The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Tool Chest Dust collection.

The love of my life picked up a copy of Fine Homebuilding and read an article on shop design. She now insists that we will need a dust collection system. Of course, the guy who wrote the article said that two-stage collectors are the best.
Does a homeowner type shop really need a thousand dollar dust collector? How about one of the smaller ones? I'll only be using 1 tool at a time.

Jim Bow,

Wow...a home shop, with dust collection no less! I don't use any in my woodworking shop but the place is a dusty mess. I would think a small unit on its own little wheeled dolly would be more than enough.

Grizzly makes a whole bunch of vacuum/dust bag units that roll around and plug into the wall. The big challenge will be getting the proper dust hood on the saw or whatever to actually capture the dust and chips.

EDIT. They make some pretty hefty shop vacs. As a point of use dust collector one of these would be perfect.

Stuart

I use a medium sized, two bagger for my shop. I also have valves at each tool so I can shut everything but the tool being used down to increase suction. It works very well that way. I even have the main line run across the ceiling to keep it out of the way. Make sure you put in a floor attachment so it picks up what your floor sweep picks up - no more dust pans,
Scott

I really suggest spending some time looking at this site.

http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyclone/index.cfm

It has tons and tons of great information, least of which are the health hazards associated with dust from wood working. I build a similar cyclone as shown on the site, except that it's for my metal shop instead of wood.

Hope this helps. Paul.

I have a portable dust collector with a 4" hose I use in my garage, and I really like it but I wish it was bigger. My next project is a small cyclone so I don't have to empty the bag as often.

Grizzly makes really good, inexpensive collectors, but the ones from Harbor Freight are actually pretty good too. You don't have to spend a lot of money to get halfway decent dust collection. It really does make the air quality in the building better. I don't have to keep cleaning my glasses when I'm using it. I've spent a total of $150 on dust collection.

An even better idea is one of the filter based air purifiers that you hang from the ceiling. They are easy to make yourself, and really cut down on the dust that settles out and collects on things. Either that or exhaust your dust collector air outside.

There's a good woodworking forum over at www.sawmillcreek.org. There are people from all levels of experience over there and they are very helpful and into shop-made solutions. Just don't let them talk you into buying festool, or you won't be able to afford to eat.

Dust collectors in a woodworking shop A very good idea. I put one in my shop a few years ago, and it does a terrific job. Its a Delta 1 1/2 HP unit,which I bought on sale for around $200.You dont need to spend a thousand or so on one. Go to your nearest woodworking store and look around. Good ones made by Delta,Jet,Penn Industries,Grizzly,and others. I used 4 inch PCV piping to pipe up my shop.And shutoffs at each power tool,so I am getting the full suction when I am using it.Install runs to your major tools,tables saw,radial arm saw,joiner,planer,sanders,etc.You will be surprised at how much dust they collect and how much cleaner your shop stays.And oh yeah all that dust you would be breathing in.Also my neigbor likes it,cause when I empty it out he tills the sawdust into his garden.

I have an excellent book on dust control, Woodshop Dust Control, that I would would recommend or loan if needed. It was written by a former editor of Fine Woodworking. It has a multitude of ideas, drawings and ways to save your lungs and choosing, installing a collection system. I had the opportunity to build a 40x40 woodshop at work and a lot of ideas from this book was incorporated. If you use PVC or plastic blast gates make sure they are grounded. If anyone would like to borrow PM me
Dan

I have the 2 bag unit Harbor Freight calls "2 horsepower" connected to several tools with 4 inch PVC and blast gates. After several hours of use the shop was covered in very fine dust which many of these bag units can't filter out. I replaced the bag wiht a large industrial pleated paper filter which has stopped the fine dust problem. The system doesn't move enough air to capture all the dust from most of the larger tools. If I were to start over I would build the system described by Bill Pentz and exhaust the cyclone to the outside.