Dust Monkey DM100, Dust Collection Kit for Contractors Table Saw

List Price: $69.90

Features:

• Dust collection kit designed for use with a contractor's saw
• 95% dust collection efficient; must be used with a dust collector (not included)
• Funnel designed for maximum dust collection
• Includes back enclosure plate, dust directing ramps, contour collector plate and instructions
• Weighs 5 pounds shipped

Accessories:
This Old House (1-year)	Creating a New Old House: Yesterday's Character for Today's Home (American Institute Architects)

Customer Reviews:

Waste of money [Posted on 2005-11-19]
I purchased 3 of these and sent all of them back. An engineer and I spent several hours trying to install one. The directions were poorly written and the quality of the plastic was pathetic. Save your money!!!

A waste of $$ [Posted on 2006-01-27]
This might be worth it for 1/4 the price, but not worth the $$ as priced now. Not only that, you must cut it to fit your particular saw. The back casing doesn't really cover as much as I expected. And I had to cut it myself with their template. Sorry, but I expected for this price to have something custom for my saw - or at least semi-custom.

Do yourself a favor and buy a piece of plastic and cut it yourself. You'll save around $30.

Needs Engineering [Posted on 2006-02-27]
Despite all the negative reviews, I pitched and bought this product for my Craftsman Professional Table Saw. First of all, ignore the lousy instructions. I separated the table saw from the base and slipped the collector plate between the saw and the base. You can use the existing bolt holes to anchor the collector plate to the base. Forget the roll of sealing tape. You will still have holes in the saw to leak air. I reversed the plate so the collector hole was in the back of the saw where most of the dust comes off the blade. I then followed the template that came with the kit and luckily, I was able to use my band saw to make a number of modifications to the template to fit my saw. That still does not seal the back of the saw. I had to cut a couple pieces of plywood to come up with an acceptable template. I ended up using a 1/4" piece of plywood which I bolted to the saw cabinet and didn't use the piece of plastic that came with the kit. In order to properly seal the back of the saw, I used pieces of heavy cardboard and bolted them to the template. I used the piece of AC foam sealer on the front of the saw to cover the space for the adjusting wheel. The plastic dust ramps needed to be modified to fit over the bolt obtructions in my saw cabinet. My table saw had a dust collector kit built into it which I removed as the Delta 50-850 dust collector creates enough vacuum to collect the saw dust. This also kept the blade from kicking up dust.
The end product I produced looks as neat and tidy as the pictures you download with this kit.
Despite the many modifications the kit needed, I am happy with the results and my shop is now dust free.

Works as advertised but directions need major editing.  [Posted on 2006-07-20]
I installed the Dust Monkey on a Jet contractor saw and I am satisfied with the finished product. That said, the directions provided with the kit are ponderous, confusing and in some cases not that well thought out. I totally ignored the directions for installing the hopper on the bottom of my saw. The directions for cutting the back panel and the foam ramps are convoluted (especially considering that it's all pretty simple). The manufacturer would do well to hire a technical writer and use illustrations (a picture is worth .... ). If you are mechanically inclined you can figure out how to install the Dust Monkey on your saw but take some time to study your saw, the parts at hand and the directions (with a suspicious eye).

Once you get done with the installation you'll be pleased with the performance of the product.

Look at the saw closely folks... [Posted on 2007-08-12]
The first time I looked at the picture of the Dust Monkey I was fooled too. It truly looks like a great product, what with all that cowling on the back of the saw in the picture. However, the saw pictured is a standard "J" 10" contractor saw (not to be confused with the "J" Pro series with the strait vertical legs).

So here's what I believe to be the reason for the confusion (and all the "1 star" ratings). The black "cowling" that appears to be covering the saw motor from the rear in the main photo is in fact the motor of the "J" saw itself. It's painted black and looks like part of the dust cover assembly.

Adding further confusion is the hump on the rear of the motor, which is just the circuit breaker and wiring cover, not part of the Dust Monkey dust cover. The second photo is only showing the stock dust collection panel that attaches at the bottom of the "J" saw. Perhaps the three sloping white wedges in the third photo are a part of this package, but I'm uncertain and they appear to be made from cushion foam.

In fact, after comparing this product to my table saw (which is identical to the one pictured), the only part that I can honestly say is part of the Dust Monkey package is the flat piece of cut plastic at the rear of the saw (picture four). And, in case you haven't figured it out already, this flat piece of black plastic is NOT universal and must be cut for your saw.

Now, if you can't just mosey on down to the local hardware store and find a nice sheet of 1/4" thick black plastic (or whatever color matches your particular saw) then perhaps you should just add this item to your shopping cart and spend the fifty bucks. As for myself, I think that I'm going to get out my jigsaw...

By the way, I rated this product as three stars for managing for ingenuity. Seriously, how many other companies can swindle a bunch of tightwad do-it-yourselfers out of fifty bucks for a piece of plastic?

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