Thread: Dust collection suggestions?

First off, let me say that I think I have the best in-laws ever! My birthday was last week, and my in-laws asked what I wanted. I told them I would like some cash to go towards some sort of power tool. My wife actually bought me a 10" ryobi miter saw and when my father in law heard this he said I will want something bigger. Long story short we ended up at home depot to return the ryobi, and then to Lowes to pick up a DeWalt 10" sliding, dual bevel, compound miter saw! I asked him how much he wanted me to pay towards it, and it was zero. So now I have about $300 free to play with. I've got a table saw and drill press lined up from my grandfather, a belt/disc sander combo, now a miter saw, and some hand-sanders. I'm thinking the next purchase should be dust handling (Geezer, I know you'll be happy to hear this!). Does anybody have any recommendations? The shop space will end up being about 600-800 square feet, and I wouldn't mind installing a permanent piping system, but it's not absolutely necessary.

Are you going to be making scales? If so you might consider buying a scroll saw. A buffer/grinder is always handy, along with plenty of cloth wheels for compound buffing.
I've seen rather simple dust collection systems such as a shop-vac, or even an old fashioned broom and dust pan which is what I use for tight corners, and a leaf blower or air compressor to blow out the big stuff.

Well, I will definitely be making scales, but that is not all I plan on doing. I have been into woodworking for a while, but haven't really had the space to do anything serious. Now I'll basically have the basement of a 2300 sqft two story house to turn into my shop. I'm gunning for a dust control system because of the closed system I will be working in. A scroll saw will eventually be bought; I think I might try finding one on craigslist or a pawn shop on the cheap though.

Ck Grizzley tools online,Some very afforadable systems.
I have a 3 speed jet in my shop,works well.

I'd agree with a dust system next. When I did have my shop in the house, dust was a constant problem. Now I'm in an attached garage, and I use UPD's system, which works just fine.

I built a dust control system with a shop-vac, lengths of flexible tubing (the cheapest I could find, usually something for pool maintenance), cat-litter boxes for joints, and putty to seal the leaks. It went all over my basement: to the table saw, the router table, the drill press, and the metal lathe. At the metal lathe I built a metal catch-basin from an old aluminum stockpot and used flexible exhaust-system tubing, in case there was any hot swarf.

It all looked pretty white-trash, but it wasn't out on the curb where it could bother the neighbors, I had a good seal all the way around, and it was WAAAY cheaper than the store-bought versions.

I got a remote-controlled switch at Radio Shack so I could turn on the vacuum from anywhere; just mounted the control on a little lucite stand and but blaze orange tape so I could always see where I'd last set it down.

When I get around to rebuilding the system in my new workshop, I'll add some bare copper wire inside the tubing and connect it to my electrical ground. Get a whole bunch of fine particles zooming through a plastic pipe and you get a lot of static electricity. I may also class it up a bit and use PVC piping instead of a bunch of mismatched flexible hose.

p.s. you married well!!

roughkype: thanks for the ideas! I think if I go the homemade route I will still try to get an actual dust collection blower unit. I was thinking about having the dust collector in the center of the basement at one end and running PVC pipe along each wall with modular ports every 5 or so feet. Just a T joint with a removable cap so I can cap it off and keep suction going to whatever I'm using. Thanks for the ideas everybody. Time to start watching craigslist and visiting pawn shops!

I have a dust collector, a shop vac,.. but what really helps a lot is a clean air filtration system. You will not believe how much crap that thing collects even when you're not in the shop. Mine has a timer with an auto stop so I've made a habit of letting it circulate for an hour after I leave the shop. It's also always on when i'm sanding, grinding or buffing. The amount of layered dust all over the place has greatly reduced since installing the air filter.

Jet dust collector with a 3 micron filter, works good in my wood shop and it gets run 3-4 hours a day non stop. Get a remote power controller as well. It will get old walking over to the collector to flip the power. I keep the remote in my pocket so I can turn it off and on from the tool I am working on. I have 4 inch PVC around the shop with blast gates on every T so I can close off the lines that are not in use.

cannonfodder: What size motor is on that? Do you know the static pressure associated with it? Your set up sounds exactly like what I plan on rigging up.