I went to use the table saw today, and sawdust was coming out from around the insert. I lifted it up, and it was pretty clear that the dust collection was not working. When the interior is loaded up like that, two things. Clean it up, and look for a problem.
Maybe an offcut is blocking the dust collection port.
In this case, the dust collection hose had fallen off, so a few days of sawdust had filled the inside. This is not good for the saw. It also demonstrates that we need to be better about cleaning up the saw and looking out for it. Think about that saw being offline for a week.
If you’re on the table saw for a while, once you’re done, pull the insert and vacuum it out. It’s bad enough when people don’t sweep the top, but the saw really needs deeper cleaning on a regular basis. Other clues are sawdust building up around the metal detector, out the rear bottom junction box.
If you notice that it’s as bad as shown here, and you don’t know what to do, or don’t feel comfortable taking action, post it in Discourse or scan any red QR coffee to report the problem. Unreported problems don’t get better on their own, and they can definitely get worse if ignored.
@dannym Changing settings on the IVac controllers is not something we want members doing. The controls get left in oncorrect settings when multiple people mess with them.
Is not two days of dust, probably just one. Yesterday I was using the saw and got to eat some mahogany and holly dust because the chute for the dust collection was clogged. It did have a lot of off-cuts in the hose. I did clear all those along with all the packed dust but the suction did not seem right. I was in a bad mood and eating mahogany dust did not help, so I did not look too much into it and did not check the cabinet for dust (sorry Charlie) However, the hose was connected when i did all that. So for penance I will hug “Le Machine” next time, is that enough love?
@dannym and @jamesfreeman, I deleted the message that gave info and instructions on how to override the sensor since it is not something we want members to be doing. @dannym that’s the kind of thing stewards can discuss and debate on Slack which is a private space for volunteer’s to talk about how we do things. It should not be posted here on the forum which is completely open to all of the internet, unless it was first discussed with stewards and leaders in Slack and approved as a suggestion to general membership.
The point here is not how many days, or who did it, or how to clean it up. The point is that the evidence of a problem has been there. We need to check things out when we see evidence of a problem.
If you can’t address it yourself, just let someone know. Ignoring little problems begets big problems.
