Lathe Dust Hood Ideas?

[Marty Tippin]

I'm in the process of installing a Grizzly 3HP cyclone dust collector in my shop and am trying to figure out what I want to do about dust collection on my PM3520B. My inclination at the moment is to build a custom hood of some kind that will mount behind the lathe, and pipe it to the dust collector with a 6" run, which should move quite a bit of air.

Can those of you who've built a custom dust collection hood for your lathe share photos and information about how well it works and what you might do differently if you were starting over?

[Reed Gray]

Well, this is what I made. To new and improve it, I need about a 200 or so gallon barrel, and need to have it set up so I don't have to take it off to turn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZsVc7qVx7A

Variations go from using just the hose to various 'big gulp' type vents on the end of the hose.

robo hippy

[Roger Chandler]

Here is what I did, and it works well.......a big gulp hood on a stand that has a tongue and groove base so it can slide in and out depending on the size of the project being worked on.....of course hooked to my dust collector hose. Of course, this was before Reed came out with his barrel collector, which is about as nice as I have seen anywhere, and if you can find the barrel and have the room, I would recommend, but this is both quick and easy!

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[hu lowery]

The dialysis centers often have barrels that are very cheap or free. I got some free from my local center, a little cleaning of some somewhat gummy residue and I was good to go. I used them as water barrels watering new plantings all over a seven acre lot but they should work fine for the robo dust collector I think. These barrels are blue so I assume not food grade but apparently medical grade. I figure pretty safe but admittedly I don't know anything about the dialysis process.

Hu

[Jon Nuckles]

This was something I put together quickly using some mdf and a dust collection fitting I had. I had planned to enclose the space further, but found that it works very well as is.
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(Sorry about the picture rotation)

[Marty Tippin]

This was something I put together quickly using some mdf and a dust collection fitting I had. I had planned to enclose the space further, but found that it works very well as is. <img src="http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=327672"/> (Sorry about the picture rotation)

That's sort of like what I'm thinking of - I want something that I can install and not have to remove (it can catch shavings as well as sanding dust) - I'm hopeful based on a test run of the cyclone last night that a 6" duct will give the dust hood all kinds of suction...

[John Grace]

Reed...Do you by chance have a video of your 'drum collector' in action? Thanks...John

[John Grace]

Roger...Can I ask what size dust collector you use? I have a 2 HP collector and am curious if it would have enough 'draw' to work with the big gulp as you've outfitted. thanks...John

[Jon Nuckles]

That's sort of like what I'm thinking of - I want something that I can install and not have to remove (it can catch shavings as well as sanding dust) - I'm hopeful based on a test run of the cyclone last night that a 6" duct will give the dust hood all kinds of suction...

I use this only for sanding. I sweep up the chips/shavings from turning. This would interfere with the toolrest banjo and I don't know how much of the shavings it would catch.

[Geoff Whaling]

For my small spindle turnings I don't use a hood, just have the flexible 4" hose as close to the work as is possible. Almost all the chips and dust go straight down the DC hose from the skew or detail gouge.

A couple of things I have found with my typical 2hp DC, the constant noise from the DC hose inlet can get annoying. Performance drops of dramatically once the bag gets to about 60% capacity, so it pays to monitor the bag & change regularly.

For smaller bowls say up to 250 mm or 8" I use a small dust hood - http://www.woodcraft.com/product/151293/small-dust-hood-with-4inch-port.aspx but cut away somewhat so that it fits closer to the bowl to capture sanding dust. On larger stuff just the big gulp & hope it captures as much as possible.

[Hayes Rutherford]

This set up has been working pretty well. The hood is attached and supported by the board in between the ways. The board is notched for when the banjo is still in place and the bowl has not been reversed. When not being used, it simply pulls out and is lowered onto the lathe shelf.The upper sewer pipe is friction fit and just shoves on when sanding. Aside from working well dust wise, it can be strategically placed in seconds, stays put, and can be moved quickly out of the way.

[Bill White]

John, Check out "Robo Hippy" site for Reed's video series. There is one about the dust hood.
Bill

[Roger Chandler]

Roger...Can I ask what size dust collector you use? I have a 2 HP collector and am curious if it would have enough 'draw' to work with the big gulp as you've outfitted. thanks...JohnJohn, I use a 1.5 Hp 1200 cfm Delta collector.
I also have a 31 gallon steel trash can with a vortex lid on it from Woodcraft. Even with the chip collector can in the line, it works well. I think most 2 hp collectors are rated near 1500 cfm, if I am not mistaken, so yours should handle it.