Low cost dust collection?

[Rich Rice]

I need to find a better way.. I'm choking on sawdust.. Any good systems around for low $$$? I need it to be pretty portable, and to be able to adapt it to various machines easily. Opinions gratefully accepted...

Thanks!

-Rich

[Mike Heidrick]

Rich, one cheap solution is the Harbor Freight 2hp Dust Collector by Central Machinery. Their prices vary from week to week but the coupons from their online list work well - $150 should be average price for it. The Wynn enironmental cannister can be added or the bags can be replaced with lower micron versions (lowere than the 30 it comes with) from places like rockler and others. Should set you back $250 or so with the cannister or other bags. It is on a mobile base. HF also sells a flex accessory package for teh DC for another $40. The hose that comes with it is pretty good.

[Chuck Lenz]

A dust collector is a start, and I have one. A Grizzly 2hp with low micron bags. I bought a Delta AP075 downdraft table for sanding that hooks up to the dust collector. But if you really want to get serious about the dust you need to have some kind of air filtration also. I finally bought one last year and hung it up in the rafters, it is a Delta 50-875. Before that I used a 20" box fan with sheet metal channel riveted to the fan houseing. I found a cut to size washable filter that TrueBlue makes or use to make. Sometimes I still use the box fan near where I am sanding when the object I'm sanding is too large to put on the sanding table. I also worked very hard at makeing a dust chute for my Delta contractors tablesaw that I beleive is alot better than the generic plastic dust chute that in my opinion wasn't thought out very well. I know money is hard to come by, and I'm certainly not makeing even a middle class wage. But I was geting very tired of the dust in my shop also and the older I get the more concerned I get about working in a unhealthy and potentialy explosive enviroment. It took me a couple years to buy what I got, and now I feel alot more comfortable about the surroundings I'm working in, and I can breath easier at night. Nothings cheap. You can try cheap, but is that really what you'll be satisfied with when the day is over ? Buy it once, not twice. http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/Woodchuck_/FanFilterBack.jpg http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c89/Woodchuck_/NewHood2.jpg

[Rich Rice]

Both suggestions look interesting. Thanks for taking the time to reply. ;)

[Bill Huber]

Just how cheap do you mean cheap?????

I had a shop vac and just added a gate kit, a Mini CV06 Cyclone and some hose.
Its not the best DC in the world but it is all I have and it works ok.

I also have a 3000 cfm exhaust fan that is on all the time, my shop is only 12x16 so it moves a lot of air for that small of a space.


Pictures can be seen in this thread.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=61686

[Rich Rice]

I guess "cheap" is a pretty broad term.. I just hate all the dust I'm generating, and want to minimize it. I'm currently doing prototype guitar bodies, which translates to hours of MDF template routing, jointer, planer, bandsawing, and sanding every day. Although some of my tools are portable, some are pretty hefty machines that I drag out when I need them. Seldom happens in the same spot, and I need to sweep, blow, and rearrange things daily. I often wind up spraying lacquer finishes in the same area (out of necessity) so the airborne dust becomes problematic, and the piles of coarser sawdust is a real mess. I guess I'm looking for an inexpensive method of minimizing the mess as I work, in order to increase my productivity and save cleanup time. A compressor and a leaf blower aren't the best. I have a decent shop vac, and thought about running that as I work, but it it really loud, and I'm in a residential neighborhood. The tools are bad enough. I guess a portable unit is the only practical way to go for now, but I would like strength and relatively low noise levels. The cyclone looks very cool, I had not seen that before.

[Chuck Lenz]

That ClearVue mini cyclone is cuter than a bugs ear.

[Wilbur Pan]

Hi Rich,

How big is your shop, and what machines do you have in it? This will help with figuring out how much dust collection power you need.

[Rich Rice]

Hi Rich,

How big is your shop, and what machines do you have in it? This will help with figuring out how much dust collection power you need.

I'm in a 2 car garage, but can only use half of it. The other half is filled to the rafters with a camper, bikes, and some misc. storage. As far as equipment goes, here's a partial list..

14" Rikon bandsaw
6" Central Machinery rabbeting jointer
13" Steel City planer
2 drill presses (1 large and one small)
dual wheel bench grinder
a couple of scroll saws (benchtop models)
12" dual wheel buffing station
arc welder and associated hand grinders
Craftsman router table w 1.75 hp router permanently attached
2.5 hp plunge router
laminate trimmer
DeWalt 12" miter saw
10" portable table saw
2 hp dual tank compressor
hand held portable belt and finishing sanders and various (innumerable) hand tools


I need to stow everything each afternoon so my wife can fit her Tahoe in there, and it's dark blue. The dust is overwhelming... :eek:

[David DeCristoforo]

Cheapest possible dust collection system:
A funnel
A garden hose
A old canister style vacuum cleaner...

Oh..and don't forget the roll of duct tape.....

[James Phillips]

If you are working with MDF alot DC is a MUST....

[Pat Germain]

I use a Delta 50-760 for my garage shop and works quite well. Yes, there are better dust collectors. But, it's the proverbial, "How much do you want to spend?" For the money, I find this DC to be a very effective solution.

http://www.deltaportercable.com/Products/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=11492

[Josiah Bartlett]

I find my Harbor Freight portable unit to be pretty adequate for one tool, especially if I park it outside and run the hose out under the door. It keeps up with my 13" planer just fine. My shop equipment is about the same as yours except I don't have to share the space with my wife.

[Wilbur Pan]

I'm in a 2 car garage, but can only use half of it. The other half is filled to the rafters with a camper, bikes, and some misc. storage. As far as equipment goes, here's a partial list....

Here's my short answer:

Get a 1 1/2 hp dust collector with a 1 micron filter, a 10' length of 4" flex hose (although if you can go shorter, that would be better), and move the dust collector from machine to machine as you use them. Also, use a blower to vent air outside your garage, or get an air cleaner. I have the JDS Dust Force dust collector and a JDS 750-ER air cleaner in my basement workshop that is about the size of a 1 car garage. Together they list for $668, but I got them at one of the Woodcraft 10% off sales, with free shipping, to boot. I don't know if that counts as cheap for you, but it's probably what you need.

Long answer:

The best way to deal with dust is to trap it at the source. This is where the dust collector comes in. The best way to trap dust at the source is to have a dust collector that moves a lot of air, or CFM. The enemy of CFM is resistance in the flow of air through the dust collection system. Resistance comes in three main forms: ducting that is too narrow, ducting that is too long, and a clogged bag filter.

Dealing with the first two is easy. Get ducting that has a wide enough diameter, and keep the duct runs short. Ideally, you should have 6" diameter pipe, but from a practical standpoint in a small shop having a short length of 4" flex tubing is acceptable, as long as you keep it less than 10' long. The shorter, the better. Since it looks like that you plan on moving a dust collector around, this is probably the easiest solution.

Dealing with the issue of the filter bag clogging up is more difficult. It's not hard to see why less air will flow through the filter as it gets clogged with dust. The best way of dealing with this is using a cyclone dust separator. This diverts the dust to a second container before it has a chance to clog up the bag filter. The problem with a cyclone is that the cyclone itself will add resistance to the system, so you'll need a more powerful blower -- at least 3 HP. Also, a cyclone system is not going to be as portable as your typical 1 1/2 HP dust collector, and it will take up more space.

In my shop, I went with a 1 1/2 HP dust collector instead of a cyclone for two reasons. My shop ceiling is low enough that I couldn't install a cyclone system, and space. If my shop was bigger, I definitely would have gone the cyclone route.

Now, even if you have a very powerful cyclone dust collector system, you still will not be able to get all the fine dust which is the major cause of health issues. The dust you can see makes a mess, but the dust that is so fine that you can't see it is the stuff that will kill you -- or damage your lungs. So you need a backup plan to get the dust that you miss collecting at the source.

The best way to clear airborne dust is to vent it outside. You mentioned that you live in a residential area, so opening the garage door may not be a feasible thing to do. But if you can do that, do so. If have a window that you can put a box fan in to blow air outside the shop, you should do so. Even better would be to install a blower/vent in one of the walls of your garage.

If you can't vent the air outside, then you'll need an air cleaner. The biggest mistake that is made in buying an air cleaner for a woodworking shop is cheaping out on the capacity of the air cleaner. Conventional wisdom says to get an air cleaner that can circulate the room volume 6-10 times an hour. I would shoot for something like 25 times an hour. Luckily, if one air cleaner can't do the job, all you have to do is install more air cleaners. A number of smaller air cleaners distributed around the shop is more effective than one gigantic one. For a 20x20x10 room, I would get two air cleaners if you can't vent the air outside.

Hope this helps.

By the way, I checked out your website. Nice job on the guitars!

[Rich Rice]

Thanks to everyone for your advice, and for taking the time to reply to my questions. For the moment, I found a Delta AP-400 at Lowe's for $199. When I went to check out, the register gave a $20 mail in rebate. I also bought a pair of 20" box fans and some 3M Ultra Allergen furnace filters to run in the garage. I always work with both big doors open, and can point the fans out the doors. I haven't yet been able to run the machines (busy day today), but it seems like it should help quite a bit. I'm still trying to figure out a system for when I'm hand routing, as that is usually the main activity. My router table has a DC port on it, but I hardly ever use it. I need to build a better table, and a better router to mount to the new table. This one flexes and wobbles, which has ruined more than one project..

At any rate, I wanted to thank you all again, and the suggestions were very good.

-Rich

[Jake Helmboldt]

Rich, the Delta 50-760 that Pat mentioned is the best 1.5 HP portable DC out there. FWW did a test last year and the CFM on that unit made it the best overall (as mentioned CFM is the key number). Plus it comes with a 1-micron bag. While a cannister filter is preferable the Delta doesn't need to be retrofitted right from jump street.

Now here is the good part. You'll see some threads about Lowes clearing them out for some stupidly cheap prices. I thought I did well by getting it for about $75 off retail. Now I'm seeing guys getting them for $75 in some rare instances. I'd call around to all of the Lowes and see if you can find one still around. Long shot, but worth the effort. And make sure it is the 1.5 not the 1hp model.

As for an air cleaner, I made one w/ a furnace blower in a plywood case. Three furnace filters stacked gets the dust out of the air and cuts down on what settles everywhere.