Dust Collection - Heck of a hobby, Heck of a mess.....

[Chip Sutherland]

Heck of a hobby, Heck of a mess.....words from the LOML. So what are you guys doing to combat the mess? Do after market dust shrouds and stands work? I've love to see pictures of your creative solutions. I've got 1) old shop vac 2) Dust Collector 3) Ambient Air cleaner 4) 2 brooms/dust pans 5) 2 kids

Except for the kids, who always want money to sweep, I have used every weapon in my arsenal. By far, the broom/dust pan option works best. I have moved my lathe to be directly below and 2ft forward of my ambient air cleaner. Judging by the filter, it's doing its job. The more skilled I get and the less sanding I do will certainly help. My dust collector is better suited for my TS, Planer and Jointer and isn't really accessible to my lathe location anymore nor is it strong enough to lengthen the line. The shop vac is always available but I have to rig up a stand to keep the hose close. I'm not ruling out another newer shop vac and/or secondary dust collector.

I typically turn with a full face shield and a passive respirator. I'm (still) learning to tape my pockets shut so the chips don't collect and show up in the washing machine. :rolleyes: Walnut, Maple, Bloodwood, African Mahogany are all in the pile in the pic.

[Jim Becker]

The only time you can effectively use "dust collection", as in a machine, when turning is during sanding. Otherwise, there is no practical (or safe) way to get a hood where the chips are coming off the tooling...especially since they don't all come off in the same direction from second to second. But if you have a cyclone, a floor sweep is wonderful for cleaning up afterward! (Don't use a floor sweep with any form of single stage dust collector...spark/fire danger if any metal is picked up and strikes the metal impeller that the material flows through)

[Guy Baxter]

Chip,
Add a fan and leaf blower to that cleaning arsenal. Put the fan near an open window blowing into the shop. Use the leaf blower to blast anything that is not nailed down out an open door. Don’t forget to wear a respirator and close the sunroof on your car (DAMHIKT).
GB

[Travis Stinson]

Chip, I have this hood connected to my DC, it does great collecting dust from sanding and chips/dust blown out with compressed air when hollowing. But nothing beats a broom and pan for the shavings. (I REALLY need to take just a little time away from turning and clean up my mess!:eek: )

[Chris Barton]

Hi Chip,

I have a floor sweep and a DC hood on my PM3520a and still battle plenty of dust. I have come to realize that as hard as you might try, you will never get rid of all of the dust. So, now I just try to spend about an hour a week running the big Ridgid shop vac over everything to collect the accumulation...

[Andy Hoyt]

Travis - How can you have such an impressive pile of shavings, yet not one smudge, stain, spill, drip of?, or even a lowly scratch on that machine?

Have you been playing with photoshop again?

[Earl Eyre]

Can't add anything new but want to underline what has already been said. Priority no. 1 would be a good dust collector with something like the Big Gulp situated right behind the lathe when sanding. I read in one of the dust collection books that the ambient air filter is never going to do the whole trick because the dust has to flow through the air from the lathe to the filter. Thus much dust is going to find other routes. You've already lost half the battle. My shop is in the basement. When I got the Big Gulp and finally got it set up, the dust in the house was reduced by 50% or 60%. As I said, Priority No. 1 (and 2, 3, and 4)

For chips and the rest: dust pan and broom. I do it every two or three days. I also shut the shop door, open the window and use the air hose regularly to knock the dust off the tools, joists, dust collection pipes, counters, etc. If the furnace or air conditioning is running it changes the air pressure (air flows into the family room outside the shop door but no vents in the shop) so air flows under the door and out the window. Carries that dust right outside!

But you are never going to get rid of all of it.

Earl

[Gary DeWitt]

Couple things to watch out for:
Dust buildup around electricals, like inside outlets and machine switches, etc. Fire hazard.
Also, if you have any air handling equipment in the area, like AC compressor or heater or furnace, filter the openings to them or clean frequently.

There is one roughing gouge on the market that is made of pipe/tubing and hooks up to DC or shopvac to remove the major amount of chips. Havn't used it so don't know it's effectiveness. Perhaps someone else here knows. I just am not willing to spend the $ for it.

There are also flexible dust pickups sold by the usual woodworking sources and designed to be fit to any machine, like a drill press or lathe, that would seem to be the easiest to set up and maintain, putting the suction just where you need it when sanding.

[Jim Becker]

There is one roughing gouge on the market that is made of pipe/tubing and hooks up to DC or shopvac to remove the major amount of chips. Havn't used it so don't know it's effectiveness. Perhaps someone else here knows. I just am not willing to spend the $ for it.

Most of the comments I've seen indicate "clog city"...and besides, a roughing gouge is only for spindle work and most folks are doing bowls and vessels these days.