Dust collection question f/u.

[Dan Forman]

From my recent "newbie" post, I get the impression that dc is not all that useful for lathe work. Do any of you use it for other than final sanding? When turning dry stock? What is your usual tatio of turning green: dry? I gather that much bowl work is done with green, whereas spindle would be more likely dry. Is this a reasonable assumption?

I have a 2 hp cyclone, but it seems there are some risks associated with wet wood in that it can clog filters, but I'm not sure that would be a problem with a cyclone, as nearly all the dust would be out of the airstream by time it hit the filter. Buildup on the ductwork would certainly be a concern, as well as possible rusting of the duct and cyclone innards.

For those who read my other post, I'm trying to decide where to put a full sized lathe in my shop. From those responses, it would seem that the small adjacent room would be the logical place, rather than the main shop, though it would make dust COLLECTION more difficult, it would make debris MANAGEMENT much simpler, and keep wet stuff off of my cast iron surfaces. Thanks again,

Dan

[Paul Engle]

Dan, I have asthma and my DC is a must in my shop, I use a flex tube on the lathe for turning and sanding and general clean up, mine discharges out side so no filter or bag problem , just heating the place during the winter I run the wood stove in the house and it draws thru to the shop, which is very well insulated so winters are not bad as far as keeping shop temp moderate for finishing as well, ( I have electric base board heater , 6" fg walls , 10" foam in the floor and 12 " fg in the overhead and it keeps the shop very good 14 x 20 with a 4x6 kick out) .

[Kevin McPeek]

If you do use your DC it's worthwhile to have a chip separator. With a large unit like you have it would be useful when turning dry wood. I probably wouldn't ever use it while turning green wood, but that's just me.

[Jon McCoy]

Absolutely critical for me, final sanding, any scraping, and I try to let it suck down whatever chips it can -- it doesn't get all of them, but better than nothing. I haven't yet tried green wood, so I don't know how well it'd work on that.

I have a ClearVue cyclone, with 6" drop at the lathe. When I empty the bin at the end of a session, I'm happy I didn't have to sweep or breathe all that debris.

-jon-

[Steven Wilson]

I find my DC shroud (connected to a 2HP Oneida Commercial) is usefull for turning pens, cork (for fishing rod handles), small projects, and some spindle work, and the final work (shear scrape, sanding) on most projects. I find the DC is useless for rough turning green wood, bowls, hollow forms, and anything that produces copious quantities of shavings. Not only will my DC not cope with the volume of chips produced, if it did manage to cope my DC bin would fill up too quickly. For turning green, and hollowing I let the chips go where they may and wear a full face respirator (like a Trend Airshield). Then I shovel the shavings into the garden.

[John Hart]

Also...you might want to keep in mind Dan, that even though you start out with green wood....the second stage of drying, turns it into dry wood. Finish turning is a dry, dusty bidness.

[Dan Forman]

Ok, what I think I'll do is set up the lathe in the other room, and run a 6" duct to it, but only use th dc for dry stock. Many thanks to y'all for your direction, this will work out best for the flat shop too, to have the lathe in it's own environ. I REALLY wouldn't want to have to move it once it's set up, so I think you saved me a lot of work.


Dan

[Richard Madison]

Dan, Good plan. Small room good for chip and debris collection, especially when roughing a log with bark. DC line good for sanding & dry wood dust collection. Plastic and/or cardboard on the lathe ways also good when turning wet, ESPECIALLY oak, which can make stains/corrosion(sp?) within minutes.

[Burt Alcantara]

I don't use my DC when using the lathe. I used to use it to vacuum up the shavings. My DC is a ClearVue which is no longer clear. I used it to vacuum up very wet pine shavings. The sap got all over the insides and put a thin layer of sap all over the inside of the cyclone.

Now, I just sweep it up.

I do turn a lot of dry wood but use a cartridge mask and just sweep up. Eventually, I will use the DC to get that nasty dust so it doesn't propagate all over the shop.

Burt

[Reed Gray]

I did build a separate room for my lathe. One reason was that it had a ceiling with space above the room for lumber storage. I do have the dc on while turning and sanding dry wood. Never use it for chip/shaving collection as I can curn out 50 plus gallons of shavings a day easy when turning bowls. Another reason for the room was to contain the shavings and dust. Especially when turning dry wood, the dc doesn't get it all.
robo hippy