Post by paulshiroma on Sept 29, 2012 19:40:38 GMT -5
Back in March, I was checking out the saw hood that Covington offers and figured that I could make one for a lot less than the $99 they wanted for their plexiglas hood. Admittedly, theirs is custom fit for their saw. LarryS bought one and it's pretty slick. However, I didn't really have $99 plus shipping hanging around. So, I measured the saw table and figured that I can probably find a suitable Rubbermaid container that I can mod.
Found one over at Home Depot that fit within an inch of the table dimensions and had sufficient height for the blade. To make up for the slightly larger container, I used some aluminum roof edging material that I had laying around to provide an extended lip as well as an additional fence to keep the oil from dripping off the left-hand side of the table (latter idea courtesy of LarryS). Covington removed the wall along the left hand side of the table top and put a drain channel there to guide the coolant back into the reservoir but, inevitably, oil creeps and drips down the side. I remember asking the Covington folks about this and they had a reason for removing the left-hand wall but I don't recall what it was.
Since I wanted the hood to be completely enclosed, I rigged a pulley to the ceiling so that I could hook up a three pound fishing weight to pull the vice along vs using my hands to push it along. My saw sits on my workbench so I can't just hang the weight down the back. Bit of a drawback to my work layout but the pulley works fine.
So, after a bit of fiddling with the edging materials and securing it to the container and the saw table edge, I now have a fully enclosed hood for the saw. Helps a bit with the noise and keeps the oil mist well contained.Back when I was involved in the aquarium hobby, one forum I was part of used to call mods like this "ghetto mods". Probably not very polite or politically correct but hell if it didn't save me a lot of money! EDIT: Per Lee's comment below, I'll change this line. This was a more "elegant" solution than outlaying $99 for a plexiglass hood. (LOL, thanks, Lee!) I think the total outlay came to $20 and most of that was spent on the container. The rest of the stuff, I had lying around being "saved because I might need it". Glad I did!
Completed hood:
Extended edge and fence for the table top to support the Rubbermaid container:
The container I used had those latches to secure the cover. This worked well as I could then use the latch to grab the lip and help secure the hood.
Here's the pulley setup:
Out the back:
Up and over the pulley:
A bit hokey perhaps but I'll take a $20 mod vs. a $99 plexiglass hood any day. Thanks for checking out the thread.
Paul
Found one over at Home Depot that fit within an inch of the table dimensions and had sufficient height for the blade. To make up for the slightly larger container, I used some aluminum roof edging material that I had laying around to provide an extended lip as well as an additional fence to keep the oil from dripping off the left-hand side of the table (latter idea courtesy of LarryS). Covington removed the wall along the left hand side of the table top and put a drain channel there to guide the coolant back into the reservoir but, inevitably, oil creeps and drips down the side. I remember asking the Covington folks about this and they had a reason for removing the left-hand wall but I don't recall what it was.
Since I wanted the hood to be completely enclosed, I rigged a pulley to the ceiling so that I could hook up a three pound fishing weight to pull the vice along vs using my hands to push it along. My saw sits on my workbench so I can't just hang the weight down the back. Bit of a drawback to my work layout but the pulley works fine.
So, after a bit of fiddling with the edging materials and securing it to the container and the saw table edge, I now have a fully enclosed hood for the saw. Helps a bit with the noise and keeps the oil mist well contained.
Completed hood:
Extended edge and fence for the table top to support the Rubbermaid container:
The container I used had those latches to secure the cover. This worked well as I could then use the latch to grab the lip and help secure the hood.
Here's the pulley setup:
Out the back:
Up and over the pulley:
A bit hokey perhaps but I'll take a $20 mod vs. a $99 plexiglass hood any day. Thanks for checking out the thread.
Paul