What do you have for dust control

[Les Kuesel]

I'm getting tired of all the sanding dust from my lathe. My turning shop is 8X12. Any recommendations? What do you all use? Does a dust collection system really help?

[Steve Schlumpf]

Les - I suppose there are a number of solutions to your dust problem and a lot of it has to do with where your shop is located. My shop is located in my basement and as such I am very conscientious when it comes to shavings and dust control.

When I rough out bowls or hollow form blanks, the wood is very green and whatever dust it generates doesn't travel far. I have a large canvas tarp hanging from the ceiling that closes off the area around the lathe and I built a small dust control system that is basically a box using a whole house attic fan and 4 furnace filters. The home made system captures a large amount of the dust generated - but not all.

When finish turning - the wood is dry and whatever dust it generates can go all over. For that I use a Jet 650DC (1 hp dust collector) and route the 4" hose very close to my work. It works best when sanding but leaves a little to be desired when actually turning.

The other thing about dust control - I wear a Trend Airshield the entire time I turn - green or finish! Probably not the best PAPR in the world but it does the job!

Hope that helps!

[John Sheets]

Les,
When sanding I use a Jet canister dust collector connected to one of the big mouth (or something like that) plastic terminations that Woodcraft sells. Looks like a big square funnel. I mounted the thing on one of the adjustable height roller stands (discarded the roller) and it will adjust up pretty close to the workpiece.
Very little if any dust seems to avoid being sucked into the funnel.
Like Steve said, when it's green, not a whole lot of dust to worry about. I usualy just go with a dust mask with or without face shield depending on the piece.

[Terry Achey]

Les,

When sanding I place one of those big mouth funnels right up near the rear of the work with the 4" dust collector hose. Virtually no dust escapes. Of course your dust collector needs to be capable of filtering down to a couple microns to keep the fine dust out of the air.

Terry

[Andrew Derhammer]

My shirt tends to collect alot of dust and then drag it in the house!:eek::rolleyes:

[Bernie Weishapl]

Les I have the HF DC and it does a pretty good job. I have what they call a big gulp which is 13 X 13 hooked to the DC and it sure does take care of the dust. I have one on both lathes. What it doesn't get I have a air cleaner hanging from the ceiling above my two lathes that gets the rest. I also wear a Trend faceshield the entire time turning.

[Joshua Dinerstein]

Les I have the HF DC and it does a pretty good job. I have what they call a big gulp which is 13 X 13 hooked to the DC and it sure does take care of the dust. I have one on both lathes. What it doesn't get I have a air cleaner hanging from the ceiling above my two lathes that gets the rest. I also wear a Trend faceshield the entire time turning.
Hey Bernie,

Which HF DC do you have? I have seen 3, perhaps 4 from them. I am thinking about buying a different one to replace the really HUGE 2 bag one I bought and never used. Draws too darn much power. The other 2 seem to be a tiny red one and medium sized green one.

Thanks!
Joshua

[Jon McCoy]

I have a Clearvue cyclone, with 6" ducting through the shop. The mini-lathe station has 6" flex with several rare-earth magnets epoxied on the last few inches. A gallon paint can behind the lathe bed helps keep the intake in the best spot to pull sanding dust. It doesn't help with shavings, but sanding dust is nearly all captured.

-jon-

[robert baccus]

There are many ways of controling dust-you mentioned a few. i finally went to a 30" window fan mounted about 14" behind my lathe which is ahainst an outside wall. in cold weather i try to time my dry sanding to warm afternoons to prevent losing all the warm air. keeps the whole shop dustfree, also laquer free when finishing. works well!:D

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Les, as my turning work is part of my furniture making hobby shop, I have an Oneida 1.5HP cyclone for dust collection.

As others have mentioned the green stuff I sweep up, the dust I use the dust collector for.

Using either a large "funnel" or a 5" hose near the work, I can capture most of the dust from sanding operations.

Since my shop is in the basement of a townhouse, dust collection is priority #1.

Regards, Rod.

[Paul Engle]

I use a 2 hp 220 vt 1200 cfm collector w/ short run to the lathe which is next to the only window , crack the window and the hose pretty much gets it all and dumps it outside ( I live in the woods) the chip pile is nice for the flower beds after a year to season and the rotting stuff on the bottom goes to the veg garden in the fall to be tilled in and keep the clayish soil from clumping too bad .When collector was in the shop I used the bags to catch fines and a cyclone trash can for the larger stuff but got tired of dumping ( before I got my wood lathe) and knocked ahole in the shop wall and put the whole thing outside in its own covered patio with the 6 inch inlet thru the hole in the wall.