3660 saw lots of dust coming up through top

[mike gager]

just got my 3660 running and ive noticed a lot of sawdust coming up through the blade. i hooked up the vacuum to the dust collection port and underneath the saw it works great but i get a lot hitting me in the face which really sucks. even with the blade guard in place

im 99.9% sure the blade is aligned properly. the dust seems to come up right at the start of the cut so that also leads me to believe the blade alignment is not the culprit

im my opinion it seems the dust collection port is too small and closed in for the saw dust to escape and the sawdust is simply riding along and shooting back up from the rear of the blade

anyone else have this problem? is there a simple solution?

seems like a ZCI may help some but im not sure

[Alphacowboy]

how high do you have the blade? Also, check the dust collection port. There is a little plastic piece in there that I have no idea why any brainiack thought it was a good idea to put there. It catches debris very easily. I broke mine out day one. Problem solved, no more clogging.

[Alphacowboy]

how high do you have the blade? Also, check the dust collection port. There is a little plastic piece in there that I have no idea why any brainiack thought it was a good idea to put there. It catches debris very easily. I broke mine out day one. Problem solved, no more clogging.


nevermined........ I'm an idiot, I was thinking of the portable saw... :o

[BadgerDave]

As Alphacowboy said, blade height could be part of your troubles. A zero clearance insert/throat plate will also help cut down on the amount of sawdust that makes its way to the top of your saw.

[mike gager]

i generally raise the blade to the point that the bottom of the gullet is at the top of the board, how do you guys do it?

[BadgerDave]

For me, I set the height of the blade so that bottom of a tooth at its highest point is at the top of the board.

[mike gager]

now when you say "tooth" do you mean the actual carbide cutting piece or the lowest part of the gap between each tooth (the gullet)


if you mean the carbide piece that means your blade only comes out the top of the board about 1/8". ive always understood that was not a good way to set the blade (not sure why though)

[mike gager]

here is how i set mine

http://www.rd.com/images/tfhimport/2003/20030101_Using_Tools_page002img001.jpg

[BadgerDave]

now when you say "tooth" do you mean the actual carbide cutting piece ...........


Yup, that's what I mean. I don't think that there is that much difference between the two methods where one would be that much more effective in reducing the amount of table top sawdust. Short of having an above table dust collection system I doubt if you'll be able to totally eliminate sawdust from the saws tabletop.