• January Turning Challenge: Thin-Stemmed Something! (click here for details)
  • Conversations are now Direct Messages (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Scott Gordon for "Orb Ligneus" being selected as Turning of the Week for January 20, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

Dust collection

Google "Bill Pentz" for more information on DC than you could ever process. On his website is a table that shows how much you need for various woodworking machines and I believe a lathe is on there. General consensus is about 800-1000 CFM for fine dust (sanding etc) collection. There are 3 important caveats: 1) You don't want to collect long stringy shavings as it will likely clog your machine and its easier to sweep them up than to unclog your DC 2) You can have the CFM that you need at the opening of whatever DC apparatus you use at your lathe, but if it cant get reasonably close (say within 6"-8" as a ballpark guess) then you wont collect the dust and 3) Be wary of the CFM and static pressure ratings on DCs in general. Often manufactures test their DCs without any resistance to get the CFM and without any CFM to get the static pressure . What you end up with is 2 numbers that aren't related and you wont see in reality. Two other pieces of advice is to use a 6" main DC header and minimize the flex hose. A 4" header maxes out at 350-400 CFM at the static pressures that the DCs we buy develop. With a 6" you can get to the 800-1000 CFM I mentioned before. Minimizing the flex hose limits the suction loss and keeps your CFMs as high as possible.
 
Minimum 650 cfm that's the rating for vacuum at one standard machine, Now what your going to want to protect your health 1150 cfm. Also you'll want a Ambient Air Cleaner. If you go with the lower 650cfm then you'll want the Ambient Air Cleaner asap, with the 1150cfm you can wait a Little while but you should still get one when you can.
The Ambient Air Cleaner is what keeps the dirt and crud from getting in your lungs.
 
I've never heard of a pile of wet shavings spontaneously combusting. I suppose the theory is there if the plant matter started to decompose, but the pile of shavings would need to be fairly large and ambient conditions would need to be very warm I border to generate enough heat to ignite wood
 
That CFM should be referenced to a figure like 8" of water. Since it's high volume, low pressure, you'll want to get in close. Fortunately, if you power sand, you can aim the dust directly into the collector for all exteriors. Simply attach your collector - HVAC duct works well - to the ways of your lathe and let gravity, pressure, and mechanics help you. Hardly any will escape.

Inside is a bit different. Ideally we sand from bottom to rim, mechanically pushing the dust out rather than trapping it and resanding with it by going rim to bottom. It will eject at around six o'clock, more or less horizontally, so a collector there is most effective. Gravity is your friend again.

If you sand off the lathe, put on a mask. A downdraft table is inconvenient, because you have to hold the work in all kinds of positions. I go to my lap, then use the shop vac to clear dust after it settles.

I have an ancient collector, so 600@8 is as much as I can get before connection loss. Means direct connection, not a shop-wide system with gates. Seems to be enough even for the 13" planer, though when the knives are fresh and wood soft, the long shavings sometimes clog my normal center pull. For those circumstances, I put a duct that pulls from the end.

One of those ceiling-mounted gizmos will help keep your shop a bit cleaner, but remember, if the dust has to travel up to get there, your nose will be somewhere in its path.
 
A 1 hp dust collector is usually on a cart to be wheeled from one machine to another for use. There is huge variety in quality for similar machines. I think Oneida makes one of the best set ups. Most will have a 4 inch dust port, and with a short hose, you get a pretty good draft. The sanding hood that I made almost totally encloses the bowl, which gets all of the sanding dust. The big gulp type funnels get a lot of the dust, and the straight hose end gets some of the dust. Depends, also some on if you power sand or hand sand. The more you can get at the source, the less there is that goes into the air.

robo hippy
 
My concern is noise. Since i have a small area to work in I set up a shop vac with tubing and hose with a hood and stand to be portable between both of my lathes. I put a muffler on the exhaust side but this thing still makes plenty of noise.
In consideration of trying to research and find a better answer with a better collector by reading reviews the main problem that was mentioned was they are still noisy.
Well I'm just wondering just how noisy they are and if not what my solution would be to quiet the existing shop vac and just keep what I currantly have.
Note: I do use an additional air cleaner (from shop vac) that is very quiet.
Any of you fellows have a thought about this?
 
Bill Weaver said:
My concern is noise. Since i have a small area to work in I set up a shop vac with tubing and hose with a hood and stand to be portable between both of my lathes. I put a muffler on the exhaust side but this thing still makes plenty of noise.
In consideration of trying to research and find a better answer with a better collector by reading reviews the main problem that was mentioned was they are still noisy.
Well I'm just wondering just how noisy they are and if not what my solution would be to quiet the existing shop vac and just keep what I currantly have.
Note: I do use an additional air cleaner (from shop vac) that is very quiet.
Any of you fellows have a thought about this?
Click to expand...

I'm dealing with this with my new cyclone right now in a basement shop. My plan is to build a enclosure with acoustic insulation, but if your working are is small, this may not be the best option for you. Putting the DC outside in it own shed is another option, if your setup permits.
Another option if you live in a warmer climate it jus to use a big box fan to pull the dust outside and wear a good dust mask. Not an option here in southern Alberta though
 
Generally, the shop vac makes more noise than a standard dust collector. Probably because it turns at a higher rpm. The dust vac is a vacuum, and not a dust collector. Biggest difference is that a dust collector moves a much bigger volume of air than the vac. Look at Oneida for some of the best and most compact collectors available. Made in the USA as well.

robo hippy
 
I turn bowls mostly and the way I went after much research and trial and error I bought a HF 2hp dust collector and only use it for sanding dust period. I never use it for curlies. I just let them drop and I shovel them out when I am forced to, to be able to move. I tried the cyclone action in a dust deputy and it worked like it was advertised to work, but again after a while I realized that my shop vac wasn't getting the job done. The sanding dust was my biggest problem so I got a remote switch for my HF dust collector and just vent directly outside. Since I live in the country with no close neighbors it works great because there are no filters to clean.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top