weird question: dust and shavings control in neander shop

[David Weaver]

I have a setup similar to dereks, except the can is a 33 gallon garbage can. I still end up with a lot of stuff in the vac, but maybe 1/4th as much as there would be without that goofy dust deputy thing.

What I did find out with the dust deputy, though, is that the inlet is a clogging point for plane shavings. If I was less messy and wasn't so tightly spaced in the shop, I would dustpan the plane shavings first, but I'm not, i'm not and I don't. I run an input into the garbage can through the lid and have the line to the vacuum through the top of the dust deputy (and stick a piece of cardstock onto the DD's inlet to block it). If I ever use power tools (like a planer) again, I'll run it, but it's a pretty worthless device for plane shavings and an incredibly overpriced piece of moulded plastic at $60 (without the bucket). It's really nearly beyond me how they came up with that price. I found one discount, even at that, it was really underwhelming what you get for the money.

We also have a no-shoes in the house policy, but my wife is really over the top about clean in general, so it has nothing to do with woodworking.

[Jerome Hanby]

Maybe you could adapt one of those air resistance stationary bikes into a dust collector...

[Derek Cohen]

Hi David

I have never experienced the DD clogging with plane shavings. If yours is, then I suspect that there is insufficient suck from your vaccuum. I use a Fein, and this is excellent. It drives the standard 2 1/2" (I think) hose across the length and width of my shop (double garage). It also drives a 4" hose, which sucks up shavings from the floor and, amazingly, from a Delta lunchbox planer (thicknesser) - not as well as the 6" attached to a 2 hp dust extracter, but good enough when I do not want to go to the trouble of hooking it up.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Zach England]

I have a 4 inch hose from my DC with a blast gate attached to a leg of the workbench. On the ends of the hose I have a funnel-shaped attachment about 6 inches in diameter that I use to suck up dust, shavings, pencils, sheets of paper that contain plans and important notes, safety glasses, wood bench dogs, small wood parts, etc.

[David Weaver]

Hi David

I have never experienced the DD clogging with plane shavings. If yours is, then I suspect that there is insufficient suck from your vaccuum. I use a Fein, and this is excellent. It drives the standard 2 1/2" (I think) hose across the length and width of my shop (double garage). It also drives a 4" hose, which sucks up shavings from the floor and, amazingly, from a Delta lunchbox planer (thicknesser) - not as well as the 6" attached to a 2 hp dust extracter, but good enough when I do not want to go to the trouble of hooking it up.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Derek, I also have a 2 1/2 or 2 1/4 or whatever the larger OD hose is. Where they get stuck is at the inlet since there is a step there where the inlet is smaller in diameter than the vac hose. It is the fore plane shavings that cause a problem, because they are stiff enough to get stuck there and then slow other shavings down and cause a pile-up. Jack shavings are usually broken up and smoother shavings are too fine to have enough structure to stick.

Have you cut back that inlet at all so that the diameter of it when a shaving first meets it is closer to the diameter of the hose connected to it?

A bigger issue is that my vac might have too much suck (it is about a 200 cfm vac) and if I use the cyclone as a cyclone, plane shavings go right around in circles and then up through the cyclone into the vac (or they go straight up without having gone around). The strange thing is if I run it straight through and hook the vac to the top of the cyclone and just block the side inlet, I get better performance (in terms of the % of shavings that end up in the can vs. the vac) than I do if I just hook a hose to the top of the can and not use the cyclone bit at all. Not hugely different, but easily enough better that you can fill the can without having to empty the vac at all.

It works well as a vac with dust, though. As you describe, machine tool shavings are no issue.

The side bonus is that if I want less draw (because there is something on the floor under the shavings that I can't find), I can just unblock the side inlet and I still have enough suction at the hose to pick up stuff, even though it is probably half or less of full thrust.

[Eric Brown]

I use a big Rubbermaid storage container. I put it at the end of where I am working and try to put the shavings in as I work. I can move it easily to under a vice or lift it up to the bench and sweep the top clean with a bench brush. I find it easier to stay clean than wade around in it. You can see it here:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ure!&highlight=

Eric

[David Keller NC]

Zahid - I'd second the suggestion to get a small air conditioner. 18th century woodworkers may not have had one, but they weren't working in Texas during the summer, either.

Failing that, consider getting a craftsman shop vac. These are a step above what the Borg sells in both capacity and (importantly) noise, for just a few extra dinero. Generally, even with the "extra expense" hepa filter upgrade, this is going to cost you less than $80. And they are very quiet - I can talk over the phone in my shop with it running, somethign I definitely can't do with my dedicated DC in the "on" position.

[David Weaver]

Both places (borg and sears) should have quiet shop vacs now. It does look like the sears vac might be a bit cheaper than the noise reduced ridgid, though when you compare 12 amp 16-gallon noise-reduced vacs.

[Jonas Baker]

I know that hand tools are generally considered less dusty than power equipment, but I seem to generate a massive amount of dust and shavings with my planes. Mind you this may be the result of allowing my planes to become a little more dull than I would like them to be. I use a shop vac with some frequency, and other than the loud noise of my home depot shop vac, it isn't much of a burdon. When doing heavy planing, the vacuming becomes less frequent and the piles take over a bit, but it's not hard to vacuum up at the end of the day. I think if you keep on top of it, the mess can be avoided. I'd also recommend an A/C which has the added benefit of lowering humidity! Which can only help in a texas summer.

I have to say, I really would like a more quiet vacuum cleaner, so I may try out a craftsman, unless I can somehow splurge on a festool or fein, and of course the cyclone attachment seems like a great idea. By the way, what is the Borg?

[Jerome Hanby]

By the way, what is the Borg?

Big Orange Retail Giant, a reference to Home Depot, but applies to any of that type of home center. Could also be a Star Trek Next Generation inspired comparison of those big boxy stores to the cubical Borg spacecraft.

[Mark ten Haaf]

Maybe this is a dumb idea, but if wind is the factor here, maybe a return to the original function of the "threshold" is in order. They were first used when commoners had dirt floors, and used straw or thresh for insulation. The piece of wood secured to the bottom of the doorframe would prevent the wind from blowing it out of the house.
I imagine that most of the shavings are blown around fairly close to the floor. If you had a dedicated piece of stock that you could place in front of the door only during your shop time, I think that would eliminate most of the migration of the shavings from the garage to the house.
On the other hand, I can imagine one of your children racing out of the door and tripping over it, and then you would have to sift through the shavings to find their teeth....Maybe a dust collector that separates teeth from shavings? Wait, then you wouldn't need the threshold.....Man, I suck at thinking.

[Pam Niedermayer]

I figure you'd have a no shoes policy for inside the shop too.

Heh, heh, no. In the shop I have a "must wear" shoes policy.

Pam

[Trevor Walsh]

I can't answer your question but I'm in the process of putting dust control on my power tools. Yesterday, I was doing some work with hand planes and a big pile of shavings were building up at my feet. I actually started thinking of ways to attach a dust collection hose to a hand plane. Then I said, "This is a dumb idea." and didn't pursue it any further.

Mike

I believe that's called a Festool.

[Jim Matthews]

Nah - thinking is hard. You're doing fine.

That's an elegant engineering solution, particularly if it is effective.
I wonder if you could block the bottom third of each door with foam core board from the artist supply shop?

Keep it low enough that the kids could step over, high enough to keep the breeze down?

An interesting problem, anyway.

An alternate storage solution