade guard was a lucky find at a pool supply store.  The hose is 36" long with a 1.25" connector on one end that fit perfectly into the blade guard; the other end fits overtop the EMT conduit perfectly.  I believe it was a Barracuda hose.  Regardless, they have the right size hose and rubber connectors at a pool supply store.

The boom arm for the light came out well as it adds the perfect amount of light without a lot of glare on the cast surface. The arm itself is just a stick of pine I had laying around.  I made two pipe brackets that slip tightly over the J loop with a 5/16" bolt poking up through the boom arm.  Two knobs make locking it down and removing it pretty easy.

Addendum: the brackets I made of wood eventually dried, got loose and became a nuisance.  While in the conduit aisle of the borg (where the EMT is), I found two EMT hangers and replaced the brackets.  Much nicer, much easier, and quicker to remove if you want to.

The previous picture also shows how I snaked the lamp cord through the conduit to keep it from being in the way. Here you see it pop out the other end just before the connection to the 2.5" hose.  I simply drilled 5/16" holes for the wire (be sure to completely de-bur and smooth the hole from both sides so it doesn't abrade the cord!).

The lamp cord was in no way long enough to make it to the plug so I needed another 12' of extension.  What I did is use connectors used in power supplies; you can get them at Fry's Electronics.  I had some laying around.  Cut the plug off the light's cord, cut the socket tail from the extension, thread the extension through the conduit then wire the connector to the ends (if you do this, make sure you keep hot-to-hot).  The picture shows the light, connector (and it's fittings), and a pack of neoprene washers that I used everywhere to keep knobs from vibrating loose.  Overkill, I know.  Should I ever want to remove the boom arm, I just unscrew the knobs and disconnect the wire.  Very quick.

Overall, I really like this system.  I get better lighting, the dust hose doesn't get in the way of the cut (my previous hack...), far far better suction at the blade guard, no loose hoses behind the saw, and easily stowed to not impede certain routing operations.

Thanks to Brian for the initial ideas - especially the use of conduit and pool hose! - as it got me to fix a nuisance and gave me something simple to do in a too-hot shop.  Thanks, too, to Andrew for asking questions about things not that clear in the text so I beefed up the photos.

Router Table Wing in SawStop

Since this original post, I added an overhead dust collection arm with a light. I also rolled a video giving a tour of the final setup.  You might find the video good to see what all this is about especially for the dust collection.  The construction details are here, though, for the router table dust box and insert; the other article gives details on constructing the overhead dust collection arm (which is fantastic now that I've used it for a long time).

This week, I posted about the dust collection setup on my SawStop on one forum and posted about the router extension wing on another.  Both are related so I thought to combine the photos of both posts for a more cohesive (!?) description.

First, the SawStop PCS comes with a right extension wing that fits between the SawStop fence rails; it's like a torsion box with one skin on top.  I had a Woodpeckers stand-alone router table top I had been using for a long time.  To save space and double up on dust collection, I installed it in the right wing.  I have the 30" fence.

Before describing some details of how it's put together, a tour of the features.

The router extension wing has a dust box underneath it.  The SawStop comes with those legs at the extreme of the extension, which is great for the router table addition; it adds great stability.

 This is a view from in front of the router table (so, right end of the saw deck).  The door is closed with a sash lock that keeps the box pretty air tight.  There's an external on/off power switch mounted to the right (see next picture).

Router lives inside.  Since the on/off switch's power cable is snaked into the box, you have the whole power cable for the router inside so it's very easy to take it out to the top or remove.  That's as dusty as it gets.  The door is on a piano hinge so it will open all the way until it bumps the ground for great clearance.

Separately, half the bottom is on a hinge in case a future lift or router needs more clearance to get in the box.  The bottom has a simple sliding latch underneath so it only opens when you need it open.

Getting back to the dust collection, look at the front of the dust box.  There are 2 dust ports.  The port on the right leads to the router dust box.   The port is a little below the level of the bottom so the dust and chips can easily slide into the port (the white edge inside the router port in the next picture is the bottom of the box, for reference).  When not in use, I tuck the power cable for the router in this port for storage.

The port on the left connects through to the back of the box where connections to the saw are made that will be explained later.  I preferred this setup to a complicated blast gate that would switch between the two.

Now let's look at the back of the saw for the rest of the dust ports.  You can see a  flex line going to the back of the saw as well as a longer hose going to the blade guard dust collector.

In this closeup of the back of the router dust box, you see the other side of the "through" connection for the table saw near the bottom.  To this port, a tee-connection taps off the green hose to handle the blade guard dust port.  The hose in my hand opens to the inside of the router dust box and is connected to the back of the router fence.  It's a quick-connect to the box, too, but I just leave it tucked away.

Normally the back of the saw doesn't look so "hosey".  The main black hose to the saw cabinet it typically tucked up near it, the router fence hose tucked underneath the table, and the excess green hose under the dust box, but I wanted it to be clear.

Further you'll notice in the previous picture that the hose off the guard comes straight off.  This is a problem as your stock will catch it.  When I use it, I set the fence then drape it over the end of the fence.  A better solution I plan to try very soon is to attach a suction hose holder to the end of the fence; the block of oak at the end of the fence will receive a hole for the holder which should keep the hose high above the table and allow the hose to glide through it during fence adjustments.  It will be an experiment.  Barring that, I'll just put a long 3/4" oak dowel sticking straight up so I can more easily hook the hose to it.

Now, some details on how it's built.

A frame with cross members bolted between the fence rails replaces the SawStop extension wing.  The cross members define the size of the dust box as it is screwed into them. This picture is of the underside.

My router table top was purchased long before I had a saw. It was for a stand-alone table and was much wider than the extension.  I cut the two rounded ends off so it would fit between the rails (perhaps 1.5" total).  If you are looking at commercial router table tops, make sure it is deep enough for the area, but if it is a hair too wide, you can easily cut it to side.  If you cut it to size with the SawStop, make sure you override the brake or you'll score a 'save' when it hits the aluminum miter track!  No, I didn't do that; I used a TS-75 :)

You can see the top has 2 connector bolts through it.  Those attach the top to the frame (previous picture shows the connector near the fence rail).  The advantage of these bolts is that they facilitate shimming the table top higher than the frame to make the routing surface coplanar with the rest of the saw deck.

Now that you've seen the frame, you can see how easy it would be to screw something else into it from below... so I made a set of 2 shelves that descend from the frame.  This is useful for fence clamps, DC tools, hex driver for the Incra miter gauge, dado brake cartridge, dado ZCI (in slot behind shelves against dust box), and a hanger for the magnetic feather board.  Those were the things that used to pile up on the router table surface that I'd have to move when routing or needing a wide fence setting.  Uhg, this is better.

Yes, sorry, I paint shop stuff. :)