I'd like to throw a question out to ya'll. What suggestions would you have for a turner who is working out of a small apartment, and needs to keep that apartment and his lungs clean of dust and particles during turning?

Any and all ideas are welcome, the more creative the better!

John, for starters, forget about controlling shavings. The best you can do is contain them some. For that, I use conduit and shower curtains. You'll still track them but they won't fly 20 feet away. I normally only use the curtains when I'm roughing green wood. Dust is another matter, there will always be a little but you can catch most of it with a dust collector or vacuum pickup close to the work. Any time I'm turning my dust collector is on with the pick up positioned as closely as possible without interfering with the cut. When I'm sanding the pick up is nearly touching the work piece. Even so, I pretty much wear a respirator all the time. 

 

 

The wooden parts are easily made and the stand is a cheapo outfeed roller stand I've cabbaged for the task.

Steve

It looks great Steve! Thank so much, I also should have put in the topic question, it has to be quiet, very quiet, stealth almost. And a small commercial system would be optional as well to add to the suggestions.

 

in an apartment one could place a box fan with a deep pleated (3 or 4") furnace filter attached to the intake side in an open window and turn and sand as close to this window as possible. cardboard or other rigid material can be utilized to create a shroud that abuts the lathe thus forcing most  of the dust to be drawn towards the fan. incorporating Steve's shower curtain set-up will also aid in containment

 

Guys, thanks so much for the great tips. I'm looking into helping a buddy who lives in and apartment and needs to have air purified, efficiently and quietly, you guys are the best, great tips!

7 hours ago, John Hechel said:

in an apartment one could place a box fan with a deep pleated (3 or 4") furnace filter attached to the intake side in an open window and turn and sand as close to this window as possible.

 

 

I do something very similar when I'm spraying. I made a shroud for a window box fan and spray in front of that. It works well as I typically spray pretty small items and use a water borne lacquer. It wouldn't be appropriate for a flammable product however.

 

Steve

 

It's really hard to filter the fine particles cheaply.  Small fans (e.g., box fans) simply aren't designed for carrying the pressure loss of a filter.  A better scheme is to arrange the air flows.  The ideal situation would be to set up the lathe about 3' from an open window; put an unfiltered box fan in the window.  Open a window on the other side of the room/apartment for an air source.  Place a second fan, like a pole mounted stand one, about 3' behind the back of the Turning Man, roughly centered on the shoulder level.  The "back fan" should be no larger than the window fan.  Large particles will drop onto the floor, wall, etc., but in the direction of the open window/fan.  Small particles (the ones you really don't want to breathe) will be boosted out the window.  Turning Man's breathing zone will be ventilated with relatively clean air from the room.  They may have to do a bit of dusting outside the window if they're on the first floor, depending on just how much turning they do. 

Furnace companies can supply old furnace fan assemblies of different sizes.  They also usually have a fab shop that could set up an air horn and filter assembly to connect to the fan.  Set up correctly they can move a lot of air off the lathe and do it quietly.