Small Garage Dust Collection on a <1000$ budget

[PHILIP MACHIN]

Good Morning all!

I'm a new woodworker, I've posted a few times now and you guys have been a tremendous amount of help so far. I appreciate all the advice.

My work area is about half of a 24 x 24 2 car garage. I've already seen from the few projects I've completed that dust control is a problem. My lungs were actually a little irritated after my last project. So since then I have purchased a respirator that I wear, unfortunately I have a huge beard that I'm not that willing to shave off so it doesn't have the best seal in the world. I also got a HEPA filter for my shop vac and started using it more with the tools that have ports, but it clogs up quite fast. I also set up a box fan to exhaust out the garage door.

So, I am interested in looking into improving my situation. I came across this blog https://www.danpattison.com/blog/201...tion-solutions that seems to have a very economical and effective solution, and I wanted to get your opinions of it. The price is right, and he seems to operate in a similar sized shop. If you have any cheaper recommendations for similar equipment that'll get the job done, that is appreciated as well.

Dust collection seems to be a passionate topic for a lot of folks here, and I can appreciate that some people have the room/money to buy giant dedicated systems. I am trying to keep this less than 1,000$ though and I don't have the means to expand beyond my small shop at this time.

Thanks!

Phil

[Prashun Patel]

I have a super dust deputy and a regular one for the shop vac. I like them both. They work as advertised.

If you can, vent the output of your blower outside; this will eliminate the need for a filter.

[ChrisA Edwards]

My system probably falls within your budget. I have a 30' x 30' x 10' shop. All my ducting is down 30' of one wall and about 15' of the back wall. This is all 5".
I have a Jet 708659k DC-1100VX-CK ($749), which I converted into a two stage with an Oneida Supy Dust Deputy XL and a 55 gallon drum.

I use this with my SawStop Table saw, Hammer A3-31 Jointer/Planer, 19" Drum Sander, Belt Sander, Bandsaw and router tables. I have a couple of the iVac switches, which turn the DC On and Off when I use one of the power tools. Most of my power tools have 4" dust ports whit the exception of the two Hammer machines which have 5" ports. I connect all of these with 4" flex hose.

I research more expensive/powerful systems, but the lack of saw dust left after cutting operations, makes me wonder what extra capacity I actually need.

It works very well and keeps my working area clean.

Hope this helps.

[Bruno Jean]

Oneida mini gorilla is good for medium size tools (3 to 5 inch dust ports).

If you can capture the dust at the source, your air will be HEPA clean.

[Stan Calow]

Dust deputy, and keep the door open with a box fan when you can.

[Joe Hendershott]

My system probably falls within your budget. I have a 30' x 30' x 10' shop. All my ducting is down 30' of one wall and about 15' of the back wall. This is all 5".
I have a Jet 708659k DC-1100VX-CK ($749), which I converted into a two stage with an Oneida Supy Dust Deputy XL and a 55 gallon drum.

I use this with my SawStop Table saw, Hammer A3-31 Jointer/Planer, 19" Drum Sander, Belt Sander, Bandsaw and router tables. I have a couple of the iVac switches, which turn the DC On and Off when I use one of the power tools. Most of my power tools have 4" dust ports whit the exception of the two Hammer machines which have 5" ports. I connect all of these with 4" flex hose.

I have this DC (with the metal top) and am using it with similar tools and it does just fine as stated. I use a Festool extractor with the hand held tools and between the 2 have almost no dust.

[PHILIP MACHIN]

I just got done reading Bill Pentz’s website and He’s just about scared me out of wanting to do woodworking.

[Robert Engel]

Philip,

You need to tell us what machines you have so we can give you the best advise.

Your budget is going to limit you quite a bit, used DC units can be found for very reasonable prices.

Bag filters need to be replaced with canisters.

An air filtration unit as well as an exhaust fan are also good to have.

[ChrisA Edwards]

I just got done reading Bill Pentz’s website and He’s just about scared me out of wanting to do woodworking.

A lot of folk use the Dylos air meter and find, with DC use and a filter unit, the air in their shop is cleaner than outside.

I also have a Jet 1000CFM ($399) air filtration unit mounted on my ceiling which gets turned on occasionally, depending upon what I'm doing.

For hand routing, sanding and dowel or domino cutting, most of those tools allow me to connect to a small vacuum and get 95% of the off cut.

It really is this easy to keep the dust controlled.

I recently started doing some wood turning and this, so far, makes the most dust/shavings that are hard to collect at the source. So I wear a respirator.

I think it's easy to take protective precautions that don't interfere with the fun of wood working.

[Ron Selzer]

I just got done reading Bill Pentz’s website and He’s just about scared me out of wanting to do woodworking.

everybody that reads Bill Pentz's website has roughly the same feelings
cyclones are great for dust collection filter life, however need to be sized right, too big a cyclone for your fan doesn't work well. Learned this the hard way and still working towards a good solution. a small cyclone for hand tools will greatly extend the life of your HEPA filter shop vac. Also use the paper bag liner in your shop vac.
A 20" box fan or two with 20" x 20" x 2" furnace filters will help with the amount of dust in the air that you breathe and is very inexpensive.
I want to try the Oneida Super Dust Deputy XL and a 55 gallon drum at work sometime.
Since you had lung irritation already you should look into an air supplied mask as this will work with the heavy beard.
Start with something in the way of a mask that works for YOU and add more each year as money allows.
go after the really fine dust that irritates your lungs first.
Lots of information available if you search and read, also as mentioned used equipment shows up from time to time

GOOD LUCK
Ron

[Andrew More]

I also got a HEPA filter for my shop vac and started using it more with the tools that have ports, but it clogs up quite fast. I also set up a box fan to exhaust out the garage door.

I've seen a number of variations on this cheap separator for shop vacs.
https://woodgears.ca/dust_collector/cyclone.html

You can build one in a day, or buy something like this.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Dustoppe...HD12/302643445

I would not buy a dust deputy, since I think they're over priced for what they are.

Please note that this will decrease your suction somewhat, and can be awkward to use. You can address that by adding everything to a cart like this:
https://jayscustomcreations.com/2016...-cleaner-cart/

Also something like this can be very useful for cleaning the shop air. It's effectively a used furnance blower with some filters.
https://jayscustomcreations.com/2016...-cleaner-cart/

[Jim Dwight]

I use a dust deputy and a rigid shop vac with their finest filter for the small tools. I also have a switch that turns the vac on when I turn on the connected tools. It did not provide enough suction to do much for my Saw Stop table saw, however. So I added the 2hp HF DC and a super dust deputy. The DC sits in about an 18 inch square space in the corner of the shop and has a run of 5 inch snap lock pipe to get to the table saw. Right now I just disconnect the table saw and connect a long flex hose to the planer, jointer, or router table. I may start running more snap lock for a drop for my CMS/RAS and a dedicated port for the flex hose yet this week.

I had a 1hp DC but I got rid of it, it didn't move enough air. I like the HF 2hp a lot better. I have it discharging outside. My setup is certainly nothing fancy but it works for me. I tend to underestimate cost but I think it should be at least close to your target. If you mostly use smaller tools you should probably start with the shop vac setup. Looks like you can get a pretty big rigid shop vac for close to $100 and the cyclone for about $50 so it shouldn't eat too far into your budget but I would get the best filter too. With a coupon you can get the HF DC under $200. But the cyclone is kind of pricey and piping adds up. Still you ought to be able to stay pretty close to your budget.

I have also used a thien baffle, the idea behind the trash can separator. They work well for chips but not fine dust. A cyclone does better with the fine dust. It is the fine dust that clogs your filter (or your lungs). If your climate is moderate, like mine, discharging outside eliminates the filter improving the DC performance.

[jeff norris 2011]

A few value hints:

- looks outside of (hobby) woodworking for filters (if you can't vent outside). Any major city has more than a few industrial filter suppliers or you can go online to finding (shipping is $20-$30). They come in all shapes sizes and level of filtration. Prices are about 1/2 to 1/3 of what you find in woodworking stores for products with the same specs. You have to do some homework though, but if you catch a nice guy at the place you are buying for they can be very helpful.

- A mask. You can spend a lot of money chasing the fine dust. Masks are cheap and hard to beat. Don't need them all the time, just when you are making fine dust that is not easy to catch. Dollar for dollar - impossible to beat.

- Duct works of many sizes is getting torn out of building all the time. You can find it free at local dump or cheap used if you look for it.

- Shop Vac sized Cyclones work well. As they are just some cheap plastic there are many 'off brand' options for $20 you can find.

[ChrisA Edwards]

That Jet DC, post #3, just went on sale for $674.

[Mark Daily]

Phillip, I have a 10’ X 20’ “3rd car garage” shop. I have an earlier version of the below linked DC which is now selling for $365.

https://www.grizzly.com/products/Gri...lector/G1028Z2

I also have the Jet AFS 1000B air filter with washable first stage filter which filters much better than the cheap paper filter that came with it.
Ive seen it online currently for just under $400.

After reading the Pence material I bought a Dylos particle meter to see how effective my system is. When running, the dust collector is filtering small particles in the range around 100 which is very good. The Jet is doing about the same, so the air coming out of each is very clean.

When using the table saw, chop saw or sander the particle counts can get into the 2000-3000 range which is “poor” but running the Jet on high will reduce that to around 100 or less in about 10-15 minutes.

I put my shop together many years ago and used 4” flex hose to construct the entire system.

Hope this helps.