FastCap ChopShop dust hood.

[Brice Burrell]

Since we were getting off topic in the Kapex thread I wanted to start this thread on the ChopShop dust hood. I'll post pictures and my thoughts on this product in the morning. Anyone else feel free post pics and offer your opinions here too.

 

[nickao]

Quote from: ericbuggeln on Today at 08:31 PM

Brice, looking forward to it.  I have to come hold your opinion highly.  What were your thoughts if any on the Rousseau Downdrafter or homemade systems with vac set up as opposed to the trough looking setup of chop shop?  Maybe throw that in as a comparison? Thanks in advance.  You're the man.

Hi;

I have had the downdrafter. The version that attached to the back of a stand and moved in a metal channel was first. junk.

The downdrafter on its own legs much better, but still not worth the cost.

I now have the fast cap - I think it is the best of these products.

Why

Rousseau 4550 Down Drafter - Downdrafter

1) The downdrafter is to narrow to collect the dust effectively.

2) A lot depends on the collector. I only got good results from my Grizzly  3HP cyclone. There is a 4" outlet you need it. A 2" is not enough for this to work.

3) Really hard to store and bring the hard shell with you.

4) Does not work very well with sliders at all.

5) Every miter box works differently with it. I needed to add cardboard on the edges and cut out a chunk of the bottom of the downdrafter to get it to allow the miter box free movement. This made the collecting worse.

6) You have to move the down drafter everytime you change the miter setting, drives me nuts because it has to be set just exactly right for any change in angle more than 15 degrees.

FastCap Chopshop Saw Hood - ChopShop

1) Simpler to store and bring with you.

2) Really wide and really well made - Surprisingly so.

3) Works well with sliders as well as all miter boxes equally

4) Does not require a dust collector at all, but if used even a shop vac works to help.

5) Never have to move it for any miter setting at all

6) Not perfect but I have used nothing as good to date. The Chopshop is more to prevent a massive mess then collecting every little bit of dust, but with a vac I think I can improve it dramatically.

I am still working on attaching this to a collector the best way. The Chop Shop unit directs the dust down into a cardboard box. Once I perfect it I will repost.

Attaching a collector does help, but 50% of the dust still goes into the box chute.  It does effectively stop dust from drifting throughout the entire site though, even with no collector. I think once I figure it out I can make the Chopshop work in combination with a collector very well.

If anyone else has figured out a method let me know I am still working on it.

nickao
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[nickao]

Quote from: ericbuggeln on Today at 09:38 PM

Nickao, thanks for the comparison, do you hook saw up to vac and whatever it doesn't get goes into the chop shop?

Yes and no. I have a vac hooked to the saw which really does nothing with my Ridgid slider.

I am trying to catch the dust at the bottom of the Chopshop by making a flat bottom with a dust port instead of the dust chute into the cardboard box like the Chopshop is set up for, but I have not completed or perfected the setup yet.

Ideas on this are welcome!

nickao

 

[Brice Burrell]

OK, here are the pictures I promised.

First pic is of the box, I keep it in the box for transport. It is a bit of a hassle to put it back in the box so it so point it will just ride in the back of the truck. It on my MFT to give you a sense of scale.
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Next pic is of the ChopShop out of the box in its folded state. It has Velcro straps to cinch down the nylon to make storing a bit easier, not cinched in this pic.
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Here is the ChopShop unfolded, it has metal framework to hold its shape.
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The frame can be folded, seen in the second pic, the metal rods have a slip fit joint with two cables inside the rods to hold the two sections to together.
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Heres the rig all together, you can see it is pretty big.
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To mount the unit I drilled two holes in the MDF of the Sawhelper stand. Two rods just slips in the drilled holes to mount the thing, pretty simple. It can be mounted in a number of different ways. I'm sure you could mount it to almost any saw/stand combo. Also not in the pic the Velcro straps used to cinch the unit closed can be attached to the stand to better hold the hood in place. And I have a bucket to collect the dust, a cardboard box may be a better choice.
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Here are a couple more pics.
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Alright, time for the good and the bad....

The good, it works well collecting almost all of the dust, some airborne dust does make its way out. It assembles/disassembles and transports easily. It doesn't interfere with the saw in any way.

The bad, its very big, you'll need a lot of space for this hood. It bigger in reality than it looks in the photos. I think it couldn't be used outside on a windy day, I don't know for sure I haven't tried it yet.

While the nylon is heavy duty (like a light weight Cordura type of nylon) the rest of the construction is a bit light weight. Long term durability isn't known yet, I could image this thing getting caught in a wind storm or a heavy piece of stock hitting it and doing some damage. I haven't used it much, so someone else can offer a better opinion about durability or general thoughts.

Overall thoughts, its a nice piece of equipment. It will work well for my needs. I won't bring it to every job, it will stay home on jobs where space is at a minimum. I cut a lot of Azek (PVC trim) every summer, since the PVC won't biodegrade I don't blast the dust in the clients yard. The ChopShop will make containing the PVC dust much easier.

My opinion of the Rousseau Downdrafter are much like Nick's. I have the Rousseau, with its own stand on wheels, with my miter saw (non slider) in my basement. Since this saw is most for cross cutting and very seldomly used for miters it works out pretty well. The Rousseau takes up much less space, but doesn't work nearly as well.

One more comparison, since the I mentioned the ChopShop in a Kapex thread I give my thoughts here too. The overall size of the miter saw and the ChopShop is much larger that of the Kapex.I haven't used the Kapex, but I'm going to guess the results are about close to the same. Maybe a slight edge to the ChopShop at the cost of a bigger foot print. The Kapex may collect a bit more of the airborne dust with the ChopShop collecting almost the dust the course dust the Kapex can't get. Keep in mind I haven't used the Kapex, if anyone has used both I'd love to hear your thoughts.

ChopShop hood retails in the US around $130 USD. 

 

[Eli]

Plus if you work really late at the job you can just sleep inside it. I think a buddy brought one of those on our last camping trip.  ;D

I haven't used one but also consider this, either system has a CT connected to it right? I've had several people say that after I vacuumed the jobsite it was cleaner than before I got there. I think a bit of heavy dust is going to escape either system. Especially if you forget to switch the hose from your Domino to your Kapex just one damn time. So you pretty much have to vacuum anyway.

 

[nickao]

Thanks for the awesome pictures Brice!

 

[Dan Clark]

Brice,

;D

Dan.

 

[ericbuggeln]

Brice, how big is that footprint?  or for people without that saw set up how much deeper does the chop shop make your miter station?  Thanks to your great pics I'm thinking it would not work well in my garage where it is normally up against a wall. 
I have Dewalt's wet tile saw(which is awesome) and I have seen pics somewhere before of it being used with that also.  I have done many bathroom remodels in 2nd floors where I have set up in an adjacent room with a tarp on the floor.  There are a lot of auxiliary splash trays which work better then most, but the hood would be a perfect compliment.  For $130.00 might be worth it even if I don't use it at home?

 

[Brice Burrell]

  Eric from the back of the saw stand its about 34", so it adds about 18 or so inches to overall depth of my setup. It would work well of a wet saw.

 

[ericbuggeln]

Brice, thanks for the intel.  Definitely looked bigger then I had thought.

 

[ericbuggeln]

Brice, have you been using the saw hood on site a lot.  I finally got mine b/c of basically the same reasons you did.  It is HUGE and I've even changed my garage setup for it.  I have been very pleased with it so far and homeowners have been quite impressed.  Are you running with dust collection or not?  I have the DW716 and it seems approximately the same with or without dust collection, so I stopped using it to save room in bags. 
I appreciate the review and it made me realize that it was too big, but I needed it anyway.  I also thought I would post a positive post up to counteract the negativity and meet the daily quota, Eric

 

[Brice Burrell]

Brice, have you been using the saw hood on site a lot.  I finally got mine b/c of basically the same reasons you did.  It is HUGE and I've even changed my garage setup for it.  I have been very pleased with it so far and homeowners have been quite impressed.  Are you running with dust collection or not?  I have the DW716 and it seems approximately the same with or without dust collection, so I stopped using it to save room in bags.   
I appreciate the review and it made me realize that it was too big, but I needed it anyway.  I also thought I would post a positive post up to counteract the negativity and meet the daily quota, Eric

  Eric, as it turns out I've used it less than I thought I would.  Throughout the spring it was too windy to use outside and one of the inside jobs there was no room for it. The few jobs it went to, it worked well, no complaints. I don't bother wit the extractor on my Makita. The way things stand now if will be getting even less use, (you'll see why in the not too distant future).

 

[ericbuggeln]

Brice, are you talking about July 1st and something that rhymes with KAPEX MANIA.  That's exactly what this site is thirsting for.  Eric

 

[Brice Burrell]

Brice, are you talking about July 1st and something that rhymes with KAPEX MANIA.  That's exactly what this site is thirsting for.  Eric

All I'll say is stay tuned.