Ideal dust collector for small 7x10 shop?

[Aaron Buys]

I will hopefully be putting up a new wall to section off a 7x10 workshop area in my basement in the coming weeks and I need to get a dust collector for the area. Everything I've found so far either doesn't have a fine enough filter or is overkill for the space I'll be working in. I'm planning on getting a Triton dust mask but I need something to keep the dust from getting into the rest of the house. Can anybody recommend a particular unit or dust collection setup? Thanks!

[Dario Octaviano]

Various things to consider:
What eqpt(s) are you going to hook up?
How many?
Do you have a 220V outlet?

etc.

I operate in my garage and only have a 1.5 HP unit from ShopFox (so I can stay with 110 power source). It came with a mediocre bag but after I upgraded it with one of Grizzly's finer bags for $25.00 ( http://www.grizzly.com/products/g5556 ) it worked really great.

[Aaron Buys]

Various things to consider:
What eqpt(s) are you going to hook up?
How many?
Do you have a 220V outlet?



Currently just a small lathe but I'd like to add a bandsaw and drill press in the future. Yes I do have 220 available.

[James Duxbury]

A small bathroom type exhaust fan in your shop area would create a negative pressure keeping the fine dust out of the house. That small of an area gets filled with dust quickly especially when sanding on a lathe. A shop vac helps but you should have more and use a good respirator.

[Richard Madison]

Aaron,
Before you spend a ton of money on overkill, consider trying something inexpensive and easy to see how it works, namely a 20" fan with good quality HVAC (furnace) filter taped to the front. Support it (mine sits on a board on top of a big plastic trash can) directly behind the workpiece on your lathe; run on low speed while turning and high speed when sanding on the lathe. Leave it on "high" for an hour or so after you finish work to gather the remaining dust in the air.

[Paul Andrews]

I started with a good dc with a canister filter, and it helped alot but I was still seeing too much dust lying around the shop. Added a variable speed air cleaner and that took care of the problem. When I work in the shop frequently I have to clean the first stage filter every 4-5 days, and it is amazing the cloud of dust that comes off that filter.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Aaron, I have the small Jet 650 DC and it works pretty good. It is small enough that I wheel it around and hook it up to whatever machine I am going to use at the time. It picks up most of the sawdust - but not all. A lot depends on the filter bag that you use. I replaced mine with a finer mesh bag from PSI and not only did it filter better, it increased the CFM.


Added a variable speed air cleaner and that took care of the problem.
Paul, you seem to be happy with your air cleaner, which model do you have and would you recommend it?

[Rich Stewart]

I got the Delta dust collector for 125.00 no S&H from amazon. Works great. Stick it behind your lathe.

[Aaron Buys]

The more I think about it my primary concern is probably getting the tiny dust particles that would pass through a standard DC system and circulate around the room. What air cleaners do you guys use? Or perhaps I need to look again at an outdoor exhaust system through one of my basement windows (thanks for reminding me James=). One of the guys on here advised against it since I live in Michigan and I would have heating battle going on but I think it would be workable in any season other than the winter and even then perhaps I could just exhaust for a few hours when I'm finished working for the day. Without airflow from the workroom to the rest of the house (no ducts run to the room) and a sealed door, I don't think it would change my heating/cooling bill much. Perhaps there is a window exhaust fan I could fit into a daylight window without much problem. Has anybody done this type of setup?