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How to Make a Miter Saw Dust Hood

Tired of sawdust all over your workshop or garage? Make this simple DIY miter saw dust hood and hook it up to your shop vac or dust collector to keep everything clean!

DIY miter saw dust hood

One of the biggest problems in any workshop is sawdust. The miter saw is the worst offender, creating piles of it behind my miter saw stand.

rolling miter saw stand workbench

In a previous post, I rounded up the best miter saw dust collection ideas I could find. But they were all either too expensive, too labor intensive to make, or didn't work with my sliding miter saw.

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I liked the idea of a fabric dust hood, which is lightweight, flexible and captures any dust that shoots out the back of the saw. But ones like this are way out of my budget!

Rousseau 5000 miter saw dust hood

But that shape reminded me of something else . . . a baby tent! You've probably seen one in use at the beach or park. It protects your baby from the sun and prevents them from doing baby-like things such as eating grass or sand.

I settled on this simple, inexpensive tent (UPDATE: Unfortunately, the exact tent I used is no longer available. This one and this one are both similar in size and shape, so they should work the same way).

baby tent to be used as a miter saw dust hood

Any baby tent without a "window" screen will do! With some scrap wood and a few dust collector accessories, I turned it into the perfect miter saw dust hood!

Materials Needed

Build the Platform

Start by creating a platform for the tent to rest on. This will be attached to the back of my miter saw stand.

I scrounged up a piece of scrap plywood that's approximately the width of the tent opening and about 1 ½ feet deep. It will overlap the miter saw stand by 2", so I marked the hole for the dust funnel starting at that point.

miter saw dust funnel

Cut out a hole for the dust funnel with a jigsaw, and test the fit. But don't attach it to the platform just yet!

I wanted the tent to rest at an angle, to allow the sawdust to fall into the dust funnel in the middle. These triangular scraps of plywood from my rocket bookshelf were pulled out of the trash and put to good use!

miter saw dust hood angled supports

I clamped the platform to the edge of my workbench and placed the tent on top. Then I slid the angled pieces underneath to prop up the back. Play around with the position of these pieces so the tent is fully supported and not sagging.

testing the tent on the angled supports

Once I got the angle I wanted, I marked their positions on the platform. Drill a couple of pocket holes in each angled piece, or attach them from the underside with longer screws.

attach the tent supports to the platform of the dust hood

Attach the Platform to the Miter Saw Stand

Line up the platform along the edge of your miter saw stand, making sure the dust funnel is centered behind the saw. Then screw it into place.

miter saw hood platform attached to stand

Add the Dust Funnel

Center the tent on top of the platform, and mark the position of the dust funnel with a marker.

position of funnel in dust hood marked

Use scissors to cut an X from corner to corner.

cutting a hole in the tent for the dust funnel

Take out the dust funnel and position the tent over the hole. Press the dust funnel into the hole over the tent fabric, and attach it to the platform with screws and washers.

miter saw hood dust funnel installed

Attach a 4" dust collection hose to the underside of the dust funnel. Use a hose clamp to hold it in place.

miter saw dust hood funnel with hose attached

I attached the other end of the hose to this Y fitting. It has a 4" and 2 ½" input, so both the dust hood and the dust port on the miter saw are attached.

4 inch and 2 ½ inch dust hoses coming from miter saw

The other 4" end goes to my cyclone dust separatorYou can read more about my dust collector set up here. UPDATE: I've switched over to a wall mount dust collector to save space in my small workshop, and it works great!

dust collector attached to miter saw dust hood

Finishing Touches

To keep the tent front from curling up, I stapled it down to the miter saw stand.

stapling the edge of the miter saw dust tent down to the workbench

Now it's time to take it for a test drive!

DIY miter saw hood made from a small tent

Testing the dust hood

I couldn't wait to try it out! I grabbed a scrap piece of 2 x 4 and started making sawdust.

testing out the miter saw hood

It worked like a charm! You could see the dust getting sucked right out of the air and down into the funnel. Some of the heavier pieces made it past the vacuum, but got caught in the tent. When I finished cutting, I just lifted each side of the tent to dump the excess sawdust into the funnel.

The lip of the funnel is causing some sawdust build up along the edges. I'll suck it up with the shop-vac when I'm cleaning up the rest of the workshop in between projects. I read similar complaints about the expensive dust hoods as well.

sawdust caught around lip of the funnel in the dust hood

Check out the video below to see it in action!

Kevin

Sunday 30th of December 2018

I am trying to find the white version of the tent you posted. It looks like it in the color pic posted, but the description does not mention anything about a white version. Normally there is an option on Amazon Products to select what color / options you want, but there appears to be a different link for each color. Do you have the link to white color you purchased?

Thank you,

Kevin

Vineta

Sunday 30th of December 2018

I purchased the light blue version, which you can find here. It's very light blue, and looks almost white in my photos, even though it looks darker blue on Amazon.

Marshall Herman

Saturday 8th of December 2018

was the "Pluto baby beach tent" the best fit for your miter saw duct collection

Thanks

Vineta

Monday 10th of December 2018

I didn't test out any other tents, but the Pluto tent works perfectly! It's deep enough, plus I can move the saw from side to side for mitered cuts too!

Pat wqilliams

Friday 6th of April 2018

You have built something for your miter saw to give a level surface. Can you share that? Thanks!

Vineta

Friday 6th of April 2018

The miter saw stand post is here: https://www.thehandymansdaughter.com/workshop-wednesday-miter-saw-stand-with-extra-storage/

The miter saw fence and stop track post is here: https://www.thehandymansdaughter.com/workshop-wednesday-miter-saw-fence-kreg-trak/

Tony Ferguson

Thursday 5th of April 2018

Where did you buy the baby tent. I am looking for same but can not find it on web or in store.

Thx

Tony

Vineta

Thursday 5th of April 2018

You can find the tent on Amazon here.

Timisha

Friday 27th of October 2017

This is PERFECT! Thank you! I am redoing my mitersaw station and have been looking for a solution to the sawdust and this is perfect. Thank you!!

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