Rush of Blood to the Head

[leisureologist]

Was sitting last Sunday surfing and found a a Jet 1220 midi lathe at GPW. Been dreaming of my own lathe for a while. I use the big ones at my club but am always pressed for time (bit slow you see). :UBought it and a Vicmarc chuck, some pin jaws for that, a drill chuck and a pen mandrel. Now I know how steep the slippery slope to poverty is!:( I am trying my hand at small bowls, lidded containers and pens at the moment. I have a good bench and a collection of roof and floor tiles to stack on the bottom for "ballast".

I need a way to sharpen my motley assortment of tools (full size and mini) so am going out to get a bench grinder in the morning and a "white" wheel. Looking at Tradetools Direct at about $78 for the 150mm grinder. Also a face shield and some kind of respirator (not the full head thingies). Hoping for a sharpening course at Woodies.

Having run out of money for the moment (and half truths and outright lies for SWMBO) I face the problem of DUST. My lathe is in my garage which connects to the kitchen. (I know! Why would a builder do that!) I have read a number of posts on the subject here. Is there any use in holding a vacuum cleaner hose near the tool rest when you are sanding and wearing a mask as a stop gap measure? A dust system of some kind is in the planning stage when funds permit.

I am reasonably new at this but the support and info available from my club (Bribie Island Woodcrafters - and a fine bunch of chaps they are!. Overseas I know, but they do speak English!) Their willing help and what I read here on the forums has reduced the "fear factor" a lot. I guess this is a message of appreciation to you folk who share your skills. Good on you all. :2tsup:

[Ed Reiss]

Welcome to the darkside leisureologist :U

Appears that you've got a good start equipment-wise to do turning...and you've also been introduced to the "money pit" aspect of the "hobby" :doh:

Doub't that a regular vacuum cleaner would do much to alleviate the dust situation as the hose size is not too large...even with a 4 to 5 inch dust collector hose not all of the dust is captured.

Post some pics of your work so far...we do like to see pics. :cool:

[tea lady]

Having run out of money for the moment (and half truths and outright lies for SWMBO) :CIts always a problem. Although if dust is getting into the kitchen its one thing she HAS to let you buy.:rolleyes: Welcome BTW. :cool:

[rsser]

Yeah, what you need is a high volume low pressure system - the opposite of a vac cleaner.

My first cheap system was

* kitchen extractor fan from a building salvage place, in an external wall up high
* some salvaged 8" steel ducting glued to the fan face and hung from the ceiling with steel strapping
* some 8" flexduct (the exxy part) joined to the steel duct and positionable along an overhead rail

The fan and steel duct were behind me, the flexduct overhead and dropped down in front. I blocked most of the entry with ply cutting an opening section on an angle to face the lathe.

Hope this is comprehensible.

Good luck with your new addiction. PM me if you need the meeting place for Turners Anon.

[artme]

G'day leisureologist and welcome to the grand union of the poverty stricken. Eliza says a lathe is a machine that spins your money away. TOO true.

I have a dust collector - it's called a nose.:D:D:doh:

[Texian]

Certainly (lacking anything better) a shop vac will help if you can position the hose very close to the point where you are sanding. You will have to clean the shop vac filter frequently and keep it fairly clean for best results (max. flow rate). Similarly, lacking the more expensive alternatives, the disposable dust masks will indeed somewhat reduce the amount of airborn detritus that you inhale. The observable proof of this is simply to use one and note the amount of material collected on outside surface of mask.

Not saying that these are great choices, but they will in fact reduce the amount of dust that makes it's way into the kitchen and your lungs until better alternatives are available.

It's fine for folks to buy more and better stuff when feasible, but not everyone CAN buy more and better stuff right now, and that should be ok too.

[Gil Jones]

You seem to be well hooked...
I would try for a slow-speed (1,750 rpm), 203.2mm (8") grinder if possible. I have both a 152.4mm (6"), high-speed (3450 rpm) grinder and a slow-speed 8", and like the 8"/slow-speed better. There are plenty of opinions on the best grinder.
Have fun learning, and turn safely.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Is there any use in holding a vacuum cleaner hose near the tool rest when you are sanding and wearing a mask as a stop gap measure?

:yes:

A DC would be better, but a vac will still do the job nicely. At least with a vac. hose you can hold it in one hand & sand with the other, keeping the nozzle close to the work. BTW, when sanding it's a good idea to move the toolrest out of the way... it helps keep fingers intact. :wink:

IMHO, during sanding is the only time it's worthwhile using dust extraction on a lathe. During actual turning the shavings are coming off the top of the chisel (and ideally flying over your shoulder) so a working DC hose would be in your way.

[jefferson]

:yes:

IMHO, during sanding is the [b]only[/o] time it's worthwhile using dust extraction on a lathe. During actual turning the shavings are coming off the top of the chisel (and ideally flying over your shoulder) so a working DC hose would be in your way.

Dunno about this comment Skew. I do a bit of stuff out of redgum as you probably know and it's chips rather than shavings and there's plenty of dust. Yep, improved chisel control on my part would help, but even with planing cuts with the skew, there's a lot of dust.

Jeff

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Yeah, that's why I threw in the "IMHO." :D

I know that there are people who are happy with DC setups on their lathes, but I've tried several setups and wasn't particularly satisfied with any of 'em. A lot of that's because I was turning small pieces and having the collector close enough to be effective put it in my way.

[jefferson]

Agreed 100% Skew on the dust control issue. What is the perfect set-up? Who knows, but I'm waiting....

I've got my cyclone sitting there disconnected, still unsure about where to site the lathes permanently, to say nothing of the dust ports.

Maybe a long discussion over a quiet ale when I have some visitors next week?

jeff

[redgum]

Re the dust problem, I recently started turning and found it to be a problem as I am mainly using redgum and it produces a lot of dust,sanding is also obviously a problem. I am like you not quite ready to purchase one of those big dust extractor (no funds and no space as yet) I have a large Hitachi vacuum cleaner that I initialy rigged up with a funnel and stand so I could place it near the work. It was not realy successful as it only removed some of the dust. Today I found a clamp I had made up some time ago to hold the nozel near the work when I was using a drill press and I tried clamping the nozzel to the tool rest and placing it in a position as close to the work as I could safely get it. It works a lot better than the funnel idea and removes most of the dust esepecialy when sanding. I used one of those large spring loaded clamps used for clamping timber together.

Its worth a try

[leisureologist]

Many thanks. I'm going to try that. I was just chatting with my neighbour and he pulled an old vacuum cleaner out of his bin that was heading to the tip in the morning. Works ok and I will try that till I get a better setup. I have some Redgum as well but I might keep that for down at Woodies where we have a BIG cyclone system. First job today (toilet roll holder out of camphor laurel). Looks good, not a lot of dust but I stuffed the spigot by being in a rush. Doing a remedial tomorrow.

[rsser]

I don't think any one device is really up to the job, remembering that the harmful dust can't be seen and floats around in the shed.

Ideally:
* a local extraction source (for an alt. check out Shannon's post on a tool rest mounted shroud)
* an air scrubber, or big fan to blow the fine stuff out of the shed
* a face mask or filtered visor
* Edit: wet sand with oil or water

Wood dust is carcinogenic and invisible particles are the worst offender here. The dust can also sensitise the body over time producing allergic reactions to particular species.

Much as the expense is a pain, if you want a long career as a turner it's better to cry once, in the beginning.

Edit: here's some earlier posts on the topic of dust danger:
http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?p=700392
http://www.woodworkforums.com/showthread.php?p=749149&highlight=industrial+hygienists#post749149