DC at the lathe; Help me out with a hood

[Raul McCai]

I have a DC I'm installing; got the 5" line to the Lathe, but haven't figured out quite what to do about the actual hood. So help a turner out please & post pics of your hood set ups so I can get my head around some solutions and design one that might work for me.

thx

 

[Bill Boehme]

Can you describe the hood ... height and width of the opening? Based on my experience, in order to pick up any dust, the cross section area needs to be relatively small in order to have sufficient air velocity. Also, the air scoop needs to be very close to the work because air velocity goes to near zero for distances greater than a foot from the opening. Collecting dust works best for sanding. While turning, the dust, chips, and shavings are coming off at a high velocity in your general direction which makes trying to catch them an exercise in futility. However, catching the fine dust by placing the scoop very close to the work does a decent job of improving air quality which is a very important consideration. For most everything else, a big broom and dustpan are what works for me.

 

[JeffSmith]

Raul: I use a simple rig put together in the shop to support a 4" x 8" DC fitting I got at Woodcaft or Rockler - don't remember which. The support attaches to the lathe bed with a magnet that I had laying around. Works well, doesn't move around unless I move it, and sucks up sanding dust really well.
Mine is shown below. Robo Hippie has a more elaborate hood made from a large plastic barrel cut to fit around the whole bed of his lathe - I think there's pictures on his website or a video that shows it on youtube.

 

[Tom Albrecht]

My plastic hood is 12" X 16". I got it from Woodcraft? I have it mounted on their optional mount, but instead of mounting it to the lathe, I mounted it on a heavy cast iron tripod that was originally sold as an adjustable roller stand. The stand was $99 delivered from Amazon, I added casters to it. The stand was way more than the hood.


The hood came with a 4" port, but I enlarged it to 5" with a straight piece of 5" pipe. It works.

 

[RichColvin]

There is a design for pen turning where the guy basically built a box around the pen turning mandril with a small opening for putting in the tools. He says it works well. You can see it in use at this you tube link

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CI5lAYUwKg

There is another one shown here at this you tube link

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4oKfxD-Dzk

Both work well for small stuff, but not anything big.

I use a contraption much like Tom's. The only difference was that I made a frame from 2x4s onto which I screwed the hood. Works well, but it is best for sanding. Doesn't work well for general chips that fly EVERYWHERE !!

But for that, I added the floor vacuum option to my system. I got this one from WoodCraft
http://www.woodcraft.com/product/15...-tool-set-for-4inch-dust-collection-hose.aspx.

 

[john lucas]

The coolest dust collector hood I ever saw was sold (or maybe not sold) by powermatic. It was only in the catalog for a year or so and then dropped. Quite expensive. It was oval shaped and had a wing in the middle which I'm sure helped increase the air velocity. I plan to try and build one out of wood someday but that's a project that's on the back burner.

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Mine is pretty primitive but it works well so far. Just a blast gate at the end of the hose with a coupling on the end. I'm running a 5" hose / blastgate with a 5" to 6" reducer turned around. It's on an adjustable, two leg boom that is counter-weighted. The line you see is connected to a couple of eye hooks in the ceiling and it has an old can of hard paint on the other end as the counter weight.

I have a similar setup for the other lathe and it is hooked to a wye off the main duct, which is 7". The run is about 20 feet to either lathe which is more than I wanted but I couldn't locate the DC anywhere else (or move the lathes, one of which is bolted to the slab).

 

[olaf Vogel]

View attachment 20679

Not to hijack the thread, but

I like the lights you have there. What are they?
Thanks

 

[Tod Raines]

Here is the Powermatic dust hood that the OP above mentioned. It works well. I mounts to a metal post which has a bracket that slides along the bango using the t-slots along the bango base.

Regards,
Tod

 

[olaf Vogel]

I have a DC I'm installing; got the 5" line to the Lathe, but haven't figured out quite what to do about the actual hood. So help a turner out please & post pics of your hood set ups so I can get my head around some solutions and design one that might work for me.

thx

Hi Raul,

Ironically, I'm building one as well this weekend, as I finish up my DC system.
Without knowing the dimensions you are working on (ex. spindle vs platers), its hard to recommend anything.

However, one example I found stuck me as pretty good for DIY: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/72268
Obviously you can change the dimensions to fit your needs.
IMO it should be removable, so when you are not sanding, you have better access and stash the hood in the corner.

From my reading, its best to keep the opening as small as possible (but still have enough access for tools, hands, paper etc.) A smaller opening will concentrate the airflow, and minimize the "leakage" of dust to outside of the hood.

For spindles or small work, where you are holding the paper and sanding with the lathe running, that design should work well. IMO better than a big scoop. I do larger items and use a power sanding were more tool access is needed, so I need a larger opening.

As always, more airflow will help. As for trading off airflow for more air velocity...I'm not sure that will help.
I went with lots of flow, lower velocity. So I have a large pipe to the DC and can downsize the opening if needed.

Hope that helps

Olaf

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Olaf,

I got them from Cindy Drozda's website. They have very strong magnet bases. However, if you prefer, you can get the same light from Ikea and the magnet base from Amazon. I made three of them by throwing away the base of the Ikea and attaching the magnet with epoxy. Ugly but about $20 per light. I have about 6 of them and love them.

The light is the Jansjo: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20169658/




The base is the one below
https://smile.amazon.com/CMS-Magnet...g_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=S3J06XN71PDS7E1FNT66

 

[Mark Hepburn]

I've tried to establish a balance of small opening for high air flow and air volume. I had a larger hood and even with the V-3000 Oneida that I have, found that the smaller port does a better job. I can - and do - position the opening within a couple of inches of the work piece for sanding. In theory, the 1350 cfm that the machine produces are all focused on that 6" opening and it seems to be a major improvement in overall shop dust control.

But that dust collection system that you posted Olaf is something that I'm going to seriously consider. I have the same Jet lathe. However, I also have the VB and it presents some unique challenges for a permanent dust hood.

 

[Steve Worcester]

However, one example I found stuck me as pretty good for DIY: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/72268

There is some definite merit to this one, but the giant box behind my lathe would mean I would have to bring the lights and vacuum system around front. I do like the vac coming out the bottom, as that would allow for larger chips to gravity fall into the bin.
And I am not sure from a safety standpoint I like not having it open in the rear either. That would deflect all of the flying saucers forward. While it may be removeable, anything that is a hassle, you just leave it alone, so it would never come off in my shop

 

[Mark Hepburn]

There is some definite merit to this one, but the giant box behind my lathe would mean I would have to bring the lights and vacuum system around front. I do like the vac coming out the bottom, as that would allow for larger chips to gravity fall into the bin.
And I am not sure from a safety standpoint I like not having it open in the rear either. That would deflect all of the flying saucers forward. While it may be removeable, anything that is a hassle, you just leave it alone, so it would never come off in my shop

I'm kind of with you on the hassle of such a system which is what I'm trying to wrap my head around. I don't do much spindle work so the tailstock travel is something to consider. But I do see that he has puck lights inside the box. I'd consider making it so I could put a 36" LED strip light in the top.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

It also helps to have the hood slightly below the level at which the dust is created. This will allow the dust to "fall" into the hood. You can actually watch the dust stream flow into the hood.

 

[Bill Boehme]

Olaf,

I got them from Cindy Drozda's website. They have very strong magnet bases. However, if you prefer, you can get the same light from Ikea and the magnet base from Amazon. I made three of them by throwing away the base of the Ikea and attaching the magnet with epoxy. Ugly but about $20 per light. I have about 6 of them and love them.

The light is the Jansjo: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20169658/

View attachment 20683


The base is the one below
https://smile.amazon.com/CMS-Magnetics®-Holding-Magnet-RB80/dp/B000WMOEFS/ref=pd_bxgy_328_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=S3J06XN71PDS7E1FNT66


View attachment 20682

I have several of those lights from Ikea that were about eleven dollars on sale. Ace Hardware has the magnetic bases for about four dollars and HF has them for about two dollars. There are two small screws in the base of the Ikea lamp and I drilled matching holes in the magnetic base. You can either make a spacer or shorten the screws to get a proper fit. I used a wood spacer since that was easier. The spacer needs to be round and fit in the donut hole of the magnet. When drilling holes in the magnetic base, first lay down some plastic wrap to catch the shavings. I didn't do it the first time and it is the dickens to pick small bits of steel particles off a strong magnet.

 

[RichColvin]

Here is the Powermatic dust hood that the OP above mentioned. It works well. I mounts to a metal post which has a bracket that slides along the bango using the t-slots along the bango base.

Regards,
Tod

Tod,

Where did you get your Powermatic dust hood? Been looking for one for years !

Kind regards,
Rich

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Here is the Powermatic dust hood that the OP above mentioned. It works well. I mounts to a metal post which has a bracket that slides along the bango using the t-slots along the bango base.

Regards,
Tod

Thanks for the pic. I have been wondering what the slots are for. I started gathering materials to build one and will post when it is done.

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

I attached my hood to the banjo today and did not like the attachment. It works fine and if you do not need to move the banjo to sand (can also remove tool rest) the hood moves also. Just turned out to be more trouble than it is worth so I went back to my previous setup.

 

[Steve Worcester]

I attached my hood to the banjo today and did not like the attachment. It works fine and if you do not need to move the banjo to sand (can also remove tool rest) the hood moves also. Just turned out to be more trouble than it is worth so I went back to my previous setup.

Yep, you want it to move independently. You could use mag switches

 

[Bill Boehme]

After about a dozen years of messing with all sorts of contrivances I decided it was a waste of time and energy except for sanding and spindles (which I rarely do).

 

[Jon]

I just noticed that Rockler is selling a dust pickup shaped somewhat like the old Powermatic model... http://www.rockler.com/dust-right-lathe-dust-collection-system

I'm not recommending it, just saying I see someone is making something sorta the right shape for small, slender turnings again.

More than once, for specific turnings, I have cobbled together a cardboard "hood" shaped for a specific project, closely contoured to the workpiece, and assembled simply with hot melt glue. I just make them as needed and attach the new "hood" to the existing block that my hose adapter is screwed onto the back of. The block and adapter are on a stand that moves easily behind the lathe. A heat gun quickly "detaches" the old hood when I need to fashion a new model.

 

[Warren White]

Thanks for the pic. I have been wondering what the slots are for. I started gathering materials to build one and will post when it is done.

I have ordered a PM2020 and was intrigued by the post regarding using the slots in the tool support. I called Powermatic and they said they used to make a dust collection that fit on the tools support, but no longer have such an item. I agree with Gerald that you don't want the dust collection to move every time you move the tool rest, so I am looking forward to any further information posted that I can adopt when my lathe comes.

 

[Raul McCai]

Hood geometry, mag switches, heavy stands. Thanks guys. I'm glad I asked.