Anyone still use a radial arm saw and have made a dust collector for it?

[greybeard]

If you have never used a radial arm saw, I can tell you they are prodigious sawdust makers.
I have an older Craftsman RAS and need to make a dust collector box for it, using a shop vac to pull sawdust down. Seen the home built dust collector videos but mine has a vee shaped metal base instead of a square one and there just isn't much room back there or under there for a collector box because of a cross member's position.

It also , like all Craftsman RAS came with a crappy thumbscrew arraignment to keep the fence pushed up against the saw table.

None of these are mine but mine is very similar to the one at the top with the triangle shaped steel base. Any suggestions how to proceed with a dust collector box?

 

[sstterry]

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AJVXUCK/

 

[greybeard]

Thanks Terry but way too big. And, the collector box has to be above the table and behind the table fence, which is where the blade throws almost all the cuttings.. Meaning it can be wide but pretty shallow.

 

[sstterry]

This is for dovetails, but it is low profile.

https://www.rockler.com/rockler-dust-collector-for-rockler-dovetail-jigs

Have you thought about just using a standard shopvac wide floor attachment and affixing it to the table?
I may be totally missing the point of what you are looking for here.

 

[greybeard]

something along this line, but
1. I don't have as much room behind the fence line as he has.
2. I use my saw for ripping and angle/bevel cutting, dado, and slitting as well as just crosscuts so what he did may not work too well for me. May try planing with it this year too.



If you've never used a ras, the power head tilts, slides, swivels and angles. It can get scary on some cuts and you want to ALWAYS know where your fingers are. Extremely versatile but equally extremely unforgiving.

 

[TexasRancher]

I had hours and hours of fun in the saw dust piles as a kid around the radial saw...mixing with wood glue and making large wooden balls, figurine animals and furniture. The saw dust automatically disappeared with us kids....dad was happy for that...not so much the glue though.