Dust collection for sliding miter saw

[Jamie Straw]

However much I love my 12" Makita slider, I'm flummoxed by how to build a decent dust collector accessory for it. The saw has fully extending rails, not a knuckle complex, as some newer saws have. Besides, miter saws in general are hard to collect from. What have y'all done for sliders?

 

[Kevin Jenness]

My saw is fixed on a long bench. I made a wooden shroud surrounding the saw with a front plate fitted as close as possible to the sliding head in all angle setups. The central dust collector is connected to the bottom deck of the shroud with a 5" duct. Works reasonably well.

 

[Dean Center]

The one used at our local senior center woodshop has a canvas/fabric tent-like shroud behind it. It's not a small half circle deal, but a large cuboid enclosure. I thought it came from the saw manufacturer. There is a corrugated hose attached somewhere in the bottom that is hooked to the whole shop dust collection system. It's hard to move enough air to collect all the dust, but this does a pretty darn good job.

Something like this:

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

I built a large scoop in back with a box underneath all plus the saw has a top dust collection hose. DC is attached to the box underneath. This is an old pic and the box has been enlarged to about 5 times the size of this one. In the new one I used a corrugated plastic for the box.

 

[Joel Daniels]

I built a box around my miter saw. I'm going to have to modify the front faces because I neglected to consider miter cuts other than straight 90° cuts. But, it works really well. I added a small hose to the dust collector port on the saw and fed it about 6" into the 6" dust collection duct. Very little sawdust remains now.

 

[Mark Jundanian]

Years ago I bought one of these for my Makita.

Model 5000 Rousseau 5000 Dust Solution for Miter Saws | Rousseau Co.

I connected it to the DC with 4" hose, but as mentioned, it's hard to move a lot of air.

It does collect much of the dust, but it's by no means perfect. You might be able to build something better, but if you want an out of the box solution there's this.

 

[Tom Rice]

I have a newer makita 12” and a identical 10” in my bench, this adapter from etsy made a huge difference connected to a bigger shop vac under the bench.
Have it plugged into a tool switch so it goes on and off automatically, not perfect but overall very affective, using a big rigid shop vac with the 2-1/2” hose or a similar craftsman with this adapter is far better than either of my makita or festool dust extractors plugged into the saw, one of my Japanese carpenter buddies turned me on to these.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/1177819942/makita-miter-saw-vacuum-adapter?ls=r&ref=internal_similar_listing_bot-1&content_source=f7074db6dc36b6fcee649e5a9480d8af%253ALTbc13212f21eb50f3ceef0599403c5de1c70f3088&logging_key=f7074db6dc36b6fcee649e5a9480d8af%3ALTbc13212f21eb50f3ceef0599403c5de1c70f3088&listing_id=1177819942&listing_slug=makita-miter-saw-vacuum-adapter

 

[Tony Trigg]

Built a metal sides and back which are removable to allow for mitre/angled cuts.
The easiest and simplest thing that I found made a difference to my Makita was adding a rubber flap around the extract port at the back of the blade, takes a bit of faffing getting the shape right so it still slides but well worth it.
I'll grab some photos next time.

 

[robo hippy]

I built some thing similar to the dust hood I use for bowl sanding. You can buy sheets, up to 10 by 6, of the white plastic. I used a metal floor vent in the back, mounted vertically, and made a half round drum to cover the saw through the full rotation and slide. Just a vacuum on the dust port most of them have gets maybe 75% of the dust. I run a 4 inch hose to it. When I remember to turn on the dust collector, this does get it all, well, it at least contains it, but there are still fines left in the bottom of the hood. I did find that the 1/4 inch white plastic is a bit stiff to bend, but thinner pieces would bend better.

robo hippy

 

[Rob Gabel]

Check out Shop Nation. https://shopnationstore.com/collections/all-products
He makes attachments to improve dust collection for numerous miter saws.

 

[Tony Trigg]

See attached photos as they maybe useful.
Before I built the surround the rubber shroud made a big difference as did enlarging the extract hose.
The surround was bent from some old cabinet shelving and clips onto a wooden upstand, sides are held together with magnets.
It's all a bit cobbled together but anything is better than the woeful manufacturers standard.
Hope that helps.

 

[Jamie Straw]

Thanks everyone for pitching in on this question! I saw two or three examples that might well work. There's not very much room, since the wall is behind the saw and the table saw at my back when using the saw, but one of the adapters probably would help. If I make a surround or hood, it needs accordian sides/top so the saw can be pushed back against the wall.