Dust Collection 101 Blogs

[John Morris]

I'd like to thank @Gerald for his efforts and great blogging that he just installed. Seems sometimes our blogging feature is a forgotten area of our community, and I am beyond excited that Gerald has taken the steps to install some interesting and very usable content in our blog area.

 

Please visit Gerald's Dust Collection 101 series:

 

[CharlieL]

To each his own. I'm just a hobbyist one man shop. I had thought about ducting in dust collection, but decided not too. It doesn't take that long to wheel the dc over to each machine and hook it up, and this way I can keep the run to a minimum and efficient length, plus saw money not having to buy all the ducting. It's I was a more then one man shop then a permanent ducted system would make more sense.

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

I can see how that would work well in certain circumstances. I'm also a one person hibbyist shop, but I'll sometimes mill a piece on one machine, then take it to another, then back to the first machine...or some similar sequence. My practice is to shut and open blast gates as I move back and forth leaving the DC run. This occurs when I slice veneer, make moldings, or maybe a few other operations. No doubt ducting can be expensive, often costing more than the DC itself. Not only that it can be a pain if you do something like add a tool, rearrange the shop, or maybe even upgrade a tool......sometimes you have to rework the ducting. But for me, it's just part of the cost of having DC.

[Gunny]

1 hour ago, CharlieL said:

To each his own. I'm just a hobbyist one man shop. I had thought about ducting in dust collection, but decided not too.

And really that is the beauty of YOUR shop.  You do it the way to works for you.  

 

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

o doubt ducting can be expensive, often costing more than the DC itself. Not only that it can be a pain if you do something like add a tool, rearrange the shop, or maybe even upgrade a tool......sometimes you have to rework the ducting. But for me, it's just part of the cost of having DC.

 

Very true, I am of the mind that having it available is better than nothing.  Sure I will buy a new tool and have to work something out.  It is a hobby, I enjoy the challenge even when it is not a project.  It is a project that enhances other projects, or the shop work flow.

 

You don't have to have it, mobile or fixed.  But it is helpful.

[John Morris]

You know, some folks make a hobby out of building their shop up, and that's ok! Dust collection within itself can be a hobby.

[Gerald]

Something I will not put in the blog is safety. Dust collection is not an option just to say I have it. It is there to improve the likehood that you will not wind up with super dust allergies or plugged lungs on oxygen. That is unless you want to wear a respirator all the time and not just when you sand. Like Fred I usually leave the DC on most of the time I am in the shop and just shuffle the gates.

 

Charlie I am just giving the options I am familiar with. Sorry hauling a DC to each machine only leads to saving time by just making the cut without and then you might as well not have anything to catch dust.

 

Then there is that other dust source : what is on the floor. When the dust the DC does not collect hits the floor and as fans blow and you walk thru it the dust will be redistributed into the air and you are back where you started in a manner of speaking. So cleaning the floor is also important.

 

By the way the next installment may be two weeks or more away, but will be coming.

[Gunny]

2 hours ago, John Morris said:

You know, some folks make a hobby out of building their shop up, and that's ok! Dust collection within itself can be a hobby.

Very true, for me anyway.  I probably spend as much time working on stuff for the shop as I do for stuff I make for the house.

[Gunny]

1 hour ago, Gerald said:

So cleaning the floor is also important.

True and not just from the perspective of dust in the air.  Safety wise a cluttered floor is a accident waiting to happen.  That being said I am no better than anyone else, the floor at times is as cluttered as any horizontal surface in the shop.  usually because I ran out room elsewhere.  Basically I just need to win the lottery and have my 10,000 shop built.  Hire a young one to clean it up and not worry about it anymore.  

 

One can dream people!!!

[CharlieL]

I had a brand new 2 hp PSI cyclone, I installed it where I thought would be best, but thats as far as it got. I never ducted it out or used it. I ended up just selling it, and bought what I have now. Plastic pipe for ducting maybe ok for some folks, but I like to do things right and probably would of used metal ducting and not have to worry about grounding and a fire caused by a static spark in the system.

Edited September 8, 2019 by CharlieL

[Gunny]

12 minutes ago, CharlieL said:

I had a brand new PSI cyclone, I installed it where I thought would be best, but thats as far as it got.

 

Nice looking unit.  I bet that thing would suck the walls in!!

[Gerald]

3 hours ago, CharlieL said:

I had a brand new 2 hp PSI cyclone, I installed it where I thought would be best, but thats as far as it got. I never ducted it out or used it. I ended up just selling it, and bought what I have now. Plastic pipe for ducting maybe ok for some folks, but I like to do things right and probably would of used metal ducting and not have to worry about grounding and a fire caused by a static spark in the system.

That is one nice piece of equipment. As far as my research I have not found even one home shop fire due to a spark in dust collection. It would take a very concentrated amount of dust to do that and home shop with one machine going at a time just does not produce that volume of dust. A more important consideration in the home shop is for a hot piece of metal to get into sawdust and become a fire during the night. And Yes I have seen reports of at least 3 in the forums I read.

[Gunny]

3 minutes ago, Gerald said:

A more important consideration in the home shop is for a hot piece of metal to get into sawdust and become a fire during the night. And Yes I have seen reports of at least 3 in the forums I read.

I like @Gene Howe method, vent it to outside.  If possible, or be creative and make it so nobody knows.  

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

Like Gerald said, there isn't any fire danger (or explosion) from PVC ducting, thought you might get a some personal discomfort from static shock.Venting outside would certainly be my choice if I wasn't heating in the winter. Some folks claim it doesn't matter, but I can't help but think moving that much air out of a heated room would be fairly expensive at my latitude (or is it longitude?).

[HandyDan]

1 hour ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

Venting outside would certainly be my choice if I wasn't heating in the winter.

 

Totally agree.  Venting warm air outside results in sucking cold air in.

[Gunny]

15 hours ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

but I can't help but think moving that much air out of a heated room would be fairly expensive

 

14 hours ago, HandyDan said:

Totally agree.  Venting warm air outside results in sucking cold air in.

 

A good point.  So where the air is sucked in is important.  For those with a shop vac system that is inside the shop this shouldn't matter.  Now mine is on the other side of a insulated wall.  In unheated space but enclosed.  Only really heat is from the compressor when it cycles or if I use it a lot and it cycles.  So not much really.  Never have worried about it, I just run the DC because I need it working.  

 

Anyone did any testing or have some theory of operation showing this robs the heat?

[Gerald]

17 minutes ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

Anyone did any testing or have some theory of operation showing this robs the heat?

I have a filtered return air vent from DC room (insulated) so I do not loose that much . However mine is in attic so I get heat gain even with insulation. Think of it like this if your home had a pipe in the door and a fan attached to it  the conditioned air would be exhausted out. The bigger the hole the more lose. Now to make up for the lose air is drawn in through every crack in the home .

 

    This LINK from Sawmill Creek says that in a 10x10 shop conditioned air would be exhausted in 10 minutes.

 

    Another TAKE is based on commercial application but some impressive numbers.

 

    And more Commercial application . Not our situation but you can see the $$$$ going out the duct.

 

 

[CharlieL]

 I try to take dust collection as a fairly serious subject, last year I contracted throat cancer and had to have my voice box removed, and my breathing has become more labored. I now not only have a dust collector with a low micron bag, but I also have a Air Filtration Unit hung from the ceiling centered in the shop. I have also spent a considerable amount of time designing and building better dust hoods and building separators, all constructed with sheet metal. 

Edited September 24, 2019 by CharlieL

[CharlieL]

To build all this dust collection stuff that I mentioned above, I knew that I would probably get better looking finish products if I were to buy some sheet metal tools and machinery, hoping other people would want to buy some of my dust collection projects.

[Gene Howe]

5 hours ago, CharlieL said:

 I try to take dust collection as a fairly serious subject, last year I contracted throat cancer and had to have my voice box removed, and my breathing has become more labored. I now not only have a dust collector with a low micron bag, but I also have a Air Filtration Unit hung from the ceiling centered in the shop. I have also spent a considerable amount of time designing and building better dust hoods and building separators, all constructed with sheet metal. 

One can absolutely see the need for as good a DC and filtration system as possible. Your situation makes it mandatory. 

As a retired Speech Pathologist, I had the opportunity to serve a number of new laryngectomy patients. I hope you are coping well with it. Do you have a stoma? If so, do you keep it covered?...at least, in the shop.

[CharlieL]

30 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

One can absolutely see the need for as good a DC and filtration system as possible. Your situation makes it mandatory. 

As a retired Speech Pathologist, I had the opportunity to serve a number of new laryngectomy patients. I hope you are coping well with it. Do you have a stoma? If so, do you keep it covered?...at least, in the shop.

Hello Gene, thankyou for asking. I do have a curved silicone tube that slides into my neck. If as much as just my shirt covers it then it's hard to breath. I do have some filters for it but with all the phlegm that I cough up I go through them like water. It is tough to get use to breathing through only the hole in my neck now, and I do cough up alot of phlegm. It's been a while since I've done much in the shop, I don't want to do anything that would make my breathing even harder, which includes mowing the lawn on a dry day. It's Hard to get a good nights sleep, getting up every once in awhile to clear my throat. I can still taste food thank goodness, but now when I eat I have to take smaller bites and chew it up really good, otherwise food get stuck in my throat. And not being able to talk, everything is written down on pen and paper. My psoriasis has gotten considerably worse since all this started too, my facial cheeks are swollen, and I tire easily. My life has changed considerably in the last year.

Edited September 24, 2019 by CharlieL