The vent in it is like a floor vent, long rectangle with the hose coming off the back parallel to the lathe bed. You can just see it through the acrylic. The hood itself is about 2 ft. wide, enough for a 6 to 8 inch deep bowl and my angle drill to fit inside.
Since the hood covers most of the bowl, and when sanding I am straight in front of it, the air flow is very well funneled into the hood. I have a 3 hp Oneida system so I can run 2 machines at once. I would think that a 1 hp. dust collector would perform just about as well.
Bill, I never thought about my hand as a brake, which, now that you mentioned it, looks like what I am doing. I actually like to feel the wood, and am not applying any pressure.
robo hippy