OT: Woodworking cyclists here? Dust collection question!

[a4racer]

Okay, this question is truly OT, but given the expertise and scope of the members here on the PL, I figured I'd likely get a better response, and more learned response than in some other forums!

I'm a hobby woodworker, and am getting more into it. I'll always be an amateur, but I love it. It is 180 degrees from what I do as a career, and perhaps that's why I enjoy it. I'm lucky to have a good sized garage (and with plenty of driveway space, no need to park a car inside). I'd like to expand my woodworking space in the garage, but also don't want to coat everything in there with a fine particulate dust everytime I use a power tool, for instance. My bikes / bike stands / bike workshop area is also in the garage, so I want to be able to keep that area clean and sawdust free...

Does anyone here have experience with those fancy dust collection systems for woodworking shops? Are they highly effective at keeping the dust down from power tools? I could, in theory, throw up a stud wall and enclose the bike area, but I prefer a nice open garage if at all possible...

Your experience / advice / suggestions are sought!

Thanks in advance PL!

[NHAero]

I don't know much about the specific design and specification, but at work we have a 4 person cabinetmaking shop and it's remarkably clean. Ducts connect to all the machines and the air is sucked through large trash can sized filters. So I think a key element would be to ensure that the machinery you buy has collection ports for such a system.
I'm sure there are others with more specific info.

[benb]

I went to a guitar factory last year and it was absolutely immaculate... they had a massive dust collection system plumbed through the entire factory.

All the cutting/sanding/CNC happened in enclosed spaces that were hooked up to the system. Outside everything got collected where it could go right into trucks. Not doing that in a factory would be a health & fire hazard and would probably raise hell on finish work.

At home I just rely on the dust collection on my sander (which works really well)... for everything else it goes flying and I wear a mask.

I've done a couple projects a year the last few years, nothing serious. It makes a mess, for sure the dust collection systems work, if it was a huge hobby for me I'd be doing something.

Almost all the woods can harm you over time if you don't take care. Allergic reactions, lung damage, whatever. And it seems like sometimes the nicer the wood the more it can be bad! (Mahogany, Rosewood, Ebony, etc..)

[windsurfer]

Have a Clearview in the shop. Does a very good job with tools that lend themselves to collection. Main reason for this is to keep fine dust out of my lungs, not deal with nuisance dust. Still throw some chips around when ripping -some day I will put in overhead collection to deal with this. A good collector is key, my old two bag delta could not keep up with big dust producers like the thickness sander and coated everything with fine dust.

You still need to deal with dust and chips from hand-held tools. Router is the worst as many Sanders do a reasonable job of collection when connected to a good vacuum.

[KarlC]

We use festools to collect all of our dust, most of our work is done in the field, the key is to collect the dust at the source and not let it get airborne.

www.festoolusa.com


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[redir]

I've been building guitars now for 25+ years and what I do 90% of the time that I need to make sawdust is do it outside! Nothing like mother nature to filter the dust for you and keep you healthy.

The other 10% of the time, since we do get 10deg days here in Virginia, I use one of these point source devices: https://www.clearvuecyclones.com/hom...ni-system.html

It works amazingly well. I have a bandsaw that gets a lot of use, a belt sander, a drum sander and a downdraft table. When ever I need to use any one of those tools the vacuum comes over and plugs into the port and I run it while sanding. IT doesn't work very well on a belt sander becasue those things just trow dust all over the place but the other tools it sucks everything out.

I would highly recommend this for a small shop.

I also have an over head filter that takes out the larger stuff that might be floating in the air: https://www.grizzly.com/products/Gri...SABEgKA-fD_BwE

Those can be modified for true HEPA filters which I might do some day.

[Ruckusdog]

I do a lot of woodworking and really believe in dust collection. It saves my lungs from all sorts of small particles. I use a Festool vacuum system with my small tools like hand held router, sander, etc. It’s an expensive, but superbly designed system that hasn’t given me a problem in 18 years. I use an Oneida Systems larger system for my larger stationary tools like tablesaw, bandsaw and planer. It’s connected to each tool with flexible ducting and appears to remove about 98% of the sawdust from the air. It’s also a terrific system. Their website Oneida-air.com is a good source of information about dust collection.

You can find detailed discussions of this at the sawmillcreek.org site.

[woodworker]

[QUOTE=KarlC;2647889]We use festools to collect all of our dust, most of our work is done in the field, the key is to collect the dust at the source and not let it get airborne.

www.festoolusa.com


This is my experience too.

The Festool random orbital sanders in particular are absolutely dust-free if hooked up to their vacuum system, and the tools are bullet-proof though very expensive. But a random orbital sander, along with a table saw and a chop saw (perhaps a router) will get used more than anything else, so it's worth the investment in my opinion. I have two of these sanders but use this smaller 5" one by far the most: https://www.festoolproducts.com/fest...SABEgLJdfD_BwE

As Karl said, you need to get it at the source, and that takes care of the sanding. The other items can be tougher, but you just have to try and get the end points of the vacuum system as close to the source as possible. I think that my set up for the chop saw and the table saw is not that great, but I'm amazed at the amount of sawdust that they pick up nonetheless. Rockler makes a number of systems and adapters, but other than the Festool system for my sanders, the rest is a cobbled patchwork involving several different vacuums. You might need to go the same route, focusing on the primary sources first. I don't use a single overhead filtration / collection system and so cannot venture a guess on that one. I bought an over the blade system for my tablesaw but found that it was too cumbersome and got in the way, so I discarded it.

Greg

[Ozz]

McMaster Carr - the Amazon of industrial needs: https://www.mcmaster.com/dust-collectors

Design your own system!

[cuda]

I designed outfitted and have been running a university sculpture studio with a pretty robust woodshop for the last 25 years. I also have a garage conversion shop at home. You will never be entirely dust free. +/- 90% is about as good as it gets. You can expect the dust to find and settle on any and all ledges, conduits and shelves in your shop, particularly waist- high and above. This is stuff you will need to vacuum.

For proactive intervention measures

x10 for Festools. $$$ to get on board with but worth it imo

I recommend you use their vacuum when cleaning too. They have a really good filter. Shop Vacs and Rigid vacuums are mediocre with the stock filter and marginally better with the micron filter. The Festool is the best I've used.

Also, get a cyclone dust collector that can be set up portable( wheeled platform) to use with the table saw, lathe(if you have one) router table and CNC. If you are the only one in the shop and the DC is on wheels with a quick connect so that you can move it to the site that is in use. We use both Jet and JDS in our shop both are excellent.

I also have 3 overhead ambient .5 micron filters with remote and vinyl strip curtains running ceiling to floor cordoning off the woodshop to keep the dust from migrating to other parts of the studio.

[a4racer]

...that's amazing!

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. I also try to do as much as I can outside, but in rainy weather (PNW), I'm stuck in the garage, hahaha. The Festool stuff and the Clearvue cyclone look to be good options...I'll look deeper into those!

Thanks again, as usual: PLers to the rescue!

[KarlC]

The Makita BO6050J 6" Random Orbit Sander, works good also, its not as good as the Festool but it cost a lot less and should work well for your needs

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1


The Makita track saw system works good also, again not as good as the Festool but it cost a lot less and should work well for your needs

.

[paredown]

I have been getting by with an Oneida "cyclone" that you can buy and use a ShopVac as the suction source-there are lots of plans on the net for building a cart, and then placing the baby cyclone (it sits on a 5 gal plastic pail included with the kit).

It works OK, but catching at the source is particularly hard with a table saw and/or miter saw--the good systems for the table saw use both a hood over the blade and a downdraft connection. Miter saws are just a problem--mine is particularly bad--it came with a cloth bag that is barely worth using, and hooking up a hose to the minicyclone gets only a small part.

People who have the room use both a suction at source system AND an electrostatic precipitation system to take the fine dust out of the air--this would be my dream, because the fine dust follows me into the house every time I open or close the door from the garage to the house.

[Dude]

I'm barely even a hobbyist - more of a projectist. The easiest that I've done is to hook my shop vac directly up to the tool (orbital sander, miter saw). The only thing I don't have a solution for is my circular saw. That makes a downright mess, so I have to cut outside. Though, I cut on top of a piece of foam insulation so I don't feel good about spitting out a bunch of insulation dust into the environment.

That's probably the first/easiest solution. Or the Shimano 105 version, before you spend a bunch of money on cyclones and stuff.

Also, wear a dust mask. That'll save your lungs, even when outside.

[Joe]

You are smart to ask about this...in addition to the mess, sawdust can pose significant health risks.

Design of an appropriate dust collection system depends on the type of tools you are using; as you would expect, stationary power tools such as table saws and planers require significantly greater dust collection capacity than handheld power tools.

As others have mentioned, Festool makes excellent dust collection equipment, and dust collection is inherent in their power tool designs.

Oneida https://www.oneida-air.com/dust-coll...personal-shops (I have no affiliation) is an excellent source of dust collection equipment for stationary power tools.

Here’s a link to a Fine Woodworking magazine article... https://www.finewoodworking.com/2012...ust-collection.