The Four Things Everybody Should Know About Miter Saw Dust Collection!

if we take this average size piece of

pine trim and you make a 100 repetitive

cuts on this DeWalt miter saw the

factory dust bag is going to collect 70

G of sawdust if we have a look at the

surrounding air quality in this garage

it can only be described as terrible

it’s really bad if we look at the

American air quality index and we have a

look at those tiny dust particles that

are going to be bad for your lungs the

pm2.5 if we check out this air quality

meter that I have set up at breathing

height after the 100 Cuts we are at

levels of 302 microgram per liter of air

that is not going to be a smart strategy

for cutting in your garage not only that

you’re going to have a fine layer of

dust on everything that you

own you go ahead and you connect a cheap

5 horsepower rigid vacuum to the back of

the saw you make that same 100 Cuts

you’re going to be collecting 126 G of

sawdust 80% more than the dust bag and

the air quality after that 100 Cuts is

going to be 10 times better you’re going

to be topping out at 31 microG per liter

of air and now the cheapest easiest way

to get better from here is to improve

this dust boot at the back now there’s

all kinds of fancy ideas and things you

can buy online and some really clever

concepts for me I just took off this old

dust boot took a $4 roll of black duct

tape extended the sides and the Bottom

by about 2 in reattached the boot

trimmed it to fit so it’s not going to

get caught on anything you make that

same 100 Cuts with the extended boot

you’re going to collect 146 G of sawdust

and the air quality is going to be 29%

better you’re going to top out with a PM

2.5 of

[Music]

24 so it’s been a bit a month since I

recorded the first part of the video I

tore my achilles playing basketball with

my son so bear with me I’m going to be

sitting on a stool for the rest of the

video this is the most important one of

all the things I’m going to cover a

couple ways that you can absolutely

derail your miter saw dust collection

system and it can really be bad for your

health so pay attention the first thing

here is just the connection at the back

of the saw I don’t know why but almost

every vacuum hose in the entire world is

not going to fit on the back of your saw

you’re going to have to doctor things

where you can go wrong is by finding one

of these small connections these smaller

hoses this is a fesol hose these connect

up to Sanders and all kinds of things

and they actually fit beautifully into

the back here which is great but what

ends up Happening Here If you make that

connection and you cut off the air flow

by reducing the size as opposed to

figuring out a combination of things

using tape to make a nice snug

connection over the outside you’re going

to drastically cut down the wind speed

that you’re going to generate here at

the saw and the air quality is going to

suffer dramatically now if we look at

the 100 cut test with the small hose and

the internal connection after that 100

Cuts we’re going to get to the unhealthy

level where the small particulate

reaches 6 1 if we use the same vacuum

but we use the bigger hose that slips

over the top of the back flange that’s

going to be into the moderate territory

of 24 microgr per liter of air it’s

going to be almost 2 and 1/2 times

better than the small connection and the

second thing here is just a really

simple when you buy a shopvac it’s going

to come with a cheap white filter if you

hook that shop vac up with just the

white filter and you hook it up to your

saw that small particulate goes in the

vacuum and just shoots right out the

back because this is not going to filter

it out you got to get this is a little

Dusty you got to get yourself a better

filter the blue filters are going to do

an excellent job for any kind of sawdust

and that PM 2.5 particle you can go up

to the green HEPA filters which are

going to do an even better job or the

other thing that you can do is just use

that white filter but combine it with a

vacuum bag and you’re going to get just

as good of filtration if not better

because the vacuum bag is going to kind

of extend

the suck power of your vacuum as it

fills up completely with sawdust if

you’re getting vacuum bags or you need a

new filter definitely check out Amazon

I’ll put all the links in the

description you can get the vacuum bags

for about $2 to $3 depending on your

quantities if you buy the same bags at

the Home Depot you’re going to pay $10

plus this is the final thing it’s the

most exciting thing if you like Power

Tools you’re going to love this I wanted

to figure out what would happen if you

went out and you bought the most

powerful but still cheap vacuum out

there on the market I’m not going to

spend thousands of dollars but what I

did I needed another vacuum I went out

and I got this rigid vacuum which is the

most powerful vacuum that they make it’s

a 6.5 horsepower it’s going to collect

153 G of sawdust after the 100 cuts the

air quality the PM 2.5 is topping out at

9 and that is right in the green healthy

zone you’re not going to need to wear a

desk mask with that I also checked it

just to make sure with a chunk of medite

around the same size did the 100 cuts

and with the notoriously Dusty medite it

too topped out at nine extra horsepower

in this vacuum is is pretty well worth

it and I would highly recommend it with

your miter saw if you’re wondering about

one of these dust deputies which is an

amazing Cyclone separator I wouldn’t

recommend it with the miter saw I use

this with my table saw just because it

generates so much more dust than in the

miter saw but what ends up happening

with this if you put it into the system

you’re going to lose a lot of wind speed

at that dust collection point with this

big unit here hooked up to the saw

you’re going to get a wind speed of 1437

ft per second you put this in the system

and you lose quite a bit you’re down to

1050 what that really means in terms of

dust collection is you’re back down to

kind of just below what this five

horsepower vacuum can do so you’re not

going to get that air quality benefit so

for your miter saw I would recommend

increasing the dust boot the best that

you can make sure your connection is

over top the back and then get the most

powerful vacuum that you can afford in

your budget I would use it with a vacuum

bag it’s going to make the cleanup a lot

easier and if you’ve got a miter saw and

you want a couple other handy tips go

ahead and check out this video right

over here I’m trying to sound smarter

than I actually

am I’m m

breath I’ve been sitting on the couch

for about a month now I think that was

probably about as good as this old

crippled man’s gonna do