Converting Fuel Circular Saws to EU/UK Dust Collection Capiable

The conversion is an interesting option, but damn even importing a EU saw is crazy expensive. You looking at 280 to 330 dollars for the bare tool that’s a lot more than what it costs here 🙁 It would have been nice if Milwaukee let us upgrade to the dust extractor at least. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=M18+CCS66+&_sacat=0

These are the kind of applications Milwaukee needs to really capture the woodworking and trim carpenters. I am a Milwaukee guy with experience using Festool and now recently with DeWalt miter/track saws and would love to go Milwaukee. The new miter (and planer) is a start, but I still bought a corded DeWalt 12″ slider. Crown stops, dust collectors and options for stands are still needed for the M18, plus I got a free large stand with my Dewalt…

Until the dust collection becomes a priority this will be a hard market to crack. Imagine a M18 compact table saw, Fuel track saw, domino/dowel jointer, routers of all sizes, and all made with proper dust collection tolerances.

Hope all this works out for you.

DR99 wrote:

The conversion is an interesting option, but damn even importing a EU saw is crazy expensive. You looking at 280 to 330 dollars for the bare tool that’s a lot more than what it costs here [emoji20] It would have been nice if Milwaukee let us upgrade to the dust extractor at least. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=M18+CCS66+&_sacat=0

So last night I sent the money to my contact & I’m super excited! I sent $100 because he sending me some extra parts for a few other tools I’m going to convert… which I will update you all on soon.

It cost me about $40 for the parts for this build, I’m sorry it took so long everyone, I’ve literally been saving five dollars a paycheck for the last few months due to money issues and a lot of family struggles which a bunch of you know about and have been very supportive and kind!

I can’t wait to do this and will write up a very very in-depth tutorial and some videos when it arrives. even though it’s taken a long time, I hope to contribute more projects to this forum and will let you guys pick the next one!! hopefully it’s not going to be another five dollar a week at a time saving $, but I’m Trying


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Not being a mIlwaukee guy I just read this Timmy. Good luck bro, this sounds like an awesome project. Also I hope everything is going well for you and your family  my friend!

olletsocmit wrote:

So last night I sent the money to my contact & I’m super excited! I sent $100 because he sending me some extra parts for a few other tools I’m going to convert… which I will update you all on soon.

It cost me about $40 for the parts for this build, I’m sorry it took so long everyone, I’ve literally been saving five dollars a paycheck for the last few months due to money issues and a lot of family struggles which a bunch of you know about and have been very supportive and kind!

I can’t wait to do this and will write up a very very in-depth tutorial and some videos when it arrives. even though it’s taken a long time, I hope to contribute more projects to this forum and will let you guys pick the next one!! hopefully it’s not going to be another five dollar a week at a time saving $, but I’m Trying


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@ChrisK thanks a lot man. I appreciate the support


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Very very cool I’ve been dabbling into finding parts here and there but mainly just chatting with a guy from Australia who said he would look into it for kicks lol! 

You have the 6-1/2″ but I have both the 7-1/4″ and m12 5-3/8″ ones so those are what I’m interested in getting info on.

olletsocmit wrote:

12 minutes ago, olletsocmit said:

@ChrisK thanks a lot man. I appreciate the support


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No problem Timmy. I’m really excited about your project. I think this really cool and it’d be especially near for other models….say my flexvolt 😀

Maybe you could use your time and effort turning this into a side business and selling kits on Ebay with the parts you need. For some guys dust collection isn’t important but for some it is.

I never thought dust collection was that important, then I started using Festools. Now I am more aware of how much dust sprays everywhere and is inhaled while woodworking with other tools. Other tools definitely do the same or better job in regards to performance at a lower price but at the expense of mess and potentially health. I wish more big companies would put more thought into the dust collection aspect. I bought the Milwaukee m18 Miter saw and while I do like it, it has to be used outside. It is apparent that they had a “whatever” attitude when designing the dust collection aspect of it. 

Very cool info. Looking forward to seeing the results. Once done can you get more parts to more conversions? 

Marcv76 wrote:

5 hours ago, Marcv76 said:

I never thought dust collection was that important, then I started using Festools. Now I am more aware of how much dust sprays everywhere and is inhaled while woodworking with other tools. Other tools definitely do the same or better job in regards to performance at a lower price but at the expense of mess and potentially health. I wish more big companies would put more thought into the dust collection aspect. I bought the Milwaukee m18 Miter saw and while I do like it, it has to be used outside. It is apparent that they had a “whatever” attitude when designing the dust collection aspect of it. 

Exactly. Or whole society here in the states mostly is in that “whatever”attitude I agree with that for sure!!

Marcv76 wrote:

I never thought dust collection was that important, then I started using Festools. Now I am more aware of how much dust sprays everywhere and is inhaled while woodworking with vother tools. Other tools definitely do the same or better job in regards to performance at a lower price but at the expense of mess and potentially health. I wish more big companies would put more thought into the dust collection aspect. I bought the Milwaukee m18 Miter saw and while I do like it, it has to be used outside. It is apparent that they had a “whatever” attitude when designing the dust collection aspect of it. 

BuiltBy N8 wrote:

Very cool info. Looking forward to seeing the results. Once done can you get more parts to more conversions? 

Did you ever receive your parts ? I am really interested in sourcing the parts for my 7 1/4 fuel saw.

Decided to take this trip down the rabbit hole myself:

They have arrived!!!

I was in contact with a gentleman from Australia, by the name of Scott from Total Tools South Melborne, if anyone is on the IG, you know what clown i’m talking about 😀

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So the 7-1/4″ was easy enough, I just need to find a way to pull the logo off the original guard and put on the new, shouldn’t be too difficult

The m12 5-3/8″ got interesting:

Here’s how I’m doing the mod:

I have removed the outer guard in this pic, pretty self explanatory

Then take my snap ring pliers and pull the ring off for the blade guard:

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Remove the metal cover over the guard spring: This exposes the guard spring and also the bolt for the shoe adjustment

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You can then remove the spring by gently pulling it out of the groove it sits in:

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Remove the shoe adjustment tensioning handle:

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Once you have removed the handle pictured above, you can unscrew the shaft that adjusts the shoe height by turning it CLOCKWISE, since it’s reverse threads

Then pull the pin on the front of the shoe:

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The shoe will just come off now:

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Remove this rubber bumper:

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Remove this metal cover to expose the LED and wiring:

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Pull the LED out and remove it from the pigtail:

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Now would be a good time to clean it up:

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Flip it over and remove the outer handle assembly:

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have to either cut or remove this sticker:

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In the guts of it all

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Remove the screws holding the plastic handle assembly to the metal housing:

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This can be a little tricky, but pull the handle assembly up and thread the wires back through carefully:

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Once you have the plastic handle assembly out of the way, remove the screws holding the motor to the metal housing:

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Remove the motor and watch the blade lock mechanism, it has a spring, but i don’t think that should come flying out at you, either way, just make sure you watch it:

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Here’s the spring, 

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Flip the housing back around the remove the screws for the gears:

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Flip the housing back around the remove the screws for the gears:

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Pull the gear off and keep things clean!!

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The last step in the equation is getting a replacement bearing for the new metal housing, I will source one from someone locally, and press it in the new housing.

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Also, I transferred the screws I removed from the saw over to the new housing, to avoid losing any. They will have to cut new threads into the housing, so there was some resistance.

The 7-1/4″ saw was a breeze, The dust port itself attached onto the outer guard with a screw from my impact driver’s bit holder that I never used. 

Scott Total Tools wrote:

19 minutes ago, Scott Total Tools said:

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Hey the man himself showed up! 

Awesome, as you said the 7-1/4 was a breeze. 5-3/8 looks like a lot of work but possibly worth it.


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What is the approximate cost of the 7 1/4 conversion? I would love to do this. 

Scott Total Tools wrote:

[emoji15][emoji23]?[emoji23] clown [emoji869]


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Contemplating doing this on the 6 1/2″


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JerryNY wrote:

On ‎7‎/‎7‎/‎2016 at 8:06 PM, JerryNY said:

 

Its probably not neccesarily that the tool would be approved or not but worries about a relatively litigious society here in the US and not wanting to leave themselves open to lawsuits with a more dangerous tool.

 

As to why Milwaukee doesn’t offer the option for some of the dust collection stuff it could be trying to limit how many sku’s they want to support but some decisions are just not knowable outside Milwaukee’s HQ. Like I bet the older 8.5″ m18 miter that’s been out in Europe for a while probably would have been decently popular here but maybe not if it cost too much so who knows…

I’m curious about this as well. I contacted Milwaukee several times about the M18 8.5″ miter saw and the M18 barrel grip jig saw (still not available here) well over a year ago and got no real response. I guess it’s easy for me to say: “well just swap out the 8.5″ blade for a 7.25″” but it may not be that easy. But the jig saw? Why not sell it here?

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Found out the bearing isn’t available separately here in the States, but I had fun extricating it….

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I’ll get it up and running tomorrow for a test cut

So if I were to do this for the 6 1/2″ 2730, what would i need?

JimboS1ice wrote:

Just now, JimboS1ice said:

So if I were to do this for the 6 1/2″ 2730, what would i need?

Honestly just the outer guard and dust chute, just like the 7-1/4″ 

If you’re serious, double check with parts diagrams from North American version vs Europe/Australia

Here’s the bearing out:

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And in the new housing:

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Forgot to mention there is this o-ring to swap over, too

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Last pic of it still in one piece:

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JimboS1ice wrote:

On 1/22/2017 at 10:02 PM, JimboS1ice said:

So if I were to do this for the 6 1/2″ 2730, what would i need?

Hey Jimbo I looked carefully at the diagrams for the 6-1/2 and all you need is the outer guard, the dust port, and the screw to hold the dust port on. It’s just like my 7-1/4″

So finally able to put this all together and running really well.
I had fun doing it, tinkering and all. But if i didn’t already have the m12 for a great price, i would just import one from Europe with it already on it.

Here’s the IG vids on the saw.

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A little bit of sawdust escapes out the front side, but it’s minimal…

I had the vac off the dust port and it sprayed sawdust everywhere all over me haha so I stopped the cut midway and hooked the vac up again

KnarlyCarl wrote:

Hey Jimbo I looked carefully at the diagrams for the 6-1/2 and all you need is the outer guard, the dust port, and the screw to hold the dust port on. It’s just like my 7-1/4″

 

 

So finally able to put this all together and running really well.
I had fun doing it, tinkering and all. But if i didn’t already have the m12 for a great price, i would just import one from Europe with it already on it.

 

Here’s the IG vids on the saw.

[/url] ..

 

 

 

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Forgot to show you a real world test of this in action! 
So this is I think oak tongue and groove, and has nails every so often, watch for the sparks toward the end, that’s what chewed up my Diablo blade from the other thread.

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whatever happened with sourcing these parts? I am still extremely interested in this can you send me your contact so i can order them. Thanks.

kbenoit1 wrote:

On 5/11/2017 at 9:28 PM, kbenoit1 said:

whatever happened with sourcing these parts? I am still extremely interested in this can you send me your contact so i can order them. Thanks.

Bit tricky and I got lucky with a bloke from Australia who was willing to help with this project. I don’t know if you would be able to find a parts dealer overseas who would go to the trouble of shipping you the parts. I also don’t want to have him going through the trouble of doing this again so I don’t recommend asking him.

Your best bet is to buy the entire saw off eBay Europe or Australia. It makes it easier to obtain with it ready to go and no problems with parts not fitting or whatever.

The M12 saw was the tricky one because of the bearing issue, if I were to do this over again, I would import the saw and sell my NA one. I would do this with any of their saws, but especially the M12 

I have the 7 1/4 saw so according to the previous posts it should be a bolt on. Can you pm me the cost of the parts plus shipping so i can figure out if i want to pursue this or not. I already have the saw so sourcing a euro version isnt really a option.

kbenoit1 wrote:

On 5/15/2017 at 10:00 PM, kbenoit1 said:

I have the 7 1/4 saw so according to the previous posts it should be a bolt on. Can you pm me the cost of the parts plus shipping so i can figure out if i want to pursue this or not. I already have the saw so sourcing a euro version isnt really a option.

Sorry, i can’t disclose cost on this, it was from a good fellow in Australia i got in touch with as a little experiment. He runs a tool store and service center for the tools, but did me a solid favor in shipping them over to me, and I don’t want to put him on the spot, so i’m not giving out his info, nor am I asking him to do this again, it was quite a bit of work on his part, solid guy!

Honestly, if you can’t find a source, sell your current saw and buy the European version. Good luck!

Just in case anyone is interested in adding the EU parts to the 6.5-inch 2730-20 for the dust collection, I just did it. It was a little expensive, but it was simple and worked flawlessly. Here are the details:

Part numbers needed (which are from the EU version of the saw, M18CCS55-0):

HOUSING (1)    4931436101    –this is the metal upper guard cover
ADAPTER (1)    4931436111    –this is the 2-piece plastic dust port
SCREW (1)    660165011    –this is the screw for securing the dust port to the metal upper guard cover

I (mistakenly) did not order part# 660165011, but I found a screw that I had that did the job. I bought the other two parts (4931436101 and 4931436111) online from a store in the UK:

www.sparetoolparts.co.uk

All you have to do is search for the part numbers on their website. The two parts + shipping cost about $50 total and took about a month to arrive (it took several weeks for them to get the parts in stock from Milwaukee and then another 10 days or so for the shipment to get to me – I live in California).

There are 3 part numbers you don’t need to order because you can just use the ones that are already on your saw:

4931436100 (name plate with Milwaukee logo – has some adhesive on it, but can easily be punched out of the old metal upper guard cover where plastic nubs are attached and then can easily be glued to the new metal upper guard cover)
4931435150 (3 screws that fasten metal upper guard cover to saw – they still work with new metal upper guard cover, as they just pass through it)
5131000000 (rubber plug – can be easily removed from the old metal upper guard cover and placed in the new one)

You could just buy a plastic dust port from a woodworking store, cut a matching hole in your existing metal upper guard cover, and epoxy the port onto the cover – and save a lot of money. I considered doing that. But all in all, I am happy with how it turned out. Hope someone finds this helpful.

Thanks for the guidance Chewy.  Unfortunately they will no longer ship to the USA so they voided my order.  Milwaukee USA is useless and said contact Milwaukee Europe.  Appears to be a dead end.  Bummer.