Dust Collection Advice

[Noah Barfield]

Hi all,

My "shop" is 1/3 of a small single-car garage. I have room for my lathe, my sharpening stand, my dust collector, and not much else. I initially bought one of these hoods to attach to my 4" hose: http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2083101/33092/WoodRiver-Lathe-Dust-Collection-Hood.aspx However, after a few months, the hood has cracked to pieces under the weight of the hose (also, the magnets were never strong enough to support the hood--I wound up using a c-clamp to attach it to the banjo).

I thought about buying a hood / stand unit: http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2005854/17835/Dust-Hood-With-Stand.aspx However, it would not fit between the wall and the lathe. Unfortunately I just don't have the room to move my lathe out any farther from the wall.

So, I've been considering one of these articulating arms from Rockler: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=10403&site=ROCKLER and suspending it from my ceiling.

Does anyone have any experience with these? There are only two reviews posted on the item. I called my local Rockler, but the sales assistant who answered sounded like he was a high school student and had never heard of the item.

The other option I'm thinking about is bolting some 4" PVC piping on the wall between the lathe and the dust collector (they're side by side) and rigging up a dust collection hood myself. The only draw-back is that the house's electrical panel is between the lathe and the dust collector, so I'd have to bold the piping up pretty high (or fairly low).

Any advice?

Noah

[Richard Allen]

If you found the first collector effective then you should be able to make that collector out of 1/4" plywood fairly quickly. You never gave a picture of your shop layout. You only say it's small. A picture or a drawing might help us understand your dilemma with regard to space and machine configuration.

We make round stuff and you should be able to make a square funnel that connects your 4" hose to a square fitting. Attaching 1/4" ply to that fitting would let you build any shape hood you like.

[Fred Belknap]

It is difficult getting the dust and shavings from a lathe. I finally went with an Trend Airshield Pro. It has been a real help keeping the dust out of my nose and lungs. I have a pretty good dc with a 6" pipe close to the spindle and an exhaust fan right behind the lathe, these all helped but weren't good enough.

[Roger Chandler]

I made my own out of a roller stand and a big gulp hood.......it slides forward and back on a tongue and groove joint, and is adjustable up and down with the roller stand...........

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Sorry for the last pic....the software does not seem to want me to delete it even though I tried!

[Jamie Donaldson]

Investigate your options with heating/AC ductwork that will do the job very nicely. I have been using several different return collector boxes for years, and you will find them readily available and quite reasonably priced.

[Noah Barfield]

Thanks all!
@Richard--Good point--I'll post a picture this evening after work.
@Fred--I bought a 3M Airstream earlier this year (although I would have purchased the Trend if it fit me). I'm interested in reducing the amount of dust in the garage
@Roger--I really like that idea! I may have to rig up something with L-brackets though since the garage is sheet-rocked.
@Jamie--That is a cool hood! I also like the attachments that you have on the side. Is it attached to the wall or supported from the floor? If so, how?

[Baxter Smith]

I use a cardboard box that I stick on to the end of 6" hose when I sand. One flap of the top goes under the turning across the ways, and the ends are cut on a curve so it fits around the headstock spindle and in a similar fashion on the other end to allow access to the inside of the bowl. It doesn't look nearly as nice as what you have seen here, but the more you can direct the airflow past your turning and into the pipe, the greater percentage of dust you will collect.

[Jamie Donaldson]

It's mounted on an old microphone stand that I can move at will, and an old tire wheel with welded pipe upright, or bucket filled with concrete will do the same.

[Will Winder]

When sanding I just wedge the 4" hose from my DC unit between the tool rest and the bed and point it at my work. This setup is surprisingly effective no matter how I am sanding.

[James Roberts]

I have c-clamped a piece of 3/4 board about 3 to 4 feet long to a joist in my basement, letting it hang down, and attached my DC hose to that, you may need a longer or shorter piece depending on ceiling height. Hope this helps.

[David E Keller]

Why not turn a funnel? Most of us here have done it a time or two unintentionally, so it shouldn't be too tough.

[Tom Wilson66]

I've had the articulating arm like you show from Rockler for about five months, and it seems to be a sturdy piece of equipment. It can be a bit of a pain to get it into the right position to collect the dust from a turning, but once there it stays put. MOst of its movement is parallel to the lathe bed, so you won't need much space to move it parallel to the bed, but as you go left and right, the dust port moves in an arc, so it has to be raised and lowered to match the centeline of the turning. Like I said this can take a littletime. I think it works just fine for my shop, and my shop about the size of an 1/3 of a garage. I also have a small table saw and a 14" bandsaw in there, so it is quite cozy.:rolleyes:

[alan miller]

I use a shop vac floor attachment at the back of the lathe.Use a 2 1/2 to 4in adapter.I also use a modified pipe hanger to hold it up.

[Noah Barfield]

Hi all,

I promised a picture of my shop earlier today. Here's a quick shot from my phone.

Noah227342

[Reed Gray]

The more enclosed the piece you are turning and sanding is, the more dust you collect. Hose attached to the bed with a bungee cord does okay, maybe 50% of the dust. The big gulp type of hood, maybe 60 to 75%. Card board box like Baxter, or this one, 80 to 00% of the dust.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZsVc7qVx7A&feature=g-upl&context=G2610d18AUAAAAAAABAA

It doesn't take much, and it doesn't have to be fancy.

robo hippy

[Richard Allen]

A cheap and effective solution. 4 pieces of 1/4" ply attached to the wall with piano hinge (or some other hinge). The plywood sides should fill the space between the wall and the back side of the lathe bed. The top will rest on the sides and be 17" above the lathe bed. The top should also be long enough to extend from the wall to the front side of the ways. The bottom piece of plywood will extend from the wall to the back side of the ways and be supported by hooks to the side pieces. In the left side piece will be a 4" hole that the DC is connected to. When the "hood" is in the way just fold the plywood out of the way. There should be a little thought put into how far the different pieces of plywood are attached to the wall so it all can be folded flat when not in use. This sort of hoof will be very effective for sanding dust collection.

[Ralph Lindberg]

Noah
As others have noted, it is just about impossible to collect the "chips" from a lathe. Dust is easy, we have a hood like the one shown above.
Our DC is a Delta that is no longer made, which is too bad as it is a great unit (a 3/4 HP on a 55 gallon drum with a side bag).
I am NOT a fan of plumbing DC around, so ours is on a roller.

Bare this is mind, even spending hundreds on dust control is cheaper then getting a lung transplant, or getting COPD and having to quit, we have had several people in the club have to quit when they got lung issues.
One of my favorite sayings is, there are two types of woodworkers, those that have issues with wood-dust, and those that will!

In that vein, we also have a Tend Airshield (maybe going to buy a second one), plus an over-head whole-shop air-filter, plus a HEPA timed delay filter sold by ShopFox (same firm as Grizzly Tools, only sold by other outlets), plus the DC. I really try to keep the fines down.

If you come over to cut that wood on the Band-saw you can see the setup....

Ralph (ps, Noah is the new president of the Olympic Peninsula club)

[Ralph Lindberg]

I use a shop vac floor attachment at the back of the lathe.Use a 2 1/2 to 4in adapter.I also use a modified pipe hanger to hold it up.

Becarefull of the run time on that, I burned out the motor of a shop-vac running too many hours, continuous, as a DC

[Noah Barfield]

Thanks everyone--I truly appreciate all of the suggestions!

@Reed--I really like your barrel set up! I've been scanning craigslist for a white food-grade barrel, but haven't had too much luck. I even talked with our food service director at the high school where I teach. They no longer get them. Once I get my hands on one, though, I'd like to give it a try. Until then, though, the cardboard box may be an option. What type of saw did you use to cut the barrel?

@Ralph--I am looking forward to checking out your shop! Thank you for the warnings about dust. As an asthmatic and someone who was hospitalized twice last year with pneumonia (not woodworking related), I'm definitely taking this whole dust-collection thing seriously. In addition to the dust collector (an older, but free!, Grizzly), I have a Jet air filter hanging over the lathe and a 3M Airstream. I save my shopvac for the chips and shavings.

[Jim Howe]

I am still fairly new to this, but my 1st recommendation is upgrade that bag to a Wynn filter. Most of the bags just put the supper fine, really bad stuff into suspension for hours and hours. Unless you wear the air stream until you walk out the shop door you will be breathing that dust. I believe that dust is cumulative, in that your body can not get rid of it all.

[Jim Howe]

I am still fairly new to this, but my 1st recommendation is upgrade that bag to a Wynn filter. Most of the bags just put the super fine, really bad stuff into suspension for hours and hours. Unless you wear the air stream until you walk out the shop door you will be breathing that dust. I believe that dust is cumulative, in that your body can not get rid of it all.

[Noah Barfield]

Thanks for the recommendation Jim--the Wynn filter is definitely on my shopping list!

Noah

[Ralph Lindberg]

Thanks everyone--I truly appreciate all of the suggestions!

@Reed--I really like your barrel set up! I've been scanning craigslist for a white food-grade barrel, but haven't had too much luck. I even talked with our food service director at the high school where I teach. They no longer get them. Once I get my hands on one, though, I'd like to give it a try. Until then, though, the cardboard box may be an option. What type of saw did you use to cut the barrel?
.

Available any day of the week at Kitsap Lumber off Loxie Eagens Blvd in Bremerton. I use a saber saw. But make certain it was a food and not a chemical, they sometimes have both

[Reed Gray]

Any saw will work. I use an electric jig saw to cut the vent hole, though any hand saw or circular saw will work easily. If you have a place near by that sells plastic sheet stock, you can but 4 by 8 sheets of the same plastic in thickness from 1/8 inch and up. Some varieties are used for cutting surfaces for leather and upholstery shops. It works fine, and you can bend it to shape. You can also buy corrugated sheet stock similar to cardboard. It will bend in an arc one way, and crimp for angles if bent the other way. Don't have a name. I have also thought, but not gotten around to looking at places that carry the bigger 300+ gallon plastic tanks. A 'factory second would make a good chip guard, and could be made to be left in place for turning and sanding.

robo hippy

[Noah Barfield]

Excellent--thanks guys! I'll head over to Kingston Lumber one of these afternoons and see if I can pick one up.

Noah

[Ralph Lindberg]

Excellent--thanks guys! I'll head over to Kingston Lumber one of these afternoons and see if I can pick one up.

Noah

Noah, never seen them at Kingston Lumber, Kitsap yes, Kingston, not that I know of

[Noah Barfield]

Hi all,

Again, thank you for all of the suggestions. Here's what I wound up putting together. It works OK so far, but I may need to tweak it some down the road. Also, I wound up ordering a Wynn nanofilter cartridge for my dust collector. It should arrive sometime next week.
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p.s. If anyone could please tell me why the photo uploader keeps flipping my pictures upside down, I'd greatly appreciate the help!

Noah

[Michael Mills]

I had the same problem with cantankerous pickups. The following includes one home vent box (it is rectangular but when you cut off the face it is oval) and one 45* elbow connector. I made a separate banjo in the event I wanted to use my tool rest to support light sanding. It adjust from the bed height to 16” above, it will also mount through the banjo from underneath. The pickup head will swivel 360* and of course the banjo post can be swiveled 360* giving ease of placement along the vertical and horizontal back of a bowl. When not use the post sits in a bracket on the wall out of the way. Plastic file folder and velco allows any size extension you want.

[Noah Barfield]

Sorry--my fingers were typing faster than my brain. Kitsap Lumber it is!

Noah


Noah, never seen them at Kingston Lumber, Kitsap yes, Kingston, not that I know of