sys 50 tablesaw dust everywhere

B

BrianF

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Joined
Dec 29, 2022
Messages
7
Hi
Working alone at 69 years old these days. No help to carry tools, clean up, and all that. l have lots of Makita tools but went to the green side for portability and dust collection over the last 10 years.

I get a call from my kitchen guy and one of his contractors bailed on a kitchen job and I was called in to finish up. Had to install about 30 feet of molding on top of 7 sections of upper cabinets. Had to make my cuts in the kitchen and promised everyone "it's festool so no dust". I also discovered I don't need my miter saw on small jobs anymore with the sliding table on the sys 50. After a few cuts on this kitchen job I noticed sawdust everywhere. Was using the bag as always and it was bad this time. I attached the vacuum and it was still throwing sawdust.

I remove one battery, slide the table, removed the access panel with the allen wrench and twisted the green tab to unlock the lower blade guard. Folded the guard down and it was full of wood slivers.
They were interfering with the airflow through the dust chute and blowing dust everywhere. should have seen me trying to line up a cut with the saw running and me with my face in a shower of dust, reminds me of the old days.

I'm mentioning this because this saw is different from other saws I have used. I cleaned out the lower guard and put it all back and no dust. Yea! As I was switching from ripping, crosscutting, and mitering, I noticed a sliver get sucked into the throat plate and dust flying out of the saw after the sliver went down. Cleaned it out again and no dust. So I'm not sure how to avoid slivers getting stuck but at least I know what to do when the saw starts to throw sawdust.
 
I don't think the dust extraction on the SYS 50 is as optimal as it could be, but it's pretty good. I do a lot of small piece machining so I'm acutely aware of the sliver issue, but as you note you just need to be aware of the way you machine timber to avoid slivers going down, and maybe do the cuts in a different order to avoid slivers where possible.
 
Is a zero clearance insert practical on this saw? That would keep all but the tiniest slivers from passing through to the dust chute.

Assuming these slivers are off-cuts…If a second vac is available it can be used to pull off-cuts away from the insert.

Sometimes the off-cut is the keeper and when that piece is very small (and I haven’t bothered to make a zero clearance insert) I place the end of a vac hose near the front offside of the blade to catch the off-cut. A piece of aluminum window screen keeps the small piece from getting sucked into the hose.
 
Michael Kellough said:
Is a zero clearance insert practical on this saw? That would keep all but the tiniest slivers from passing through to the dust chute.

Assuming these slivers are off-cuts…If a second vac is available it can be used to pull off-cuts away from the insert.

Sometimes the off-cut is the keeper and when that piece is very small (and I haven’t bothered to make a zero clearance insert) I place the end of a vac hose near the front offside of the blade to catch the off-cut. A piece of aluminum window screen keeps the small piece from getting sucked into the hose.
Click to expand...
A ZCI is definitely doable and would work well, I planned to model one ages ago but just never got around to it, I was hoping in the meantime someone else wasn't as lazy as me! ;-)
 
I put a zero clearance insert on my Delta table saw, and it significantly reduced the effectiveness of the dust collection. I have a large capacity Grizzly unit.

I remove the zero clearance insert whenever feasible.
 
Packard said:
I put a zero clearance insert on my Delta table saw, and it significantly reduced the effectiveness of the dust collection. I have a large capacity Grizzly unit.

I remove the zero clearance insert whenever feasible.
Click to expand...
Try to find a strategic location to make an opening for make-up air, ideally directly in front of the blade. If that isn’t feasible you could make a duct with plastic pie to bring air in from wherever to pass by the blade and push debris down towards the dust chute.
 
Thanks for all the responses.

Thought about a 0 clearance insert and wondered about cutting 90 deg then pressing the button to change blade angle to 45 deg. Blade would jamb moving sideways unless insert was wider and that would defeat the 0 clearance idea. Could lower blade, change the blade angle and rise it up through the insert at 45 deg. To time consuming and time is money right.

Discovering and using this saw as a miter saw is new to me, and yes, I have to adjust. For example I was cutting 8 foot hardwood moldings. Could cut 5 feet comfortably with out support. I would rough cut mitered moldings a little long, put that molding in place and mark it for size, back to saw and cut a little proud of mark and test fit. At this point I shave the stock on the saw just a little more to get a perfect fit. This is where the slivers get sucked in. So I will have to figure out my cuts so no more slivers. I have to change my order of operations and figure out how to make the final mitered cut. Maybe just cut the edge of the wood when test fitting until finding the right mark and then cut on that final mark and the waste piece would be thicker and not go down the chute.

Im sure I will figure it out. Let's keep sharing ideas and complaints. I love this saw and am making it work for me. I already picked up an extra set of batteries dedicated to just the sys 50 saw. I swap both batteries when one shows red and I'm back in action in seconds. I have extra batteries for other tools too, but having a dedicated set takes the downtime away.
 
Michael Kellough said:
Try to find a strategic location to make an opening for make-up air, ideally directly in front of the blade. If that isn’t feasible you could make a duct with plastic pie to bring air in from wherever to pass by the blade and push debris down towards the dust chute.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that information. I only use the zero clearance for plywood. I have good, sharp blades and not much required for solid stock.
 
onocoffee said:
Would a larger diameter hose, like the D36 or D50, help with reducing this issue? Presuming that the SYS50 can accept those.
Click to expand...
The hose nozzle fits inside the dust extraction tube, so you can use the D27/D36 hoses. I can't recall for sure if it had enough clearance around the tube for a D50, but from memory it didn't.
 
luvmytoolz said:
The hose nozzle fits inside the dust extraction tube, so you can use the D27/D36 hoses. I can't recall for sure if it had enough clearance around the tube for a D50, but from memory it didn't.
Click to expand...
The hose size is something that I don’t understand.

My whole shop dust collection system uses 4” diameter hose, as do most systems. Why is the smaller diameter hose on Festool vacs acceptable?
 
Packard said:
The hose size is something that I don’t understand.

My whole shop dust collection system uses 4” diameter hose, as do most systems. Why is the smaller diameter hose on Festool vacs acceptable?
Click to expand...
Because they're all meant to be used on portable dust extractors. And 4" really is overkill on stuff that effectively produces a very small quantity of waste compared to larger stationery woodwork equipment.

The only Festool product that produces a significant amount of waste is the planer, but even then it's usually used in very short bursts.
 
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