You might be right. But I assume that the mechanism must be pretty dust proof, otherwise the jigsaw would eventually clog up even when it is oriented normally. So far, this has not been an issue. Most of the sawdust seems to be ending up on top of the workpiece and blowing it away to see the cut-line has been more of a problem. I suppose that dust on/in the saw mechanism could be mitigated by putting a small vacuum line on the underside of the table.