Q for the Cyclone Owners

[Chris Jenkins]

I'm really close to getting a cyclone, but before I get let down I'd like to know just one thing. If I devote the time and money to a ClearVue, Wynn Filters & proper dust piping and gates will I still have that fine patina of dust all over the shop?

I ask this cause I think of that patina sitting on my shop tools as the same air as the dust floating everywhere in the house (basement shop, granted the furnace is in a seperate room, but their is no way to "Seal" the dust away from it). Now I don't care about the dust in my shop, and I know that dust is a necessary evil of woodworking, but that isn't to say my family has to suffer.

If I were to do all this would the patina of dust disappear?

Thanks,

Chris

[Michael Lutz]

It would probably depend on how great the connection is to your tools (dust hoods). If you are able to capture all of the dust at the tool, the dust level in your shop would be similar to the rest of the house. The likelihood of capturing all the dust is very slim because the dust collection from many tools is poor unless you reengineer the dust pick-ups.

Mike

[Joe Chritz]

If you don't have any dust collection now the difference you see will be huge.

The only fine dust I get settling is when I spray finish. With a downdraft table I can sand for hours and not have any dust settling on everything.

There will always be a mess, because as mentioned you can't collect it all but you can get almost all.

Go for it you won't be sorry.

Joe

[Frank Snyder]

Chris - I think you'd want to augment your shop with an ambient air cleaner as well. I have the 2HP Oneida Super Dust Gorilla and the Jet air cleaner, and together, they keep my shop as clean as possible. The ambient air cleaner gets the airborne stuff the cyclone misses, or more accurately, what the DC port on the specific tool missed (like Michael pointed out). The end result will really depend on the tool and the efficiency of its dust port. I think you can greatly reduce the amount of fine dust, but eliminating it completely may be real challenge for you. Ultimately, I would want want both the cyclone and air cleaner if my shop was in the basement.

[Merle Clor]

Chris,
As others have mentioned, you will see an improvement, but it does depend on the efficiency of the dust collection of your tools and the tools you use most. For example, I have a SCMS and dust collection is poor due to the nature of the beast. Also, when ripping on the TS, I get a lot of dust kicked up. The air cleaner helps, but I can still smell oak dust the next day when I go into the shop again. On the plus side, I no longer set off my smoke alarm when working in the shop and that was a too frequent occurrence before the cyclone and air cleaner. :)
Good luck,
Merle

[Charles Wilson]

Okay, I want to play the game too.

I am going to be setting up a shop in the basement. It is in the beginning stages. I will be able to seal off the furnace by setting up walls.

Now, lets say that I get a dust collector (my choice of cyclone) and an ambient air cleaner. Is there any way that I can also ventilate the shop area by exhausting the air in the shop outside of my basement via a window? If so, would this make a noticeable difference in the amount of dust in the shop and therefore the house?

Regards,
Chuck

[Michael Lutz]

Yes, it would make some difference as long as there is a cross wind. So you would need to have two windows open preferably on opposite sides of the basement. Otherwise the air to make up the air you are exhausting outside would come from somewhere else in the house which would not be as easy or efficient as if it could come in from the open window, thus the actual ventilation will suffer. You may only want to do the ventilation at certain times of the year due to the outside temperature.

Mike

[Steve knight]

making a box behind the scms helps quite a bit. I have one of the pre fab units that slide with the saw and I get pretty much all of the fine dust if I have it in the right place. a tablesaw needs good overhead dc because quite a bit of dust comes out the top of a saw.
if you really work hard on the dc at the tool then a air cleaner is not needed. by the time the dust is in the air it's too late.

[Chris Jenkins]

Thanks for the info. I do have an air scrubber installed on my wall and I usually have it running if I know I am going to be working in the basement for a while, not the one-see two-see cuts.

What I really need to do is pipe in my DC. Half the time I haven't been using it cause I don't want to wheel it around as of now.

I have modified a few of my machines to run 6" DC ports at the source. I need to do some more work. I know machines like the SCMS are real hard to collect dust off of and I don't really try fighting this beast.

I was thinking of building a Cyclone setup from an extra 3Hp motor I have and a Cyclone Seperator. I figure dropping $150 on a cyclone seperator is cheaper than dropping 1500 on a Clearvue, at least to try, espesally for the work I get done in the basement. If I step-up the amount of projects coming out the cost could be justified.

[Larry Browning]

I didn't read all the posts in this thread, so someone else may have already said this.
I have installed the 2hp Gorilla and have hooked it up to most of my machines. To be honest, I have not seen much improvement with regard to the layer of dust on everything, maybe a little, but not much. BUT, I still need to get overhead DC to the table saw, I need to improve the DC at the Miter saw. etc... etc... I use hand held tools like routers and sanders that I sometimes hook up to the shop vac, but not always. I believe that the only way I am going to seriously reduce the ambient dust is by seriously improve collecting the dust at its source. This means better hoods at my machines, building a sanding downdraft table and finding a way to better collect dust at my other hand power tools. I suppose adding an air cleaner would help some, but everything I have read says that I would be better off spending my DC budget on collecting at the source.
So to sum things up, adding the cyclone can only work if you spend the time and effort to hook it up to your machines to where it actually collect the dust. (which I haven't done very well)

Larry

[Paul Johnstone]

Okay, I want to play the game too.

I am going to be setting up a shop in the basement. It is in the beginning stages. I will be able to seal off the furnace by setting up walls.

Now, lets say that I get a dust collector (my choice of cyclone) and an ambient air cleaner. Is there any way that I can also ventilate the shop area by exhausting the air in the shop outside of my basement via a window? If so, would this make a noticeable difference in the amount of dust in the shop and therefore the house?

Regards,
Chuck


I have a window fan that I put in my basement window. It makes a big difference. Even if you have one of those air cleaners, it's a good idea to blow the dusty air out. It's also great when you are doing finishing.. It greatly helps to blow out the finishing fumes so your house doesn't stink.

Bill Penz had a great idea on his website.. Install a powerful bathroom vent fan. I may do that when I get time. But a window fan is the same idea.. Create pressure which blows the dusty air out, instead of letting the dusty air drift all over your house.

[Paul Johnstone]

.

I was thinking of building a Cyclone setup from an extra 3Hp motor I have and a Cyclone Seperator. I figure dropping $150 on a cyclone seperator is cheaper than dropping 1500 on a Clearvue, at least to try, espesally for the work I get done in the basement. If I step-up the amount of projects coming out the cost could be justified.

The clearvue is 995 for the 5HP one.. at least that's the model I bought.
I think the "list" price is 1500, which is confusing on the website.

If you want to build your own, check out Bill Penz's page. No sense in reinventing the wheel.

[Alan Schaffter]

A couple of issues with a cyclone in your basement and for that matter a basement shop-

Make sure your furnace doesn't heat the basement- block off the heat supply and cold air returns in the shop- only the very expensive furnace filters and electronic air cleaners will adequately remove wood shop dust and they must be cleaned or changed often. The cheaper ones provide the worst filtration you can get- most dust will pass right though and will be distributed throughout your house.

If you have a gas furnace or hot water heater in the basement, don't discharge the cyclone o the outside. You will get dangerous/deadly flu gases in your shop. The best and most efficient setup otherwise is a DC with or without cyclone that discharges directly to the outside with no cartridge filter.

Blower noise can be a pain- Put the blower outside (and return the air to a shop mounted cartridge filter if a furnace is involved.)

Unless your DC gets all the dust at the source you will still have some dust in your shop- typical offenders- dust coming off the top of the TS blade-w/o top guard pickup, mitersaw- hard to shroud, random orbit and belt sanders- without pickup and/or a downdraft table, bandsaws- DC hookups are usually marginal.