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Dedicated dust collection for lathe

Paul May

Paul May

Joined
Jun 5, 2023
Messages
165
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Location
Portage, MI
I have a full shop with a dedicated JET dust collector for my planer/ jointer/ bandsaw. My lathe is in a separate room and is not accessible to the DC. Does anyone use a separate smaller DC for just the lathe? My shop vac just isn't cutting it for fine dust. Do the smaller, wall mounted units work well or do they have limitations? What about something like this?

Rikon dust collector
 
It was mentioned that the existing dust collector is in another room. I would be very tempted to figure out a means to plumb into that system unless it is a very long distance. Having dust collection without a lot of noise is a huge plus.
If not buying a complete cyclonic dust collector for the lathe room, I would go the direction of adding a cyclonic separator (Oneida, perhaps) to your vac system rather than buying the dust bag type shown in your Rikon link. In my experience, cheap dust bag filters let too much super fine dust through to the atmosphere. There are all kinds of threads on various forums about folks spending all kinds of money "upgrading" their inexpensive dust collections systems when it was probably less expensive to buy decent equipment in the first place.
 
If you’re planning a separate system, look for a used HF 2hp collector - they’re pretty inexpensive and a good, basic collector. Throw the bags away and call Wynn Environmental for a cannister filter. Add a cheap cyclone or build a simple version and you’re good to go with a well-functioning system that will last for years.
The Wynn website has good info and links to information.
 
Paul May said:
I have a full shop with a dedicated JET dust collector for my planer/ jointer/ bandsaw. My lathe is in a separate room and is not accessible to the DC. Does anyone use a separate smaller DC for just the lathe? My shop vac just isn't cutting it for fine dust. Do the smaller, wall mounted units work well or do they have limitations? What about something like this?

Rikon dust collector
Click to expand...
You can’t get a duct to the lathe room? I have gates that shut off sections of ductwork And feed others only. I also have a flexible duct that will reach any corner of the shop…could go through doorways.
 
Paul May said:
I have a full shop with a dedicated JET dust collector for my planer/ jointer/ bandsaw. My lathe is in a separate room and is not accessible to the DC. Does anyone use a separate smaller DC for just the lathe? My shop vac just isn't cutting it for fine dust. Do the smaller, wall mounted units work well or do they have limitations? What about something like this?

Rikon dust collector
Click to expand...
We use a similar collector made by delta when sanding
Does pretty good at pulling in the sanding dust. The rectangular funnel can be positioned to work best for each piece.
Also makes it easy to see the stream of sand dust - when that stops time to change discs.
It rolls out of the way when not being used.
 
Paul May said:
I have a full shop with a dedicated JET dust collector for my planer/ jointer/ bandsaw. My lathe is in a separate room and is not accessible to the DC. Does anyone use a separate smaller DC for just the lathe? My shop vac just isn't cutting it for fine dust. Do the smaller, wall mounted units work well or do they have limitations? What about something like this?

Rikon dust collector
Click to expand...
I have a wall mounted Shop Fox DC which is similar to the Rikon. I use it for the lathe and miter saw. I added the Rockler filter instead of the cloth bag. It does OK. If I was to do it again, I’d probably try to get more than 600 cfm. I’ve also considered adding a cyclone but I don’t quite have the room for it.
 

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Yep, shop vacs can't move the volume of air for what you need. I have a similar one from harbor freight on my lathe that works well but I could use more CFM flow. The more you can get the better. I have a bigger dust funnel but they do work fairly well for catching the sanding dust. If you use it while turning you'll want to remove the grating they have over the opening. Turning also creates more dust than folks realize. Chips will clog it up very quickly. I don't use the bags, they leak and are a mess to change/clean but sounds like you can't redirect your exhaust outside.
 
Paul May said:
I have a full shop with a dedicated JET dust collector for my planer/ jointer/ bandsaw. My lathe is in a separate room and is not accessible to the DC. Does anyone use a separate smaller DC for just the lathe? My shop vac just isn't cutting it for fine dust. Do the smaller, wall mounted units work well or do they have limitations? What about something like this?

Rikon dust collector
Click to expand...
Paul, this one’s right up my alley.

My two-car garage is my shop, and it’s almost exclusively geared toward my Grizzly lathe. I also have and use a 14” bandsaw and a bench top drill press. I had been wanting to have a dust extraction system for the longest time. I bought a Record Power Cam-Vac during the Labor Day sales. I had seen a demo of this machine during one of their (Record Power’s) IRDs and was impressed. Did a little research and concluded this might be the answer. I am thoroughly satisfied, and glad I bought it. I have it attached to a total of about 16’ of 4” pipe, with three wyes in it. I have a 2-1/2” outlet at the far end for my bench top drill press and two 4” wyes in the middle of the run. One necks down for a 2-1/2” vacuum hose when I want to vacuum things. The other is a 4” drop to my lathe. It not only does a great job collecting sanding dust, but it also sucks in quite a lot of the turning shavings that otherwise tend to go straight down or that I can deflect into the dust hood.

It’s compact in size — maybe 20” in diameter and 34” tall (I’m not near it so I can measure it. It’s 240-volt, with two motors. It‘s like a shop vac on something much more than steroids! Not overly loud either. I have mine on a HF dolly so I can roll it out of the way when I need to get at some of the sheet goods that are on the wall adjacent to it.

In summary, I’m quite satisfied with the Cam-Vac, and it does what I was hoping it would do. The small footprint and relatively low cost both add to its ‘value’.

Good luck with whatever route you choose.

https://www.thewoodturningstore.com...us-camvac-55l-2000w-vacuum-4-inlet-with-hose/
 
Well, since I own my shop and house, not a problem to duct into my lathe room. I would consider a shop vac to be fine for small things like pens, but not for sanding bowls and long spindles. I would think that a 2 stage system would be mandatory for bowls, and not for sucking up shavings. You could talk to your land lord to ask about a hole in the wall. Who knows, they might think of it as okay, and/or repair the hole if and when you move. Other than that, depending on the size of your lathe room, maybe some flex hose to go through the door way into the lathe room. Oh, check to see if there is any wiring in the wall you might go through. In my new shop, they had to recut the hole because of wiring. Oneida does make some very small footprint 2 stage dust collectors.

robo hippy
 
About two years ago I was messing around with a box fan and merv10 air filter strapped to the front of it, and a particle counter. The box fan is suspended behind the lathe and pulls the air across the ways. I found that this set up is very effective. Without the fan filter, power sanding on the lathe gives me particle counts around 1700. With the fan, particle counts are about 600. I also have data that shows the fan filter can scrub shop air, droping particle from 3000 to about 300 in 5 minutes. I started to summarize my findings for this forum last spring, but then the snow melted...
Be aware the Dylos particle meters only give relative numbers which do not directly reflect measurable wood dust exposure levels. Nevertheless, some points of reference people might want to keep in mind.
Spray painting in the shop = 3000-5000 particle counts.
Using a wire to burn lines on the lathe = 15000-20000 counts.
Making popcorn on the stove = 6000 particle counts.
 
Have that Rikon unit dedicated to my Delta 14/60 lathe. Motor and bag sit on floor with extension collector at the bowl height to catch chips. No suitable wall space to hang it. Only issue was the grill in the unit at the intake port kept getting clogged with the long stringy strips from the bowls or when throwing in chips. Just got a King Air Cleaner that sits above the Rikon and the lathe to hopefully catch the dust. Also use a shop vac sitting on the ways below the bowl.
 
Russ Braun said:
You can’t get a duct to the lathe room? I have gates that shut off sections of ductwork And feed others only. I also have a flexible duct that will reach any corner of the shop…could go through doorways.
Click to expand...

robo hippy said:
Well, since I own my shop and house, not a problem to duct into my lathe room. I would consider a shop vac to be fine for small things like pens, but not for sanding bowls and long spindles. I would think that a 2 stage system would be mandatory for bowls, and not for sucking up shavings. You could talk to your land lord to ask about a hole in the wall. Who knows, they might think of it as okay, and/or repair the hole if and when you move. Other than that, depending on the size of your lathe room, maybe some flex hose to go through the door way into the lathe room. Oh, check to see if there is any wiring in the wall you might go through. In my new shop, they had to recut the hole because of wiring. Oneida does make some very small footprint 2 stage dust collectors.

robo hippy
Click to expand...

Good news on this front. I spoke with my landlord today and he said I could cut a hole in the wall to run the DC. I did...it works great!
 
For sanding dust, I got the benchtop dust collector from Oneida. It works amazingly well on dust, much better than my regular dust collector.
For sanding, not chip collection.


Benchtop Variable-Speed MERV-15 Personal Dust Collector
 
Well, the 2 models from Rockler are lacking a bit for me. The 1250 one is a 1 1/2 hp motor. Not positive, but every book I read when setting up my shop said that any motor 1 hp and above should be wired for 220 because they work a lot better that way. The bag on the 1 1/2 hp model filters to 30 microns, unless I misread 3.0 microns which is high. the other model read 2.0 microns. The Oneida one that I have in my shop filters down to 0.5 microns. That is a huge difference. I will have to look up that bench top one from Oneida. I can see it being useful.... Oneida is expensive, but fixing your lungs is more expensive. Wood particles less than 0.5 microns can do a lot of damage, and you can't hack them back up and out.

robo hippy
 
Found it:

www.oneida-air.com

Benchtop Portable 1/3hp VFD MERV-15 Dust Collector (120V) | Oneida Air Systems

Quiet and powerful fan motors capture dust-laden air at the source. Recommended for tools without adequate dust ports (sanders, grinders, rotary tools, scroll saws, etc.). Functional hood design ensures optimal airflow. Variable-speed control customizes fan speed for any application...
www.oneida-air.com www.oneida-air.com

Now, I am wondering how it would work for sucking out the metal dust from the CBN wheels....

robo hippy
 
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