My bandsaw is a Rikon 10-305. Its a 10″ benchtop saw that overall works pretty well. There’s one thing that I absolutely do not like about it though. That is the dust collection. I typically run the saw with a shop vac connected to the built in rear dust port. This really does nothing to collect the dust. I’m not sure if the problem is in the placement of the dust port, or maybe my shop vac isn’t powerful enough to create the suction necessary to catch the dust. Either way, the dust flies everywhere when I’m using the saw. If I happen to be making a quick cut this isn’t really a big issue, but when I’m resawing a board, or cutting out a guitar body, the dust quickly pile up. I think I can come up with something that might work better.

I started out by taking a few measurements of the under side of the saws cast iron table. Then I spent some time in Fusion 360 sketching out some parts that I thought would work. After making some test prints and adjusting my 3D model several times, I finally have a piece to test out so I printed out the parts using some PLA filament. After the parts were printed, I used some CA glue (super glue) from Starbond to glue them together. I like Starbond products I recommend them if you’re looking for some great glue. If you’d like to try some Starbond glues, click the link below.

With the dust port glued together, all thats left to do is try it out. I installed the port and connected the vacuum. I tested it first using just the new port. I saw a little improvement, but still had some dust building up around the saw, so I decided to try using both this new port as well as the built in port on the back of the saw. This seemed to make a big improvement. I saw much better dust collection and eliminated the buildup around the base of the saw.

As I continue to use this dust port, I’m going to try to make some refinements to the design and see if I can further improve the dust collection. I may try some refinements to the zero clearance insert as well to see if I can close up some gaps and create better airflow. We’ll see how it all works out.

I hope this gives you some ideas if you’re trying to improve your bandsaws dust collection. I think its another great use for 3D printing in the workshop. Its really nice to be able to design and create useful parts on the 3D Printer. Check out the build video below. Thanks for stopping by.

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