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My 1993 PM66 sits on a mobile base, which covers much of the dust port at the bottom of the saw's base. I don't care about keeping this thing in "original" shape; I have already repainted it black and adapted it to fit a Delta rail/Unifence I had on hand.
I'd like to cut a hole higher up for a 4" port AND install a baffle directly under it that will catch the dust and direct it to the port. I know something similar has been done before but I cannot find anything on line to support it; my Google-fu must not be good today. I'd appreciate some help if I can get it.
How high up should I put the port, or does it matter as long as it's low enough to allow for a sloped baffle to fit under the works inside?
Baffle shape: Should it be a flat plane that just slopes front to back or should I install something with a V shape to it?
Attaching the baffle to the base: I'm thinking I would attach cleats to support the baffle with rare earth magnets epoxied into holes in the cleats.
While I'm at it, I plan on covering any leaking places I can find with duct tape or thick paper board (say, for the tilt slot).
Any advice or pics to be had?
Semper fi,
Brad
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the later PM66's did have a port in the right place and a baffle. I have thought about making the improvements suggested in a Fine WWing article, but Powermatic seems to have done most of them on the later saws. l'll go look for the magazine, it has been floating around in my shop for quite a while.
I still haven't figured out what they intended you to hook up to the dc port though, I have gone through a number of attempts to solve that issue and still don't have a particularly satisfactory solution.
On edit: I forgot I am using a 4" plumbing repair fitting to hold on a piece of duct.
The FWW is issue 205. The applicable part is a sidebar on an article about how to dust proof a cheap contractors saw. It's still fairly interesting. I think adding a floor is a very good first step. Just move the port up until it clears the base. If you get a port with a big flange, then you can probably cover the hole for the old port. The other things were to cut slots in the motor cover to direct air over the motor and trunnion, and everything other than that was to plug up holes that you didn't need. He did add a movable cover for the tilt handle. My saw is relatively clean, and I haven't done any of those things. I might consider slotting the motor cover
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Just a comment on covering the other openings. Good DC requires air flow, so you have to have enough air coming into the cabinet to move the dust to the collector. If you block openings to control the air flow (get it to flow in a different pattern) that's a good thing. But if you just close things up you can decrease how much air the DC will pull through the cabinet. So before closing anything up, I'd do the connection and then run it a while and see what happens. Another thing a lot of folks look for is a squeaky clean cabinet, and that's possible with a lot of air flow (6" connection, big DC, etc.). But the truth is that if you see some dust in the bottom, it's no big deal. It will build to a certain height and then stop growing as long as the DC is always on.
I started with absolutely nothing. Now, thanks to years of hard work, careful planning, and perseverance, I find I still have most of it left.
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fredhargis said:
Another thing a lot of folks look for is a squeaky clean cabinet, and that's possible with a lot of air flow (6" connection, big DC, etc.). But the truth is that if you see some dust in the bottom, it's no big deal. It will build to a certain height and then stop growing as long as the DC is always on.
That's been my philosophy; I let it build up in the bottom to whatever pattern it prefers, and that's as far as it gets. The dust pile makes its own 'chute' of sorts. The goal, for me at least, is to minimize the dust that gets into the air I breathe, but I don't care about how dirty the inside of the cabinet is.
Tom
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TDKPE said:
[blockquote]fredhargis said:
Another thing a lot of folks look for is a squeaky clean cabinet, and that's possible with a lot of air flow (6" connection, big DC, etc.). But the truth is that if you see some dust in the bottom, it's no big deal. It will build to a certain height and then stop growing as long as the DC is always on.
That's been my philosophy; I let it build up in the bottom to whatever pattern it prefers, and that's as far as it gets. The dust pile makes its own 'chute' of sorts. The goal, for me at least, is to minimize the dust that gets into the air I breathe, but I don't care about how dirty the inside of the cabinet is.
[/blockquote] +1. I'll clean it all out every couple years and start over.
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my recent projects have been pretty small, so I haven't even had DC hooked up to the saw. I should probably check to see how big the dust pile has gotten
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TDKPE said:
[blockquote]fredhargis said:
Another thing a lot of folks look for is a squeaky clean cabinet, and that's possible with a lot of air flow (6" connection, big DC, etc.). But the truth is that if you see some dust in the bottom, it's no big deal. It will build to a certain height and then stop growing as long as the DC is always on.
That's been my philosophy; I let it build up in the bottom to whatever pattern it prefers, and that's as far as it gets. The dust pile makes its own 'chute' of sorts. The goal, for me at least, is to minimize the dust that gets into the air I breathe, but I don't care about how dirty the inside of the cabinet is.
[/blockquote] This is one of my goals. The other is to not need to sweep the floor every time I move my TS. If it were stationary, it wouldn't matter. I don't care about keeping the saw clean.
Semper fi,
Brad
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The biggest improvement I made to the base of my PM66 was to cut a 5" hole in the base and to bolt a 5" port to it. Huge improvement, maybe double the CFM.
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If you could find an original HTC base for that saw the square tubing on the back of the base side extends away from the saw base enough to fit a 4" fitting directly to the saw. I have a 1/4" plywood bottom floor and the saw sits on that. With a 4" elbow to the dust collector1 1/2hp . Its still not perfect and still builds some dust but the intake hole stays open and it forms its own sort of chute more cfm would likely take care of most of it though.
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I keep thinking about putting a larger port on mine, but the saw still looks new, so I can't make myself do it.
If the OP's saw doesnt' have a floor, that's a no-brainer, put a floor in it. I like the idea of cutting holes or slots in the motor cover to allow air in that way. Otherwise, it probably isn't going to make a differentce.
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