Best Hood or “Gulp” for lathe dust collection

[Thomas Wilson80]

I’ve heard several people mention they use a “mini gulp” for dust collection at the lathe, but when I google that there are all sorts of brands/sizes/shapes. Is there one that works best or are they all comparable (prices vary widely).

Any recommendations would be appreciated.
Thanks, Tom

[Steve Eure]

I would think they would all be about the same. I use the "Big Gulp" on my lathe. It works great but gets in the way of my banjo if I try to get it close to my work. I made my own support that lifts up and down and in and out. I may have to modify it one day. I think anything that you can get close to the work will be sufficient to capture the dust, even just a 4" hose.

[William McAloney]

I use a Big Gulp (Griz # D4242). Early on it was attached to the lathe bed with various screws, clamps, duct tape, anti-gravity beam, etc. Now it sits atop an adjustable base modeled closely after one shown on this forum. I used a brake rotor as a weighted base, 2 x 4 scraps, leftover stovepipe, and some nuts & bolts. It's easy to position where it's effective yet unobtrusive. I'm not so concerned about the heavier particles which fall to the floor, just want to minimize the airborne dust and fines. When (if) springtime comes, I plan to put the dust collector outside to further reduce the super-fine stuff which passes through the filter bag.IMG_20210218_084829550.jpg

[Prashun Patel]

I have a Powertec Big Gulp. The trick isn't the hood; it's positioning it.

[tom lucas]

I have a powertec big gulp. It works but does get in the way of the banjo. When I move to a new shop in a couple of years, I'll likely make something like robo-hippy's - from a small plastic drum cut in half. I think this might require significantly more flow (a bigger DC) to work effectively. I'd like to have one that covers the whole bed without moving it. Something I can leave in place all the time. And I'd love to have a floor sweep at the lathe too. Another problem with these is if you drop your sandpaper it's gone. So I'm thinking of adding a screen of sorts to the opening.

[Dick Mahany]

I found this one at a woodworking supply store. Don't know the brand. It is a little bulky but did a good job. I wound up enlarging the port to 6" to match my cyclone. The biggest draw back from my experience was that it was difficult to position depending on the type of turning I was doing.

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[Thomas Wilson80]

I found this one at a woodworking supply store. Don't know the brand. It is a little bulky but did a good job. I wound up enlarging the port to 6" to match my cyclone. The biggest draw back from my experience was that it was difficult to position depending on the type of turning I was doing.

Did the 6” upgrade improve it significantly? I could do that as well though was planning on using a 4” and just purchased a 6 to 2x4” blast gate.....maybe I could do 2 4” gulps.....

[Thomas Wilson80]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Sounds like I need to plan the positioning more so than worrying about the specific attachment!

[Dick Mahany]

Did the 6” upgrade improve it significantly? I could do that as well though was planning on using a 4” and just purchased a 6 to 2x4” blast gate.....maybe I could do 2 4” gulps.....

The 6" upgrade did help considerably but my 3hp cyclone had enough CFM to make it worth it. Even so, the dust collection suction off to the sides fell off pretty quickly. If I had side shields or an upper shield it would have been more effective.

One thing the 6" upgrade did was to collect nearly all of the long continuous polyurethane strings when I did pen turning with Alumilite. I hadn't planned on using it for that as it was primarily intended for sanding, but it worked great.

[Alex Zeller]

I'm cheap and went to the blue box store and bought some duct work for a floor register. I also picked up a reducer to go down to 4" but in hindsight I should have bought bigger flex pipe to get more air flow. The nice thing about the duct is that my lathe is up against a cement wall. Most of the expensive options have the hose come straight out the back. The duct I got is adjustable from straight out the back to 90 degrees.

[Robert Hayward]

Here is what I use. Do not know if it is the "best" but easily positioned.

[Dave Bunge]

The "Black Hole" dust collector system, available from Craft Supply or Packard Woodworking, is expensive but very effective. It's held by a track that bolts on to the back of the lathe main body. It is very easy to position close to your work when you're sanding and to move out of the way when you're not.

I'm sure you could make one up yourself for less money, but the the Black Hole is a well executed turn key solution if you don't want that hassle.

[Larry Frank]

I use a bell mouthed hood and it works better than the big gulps.

[Ron Borowicz]

I agree with Dave on the "Black Hole". Have had mine for 2 years and it works well.

[Thomas Wilson80]

Thanks for all the replies!
Tom