After a bit of searching, found a fitting that works on the "dust port" of my miter saw. Much thanks for all the recommendations and pictures provided.

 

Unfortunately, even with my large Ridgid shop vac, still a lot of dust is escaping. Will need to get the box built and make a connection to my dust collector. Hopefully the combo of vacuum on the port and dust collector for the box will help address the distribution of dust. 

 

On a funny note (reflecting my lack of sleep this week), after I hooked up the vacuum to the miter saw, plugged in everything, I made my first cut...BUT neglected to turn on the vacuum!🤦‍♀️ Pretty much sums up how things are going this week. 🙄

Edited January 17Jan 17 by BB1

13 minutes ago, BB1 said:

neglected to turn on the vacuum

...and that, folks, is why my shop has a layer of UV protecting dust on every surface...

43 minutes ago, BB1 said:

.BUT neglected to turn on the vacuum!

Been there done that. 

 

Once did that using a DeWalt RO sander my ex had picked out, and I didn't even notice that there was much more dust than with the vac running.  They must have upped their game competing with Festool!  DeWalt isn't one of my go to brands so I never would have bought it myself, never too old to learn something!

8 hours ago, lew said:

...and that, folks, is why my shop has a layer of UV protecting dust on every surface...

It keeps the little green men away too

On 1/16/2026 at 3:42 PM, BB1 said:

@Bubba If the straight cuts are what you need, this is a good option to consider. Be sure to give an update if you get it all installed.

@BB1 I finally got around to building the small box at the base of the miter saw and it did make a big difference. Instead of capturing half the dust like my old box design was doing this new box sends most of the dust to the collection system.

I used a 1 1/2" PVC T and a short piece of 1 1/2" PVC pipe to make a splitter from the cyclone to the miter saw and new dust box. I got the tubing going from the T to the saw and box by cutting the unneeded excess from my similar dust collection system under my table saw.

I topped the box with a piece of scrap 1/2" plexiglass I had.

As long as I take my time making the cuts very little sawdust escapes the collection system.

Thanks for posting this topic and inspiring me to reassess my dust collection design.

@Bubba Sweet build!

@Bubba. Great design and solution and THANKS for adding your follow up to this thread.

On 1/14/2026 at 3:37 AM, BB1 said:

I have a Hitachi miter saw (one of my first tools!) and need to get better control over the dust generated. 

 

I've just been using the bag on the port (actually fills) and vacuum up the spray of dust. With my incoming minisplit I want/need to do better. 

 

First I looked at hooking up the vacuum to the dust port. If course nothing in my box of fittings is a match. Will need to see what I can find.

 

In the mean time, I started on building a box to contain the saw. I'll have removable front panels so I can vacuum inside. Have watched a bunch of YouTube and am trying to merge all of those into a workable solution.

 

Open to any suggestions or recommendations as I move forward. Thanks!

Jodie of Inspire Woodcraft YouTube channel has a brilliant solution for miter saw dust collection and sells kits. Check this link out.

On 2/2/2026 at 4:45 PM, MrRick said:

Jodie of Inspire Woodcraft YouTube channel has a brilliant solution for miter saw dust collection and sells kits. Check this link out.

I watched one of his videos. I guess I still question how the sliding feature would work with that setup (i.e., would the extra material on the chute "catch"). I saw someone who used some tape to extend their chute. Guessing all of these are potential "helps" but not necessarily solutions (likely is not a single idea for all situations). Have been distracted with some other shop projects (pre-filter on minisplit and air filter cart) so haven't worked more on my hood yet.

That’s half the battle with miter saw dust! Even with a strong shop vac, they tend to throw dust everywhere, so adding a hood/box tied into a dust collector should make a big difference, especially if you keep the vac on the port too.

1 hour ago, ASteinfield said:

adding a hood/box tied into a dust collector should make a big difference, especially if you keep the vac on the port too.

I've gotten side tracked with the air filter cart and then the minisplit pre-filter. Hoping to get back to this as the cardboard box I put in place to check space, etc is still there. 🙄 Definitely need to have something better than that, although I'll admit, even the cardboard is better than without any barrier.

So I've added the connection to my dust collector at the back.

And built the box around the saw.

I also have a shop vac (with cyclone) on the miter saw port. Still wasn't capturing all that I hoped as the rubber "funnel" piece that is around the opening by the blade is limited im size so I added some gorilla tape (stuck it to itself) to extend the shoot after seeing a similar idea on YouTube (haha...so many ideas out there!). Really seems to help and is pliable enough so far to not hang up on the fence.

2 hours ago, BB1 said:

Really seems to help

Cool idea!

There are two kinds of "dust producers": confined and open. The confined ones (eg, a table saw or planer) work well with a tool connection/port to a DC/shop vac. Open tools (miter saw, lathe) are REALLY hard to clean up with just a tool port, and these benefit from physical isolation and containment. (And yes, there are some in between: band saw comes to mind.)

2 hours ago, PeteM said:

Open tools (miter saw, lathe) are REALLY hard to clean up with just a tool port, and these benefit from physical isolation and containment

I agree. Trying to hit this with multiple "solutions" (none of which really are) - vac on the port, box to contain, and dust collector to help clear the air. Together its better than I had before!

I've been noticing that a couple of my newer tools seem to work better on dust control - a Dewalt RO sander that my ex bought, and a Rigid CSMS that I bought for construction work (my little Hitachi won't do 4x's). The bags actually fill up and need to be emptied, something I was not accustomed to in years past.

I bet that the CSMS has a plastic deal rather like the one you made from tape! I will take a look when I have it out later today.

5 hours ago, JWD said:

The bags actually fill up and need to be emptied, something I was not accustomed to in years past.

I only had the bag prior to this setup, and it actually did fill. Wasn’t an overall great solution, although I did come to appreciate it more after I neglected to close the zipper and saw how terrible the mess/dust was without it!

On 7/11/2026 at 1:15 PM, BB1 said:

So I've added the connection to my dust collector at the back.

And built the box around the saw.

I also have a shop vac (with cyclone) on the miter saw port. Still wasn't capturing all that I hoped as the rubber "funnel" piece that is around the opening by the blade is limited im size so I added some gorilla tape (stuck it to itself) to extend the shoot after seeing a similar idea on YouTube (haha...so many ideas out there!). Really seems to help and is pliable enough so far to not hang up on the fence.

@BB1 At one point I had a dust extension similar to the one you made out of Gorilla tape except I made mine out of plastic I cut from a two pound Folgers coffee can.

In dust control, "nothing exceeds like excess". To get decent capture, you need an air velocity of about 100 feet per minute across the tool space barrier/perimeter. An unconfined miter saw has a rough tool space perimeter surface of maybe 10 square feet. My plastic enclosure probably has an effective perimeter of 2~3 square feet. Multiply 100 fpm times square feet and you get cubic feet per minute ("CFM"). So, an unenclosed miter saw would need about 1,000 CFM; some kind of enclosure/shroud might only need 250. The typical shop vac produces 100~200* cfm, and a typical small dust collector might be 400* cfm. A 4" duct will support about 350 cfm. *The manufacturer will list the fan at about twice the "real" air flow (eg, in your shop, with hose, etc). Fans are rated with rather minimal resistance, so the official "test air flow" is considerably larger than a typical real world app.

18 hours ago, BB1 said:

I only had the bag prior to this setup, and it actually did fill. Wasn’t an overall great solution, although I did come to appreciate it more after I neglected to close the zipper and saw how terrible the mess/dust was without it!

My Rigid saw does have a little plastic scoop thing back there. I typically run the Hitachi with a vacuum hook up but that just catches the fine dust. I may try the tape and plastic to see if it improves catching the coarse stuff too.