Vintage Delta Disc Sander - Dust Collection Port Prototype

[T.J.]

It's been years since I posted regularly here. I'd like to catch up with everyone.

My Delta 82-710 Disc sander is my worst offender when it comes to fine dust. If I don't remember or am foolish enough to forego my respirator for even a short session in front of this thing, it'll send me into an allergy tailspin and put me out of commission for the rest of the day.

So, I've been meaning to get some dust collection going on it. But the original accessory dust port seems to be tough to find and is likely more money than I'd like to pay at the moment. With that in mind, I set about making one of my own.

First, as you can see, the cavity where the dust is intended to be collected is pretty quirky. So, I had to take the machine at least half apart to get access to that area adequately for measurement or a quick tracing of the shape. Of course, the tapped holes to either side of the opening are standard threads so I was able to pop in some all-thread and nuts I already had on hand.


Once I managed that, I cut it from some 3/4" plywood and drilled holes for dust and mounting bolts.


I did some forstner work on the drill press and cleaned that up with a big rasp.


Then, I used a 2-1/2" hole saw (which I oddly had on hand) and made a shape out of a 2x4 scrap to fit a piece of dust collection pipe.


A liberal application of silicone sealed the little gaps. 


A view of the inside:


After the silicone dried, I was able to mount 'er up and give it a test drive. I couldn't wait to get home from work tonight and do just that.


It works beautifully. I was thrilled to hear the healthy whooshing sound coming from the underside of the disk as I turned on the dust collector upstream.
I have a different idea already, but this will do the job for me until I try the next prototype.

I hope this helps someone else who might need an idea!

[Bob10]

Looks good but for those of us lazier than you could you please scan the outline of the ply cut out?

[karoc]

Welcome back,like your ideal.As you know those sanders product some very fine dust(doing their job) so your ideal I may have to borrow to do the same thing to my PM sander.Thanks for posting----

[Alan in little Washington]

I have an old Delta 31-730 combo Sanding Machine but the disc portion had the same port.  I fabricated a fitting similar to yours but it connects to one branch of a wye fitting inside the cabinet.  A section of flex connects to the other branch of the wye then exits the intermediate cabinet (at an existing knockout just visible in the first photo) and attaches to the dust port at the bottom of the belt.  The bottom of the wye is ducted to a fitting I added to bottom of the back of the cabinet where a short section of flex connects it to a DC port in the wall.

The sander was in pretty bad shape before I got it.  I rehabbed and repainted it and added an integral mobile base (since adapted by Grizzly and others) using a step caster from Rockler.  I added the dust ports later.



This photo shows the flex connected to the belt dust port.  I used flex so the belt section could still be positioned horizontally (as designed).

[JeffThompson]

Old thread, but I came here looking for info on this! I made a 3D-printable adapter in case anyone needs one: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5158996