Does a quiet dust collector exist for the lathe?

[dirk martin]

I have a friend that just started turning. She loves how nice and quiet the lathe runs. She assumed it would be a big, loud machine, much like other wood working machines.

Even though most of her turnings are green wood, it does kick up a fair amount of dust. She doesn't want to run a great big ducst collector on a 4" hose, nor does she want to listen to a "dust-vac" screaming away as she turns.

Is a face dust mask, her only solution?

[Josh Bowman]

I reworked mine to go outside and put the blower in the attic. Works great. And is quite.

[David E Keller]

I'm in the process of renovating my shop, and I built a closet for housing the collector... There are lots of sound reducing options, but I don't know of any really quiet dust collectors.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I am going to rework my shop to put the collector outside. I have a 3M respirator, air cleaner and DC that I run while turning and sanding. I don't think IMHO that a respirator is enough.

[dirk martin]

The problem with putting a dust collector outdoors, or in the attic, is that it's sucking warm shop air, and expelling it outside.

Bernie, I believe good resperators filter out particles as fine, or finer than a dust collector, or am I wrong?

[Reed Gray]

A good dust collector with a 1 micron or less filter can be vented into the shop with no problems. Check out Oneida systems. I have a 3 hp one, and it is in a closet. I do talk a little louder when I am standing next to it, but don't need to wear hearing protection. Surprising thing is there seems to be almost as much noise coming from the air moving through the pipes as there does from the motor.

robo hippy

[dirk martin]

Yes, and that's what we want to avoid....all that noise.
Thus it seems a face filter is about the only thing out there.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Yes the 3M does filter a better than most dust collectors IMHO.

[Cody Colston]

Yes, and that's what we want to avoid....all that noise.
Thus it seems a face filter is about the only thing out there.

It's been proven many times that the most effective control of wood dust is to capture it at the source. The sanding dust generated at the lathe will stay in the shop air for a long time and go airborne every time there is air movement in the shop.

IMHO, the inconvenience of running a good DC and wearing ear muffs while sanding is more than offset by the hazards of breathing dust-laden air or wearing what amounts to a level A hazmat suit and air pack.

If it's quiet you're seeking, a good set of Peltor ear muffs will do the job very well. :)

[Josh Bowman]

I've ran mine outside here in Tn since last winter with no real notice in loss of heat. What I got was less noise and a high improvement in suction. My planer use to stop up the pipes, but now I can take a pile of turning curls and it just sucks it up like nothing. I simply let it dump in a yard trailer outside my shop. Perhaps in a colder climate this might not be as effective. But I took baby steps to do this. I just disconnected the filter bag hose and hooked a long hose to the outside from the discharge of the DC. I ran that way for months until I felt it was the right thing for me.

[Rich Aldrich]

I've ran mine outside here in Tn since last winter with no real notice in loss of heat. What I got was less noise and a high improvement in suction. My planer use to stop up the pipes, but now I can take a pile of turning curls and it just sucks it up like nothing. I simply let it dump in a yard trailer outside my shop. Perhaps in a colder climate this might not be as effective. But I took baby steps to do this. I just disconnected the filter bag hose and hooked a long hose to the outside from the discharge of the DC. I ran that way for months until I felt it was the right thing for me.

I don't know if we could get away with that in the UP, eh? I sure would like to put mine outside. You used to live here, so you know. However, after your experience in TN, do you think it would work in the UP?

My solution will probably be to put it in a closet.

[Harry Robinette]

I put my 1200 cfm Delta in a quiet room,what a difference I can talk on the phone next to it no problem .Also have my DeWalt Job Site compresser in another one next to it same amount of noise with it.Both running and wife don't complain about the noise from the shop( in the basement ).:)

[David E Keller]

I put my 1200 cfm Delta in a quiet room,what a difference I can talk on the phone next to it no problem .Also have my DeWalt Job Site compresser in another one next to it same amount of noise with it.Both running and wife don't complain about the noise from the shop( in the basement ).:)

How did you construct your quiet room? I'm in the process of doing just that, but I'd love to know any pearls about keeping the noise down.

[Jeff Nicol]

In the beginning when I built my cyclone and got the fan from Penn State we had in in the back corner of the bigger shop space that we were renting and it did not bother as much. But when we moved all the equipment to my garage the noise was un bearable inside the shop. It was put out under the leanto on the back of the shop and that was pretty good, but the heat lose was a concern. When I enclosed the back lean-to I relocated the dust collector to the attic of the shop and now the heat is vented back into the shop after filtration. We bought a large canister filter for a semi-tractor and made a box to force the air through the outside of the filter for easier cleaning, I have the barrel that collects the large duct and chips down in the main shop with a sight window so I can tell when it is filling up so as not to fill the filter with larger chunks, it is no fun unpacking it when I forget to watch what I am doing! And by haveing it up and away from the main work area the sound is greatly reduced. I plan on enclosing it in an insulated little room to contain the sound even more, but the sound of the moving air is still pretty loud over time.

Good luck,

Jeff

[Jim Silva]

Since you can't do anything about the suction noise from the hose, your only muffling options come from quieting the motor noise.

Locating outside is great but those of us who live in cold zones (where below freezing 24/7 in winter is a factor,) it's not good for heating purposes.

A closet (with some form of venting to allow inflow and outflow of air) is optimal but if that's not an option you can make a simple isolation screen for it.

I have a large 2hp unit that is only 8' or so from me in the shop. I located it in a corner and used 2 sheets of 2" poly-iso (a rigid foam insulation) to make a folding screen that effectively boxes it into the corner. (A 7" hole in a strategic location allows access to it's inlet.
The screen is 8' tall (DC is 6' and change high) and there's no top to it. It just acts as a baffle to cut down on the high pitched whine and makes an amazing difference for very low dough.

If you have a smaller DC unit you can effectively surround it with this poly-iso board (4 sides and top) and still have easy access for changing bags/ emptying as the rigid foam is extremely light weight.

The rigid foam I have came from a contractor's roofing supply house I have access to but there are similar (but not as heavy duty) available from your local Borg or DIY centers.

Jim

[Josh Bowman]

Ya-sure by golly gee
Rich,
I really don't know if it would work up there, the thing has to have some make up air. I've found my fairly tight shop has enough in-leakage (garage door) to allow this. Having said that, when I first moved up to the UP, I had to live in a trailer :eek:, only housing available. My experience with in-leakage was the cracks got frozen solid with ice! ie, my front door and the outlet holes on the outside walls. I'm going to say no for the U.P.
But it's cheap to try, just work a hose out a window and stuff it with something to fill the rest of the window opening and hook the hose to the discharge of your blower. You'll know quickly if it will work. I'm going to have to make an improvement to mine, the velocity of the dust going out is so high, it blows into the covered trailer and out the cracks! I'm thinking of a 12" or more stove pipe for the discharge to drop velocity outside. If you have a fire type heating system, consider a CO detector, there is where you don't want the make up air to come from.:eek:
For those that don't want the motor in a cold area, I did find doing the little experiment that the just going outside cut the noise perhaps in half.


I don't know if we could get away with that in the UP, eh? I sure would like to put mine outside. You used to live here, so you know. However, after your experience in TN, do you think it would work in the UP?

My solution will probably be to put it in a closet.

[J.D.Redwine]

Is this Fein too small? 57 db is not real loud.

http://www.fein.de/corp/us/en/fein/products/dustfree/92025.html