Bosch Miter Saw modifications

[woodchucker]

I recently bought a Bosch Glyde CM10GD saw and I need to modify it to improve dust collection, and I tried my old laser that is blade mounted, and as always it sucks. Paid too much for too little.
While searching for dust collection upgrades I came across the addition of the shadow line on the 12" unit. I have the 10" and it looked easy. I did it differently and here's that build. I'll put the dust collection here when I do it, if it works well.

The only machining was mounting the handle to cut out the switch location.

I started with a sewing light. I had one on the mill and decided to sacrifice it for this. One thing I will caution you on if you want to do this, hold the leds up to a light and see if there are any traces that will be lost fitting it to your particular saw. I didn't know that there were traces on the sides, and I sanded through them. I added a jumper to the last led and fixed my problem. Things were tight and I decided to use the trace wire to offer space between the clear plastic to the led board.

I stripped all the parts and wired it directly to the main cord (neutral) and the switch (hot side). I wound up wiring directly to the black entering the switch, not the yellow as may be in the pic.

used double stick tape, attached led and wood. Ran it along belt sander to shape it and create bevel in back to fit into casting. That's the trace (white wire) I had to add back. BTW the wires and solder on the entire sewing light is awful, cold solder joints, and falling off wires. Also the solder would come off the board cleanly, I've never seen that before, usually it stays tinned.. questionable metal/solder.

Sealing up with hot glue (clear plastic ) sealed to board and wood.




Cut out for switch done on milling machine with square file for corner.

The control board, resistors and capacitors.
View attachment 461832
This is where the switch and wiring will go. Not much room to work.
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Wiring in place, just need to glue the board in so it doesn't move.

Glued in, and protective plastic patch installed (glued)




Video showing it in use:

 

[strantor]

I like it. Not as easy to see as a laser but since it's a shadow of the actual blade it should be a lot more trustworthy. Plus it tells you all you need to know about where the kerf will be.

 

[maspann]

My DeWalt came with a shadow line and I love it. Very accurate.

 

[woodchucker]

How high does your blade need to be to get an accurate reading?

 

[keeena]

Dunno if you are aware of Travis of ShopNation. He designs dust collectors for miter saws. It doesn't look like he has one for your model yet, but his videos of his R&D process are worth watching on YouTube if you're going to have a try at it.

Shop Nation Store

 

[strantor]

It doesn't look like he has one for your model yet

Actually he does. Just happened to see it

 

[woodchucker]

yea, I saw it, I also saw that many people said it blew apart when hit by a piece of wood (shrapnel). so no, not interested in it.

 

[Eyerelief]

How high does your blade need to be to get an accurate reading?

My dewalt has the same. The closer to the wood the better. The line fades the further you get from the wood. I’ll check mine tomorrow (it’s out at the new house) and maybe grab a video for you. Bear with me, we are pouring a driveway and a storage shed pad tomorrow so time might get away from me.

 

[Eddyde]

I also have the DeWalt with the built in shadow-line. It definitely works better than any laser arrangement I ever used on a miter saw. However being a seasoned trim carpenter, I still sight along the blade, though the now brightly lit pencil line is a great help.

 

[keeena]

yea, I saw it, I also saw that many people said it blew apart when hit by a piece of wood (shrapnel). so no, not interested in it.

Is it really many people? I saw his video a while back where he attempted to re-create the condition. He eventually did reproduce. From what I remember its caused if/when you make very small off-cuts and then let them sit in way so that they can be kicked backwards by a subsequent cut. He said only an extremely small number of users had the issue actually happen and I think he offered a modification to help mitigate somewhat. Obviously its his spin on it, so grain of salt. But so far I didn't see any evidence to make me think its a bad product and he certainly seems to put the R&D time in. But let me know where you found that a large % of people had issue because its potentially a product I would buy for my own saw.