Thread: Beginner Dust Extraction

Welcome to the forum.

Not quite sure what you are asking.

Maybe read the dust forum and summarise everything into a couple of questions?

All that information is in response to a template I found in one of the stickied threads for beginner dust collection.

Dust collection is enigmatic. You can spend thousands of dollars for incremental improvements; I don't know the threshold between not enough and overkill, and I haven't found any benchmark for an entry level, adequate hobbyist setup.

For the sort of work you plan on doing I’d be getting a powered respirator.
Routing slabs flat and sanding same will produce heaps of dust that will be impossible to collect without spending a fortune.
H.

Originally Posted by clear out

For the sort of work you plan on doing I’d be getting a powered respirator.
Routing slabs flat and sanding same will produce heaps of dust that will be impossible to collect without spending a fortune.
H.

This, and if in q garage/shed open the door and get a few cheap 2nd hand fans qnd help blow the dust out the door at a minimum

Unfortunately unless you can pick up a second hand 2HP dust extractor for next to nothing so that you've got some money left for ducting you're not going to achieve anything with 'a couple of hundred bucks'. The other option within the constraints of your budget would be an old vacuum cleaner with a small cyclone ahead of it. Hoses and connectors can be sourced from the rubbish bin at your local vacuum cleaner specialist. Either of these options will be better than nothing, but not much.

Whatever you end up with will be far from optimal so ventilation and/or a mask will be mandatory.

There's pretty much no such thing as overkill (and I would say that overkill is basically impossible on a domestic power supply anyway).

Thanks for the feedback so far, it's very much appreciated.
So far my approach would be:

* Cutting, drilling, detail routing & hand tool work can be done inside with a shop vac running connected to or around the tool in question and with the shed door open and fans blowing towards the outside.

* Grinding & extensive sanding should be done outside only, wearing a ventilator, probably sweeping up the large chunks and sawdust and letting the evil little 0.x micron buggers fly off into the clear blue sky.

How would you rate this in terms of adequacy and risk mitigation?

Is there a basic minimum recommended setup for home workshop dust extraction?

Welcome to the forum. After reading a little I realized you were using Bob's list of things to tell us to make advise giving easier. Good on you for that.

You can seal up your working area with plastic, using tape or better, stapled and then battens nailed on. That we'll contain the debris to the shop side and not on the family stuff on the other side. It will also fully the wall.

If you can do the dirtiest work outside without angering the neighbours that will help a lot. Wear a dust mask too because the dust never blows straight away. It always seems to do a few laps around your face first. Also be extra vigilant about wearing masks when using treated wood or pallets. The chemicals on them can be very bad for your health. Wear a shop coat, overalls or change out of your clothes before going back into the house or you will carry the dust in with you to breath and share with family.

Pete

Cheap and dust collection just don't seem to be able to exist in the same sentence, but do as much as you can even if it's a basic dust mask though good luck finding one these days .

Fine dust seems to get and settle everywhere and as Bob will say it's the worst stuff so anything you can do is generally a positive.

Plan on improvements to your dust collection as you can afford it.... we only generally get one life

Originally Posted by bhag

Thanks for the feedback so far, it's very much appreciated.
So far my approach would be:

* Cutting, drilling, detail routing & hand tool work can be done inside with a shop vac running connected to or around the tool in question and with the shed door open and fans blowing towards the outside.

* Grinding & extensive sanding should be done outside only, wearing a ventilator, probably sweeping up the large chunks and sawdust and letting the evil little 0.x micron buggers fly off into the clear blue sky.

How would you rate this in terms of adequacy and risk mitigation?

Is there a basic minimum recommended setup for home workshop dust extraction?

Given you re only doing it for 8-10 hours a week I would rate your risk mitigation as fair.

Drilling and hand tools don't make much fine dust
Shop vac will help with coarse dust on router but not sawing.
RE: "flattening some boards"
There's no indication of how you plan to do this.
Whatever the case salvaging timber usually generates large amounts of sawdust plus fine dust -you really should be looking at proper ducted dust extraction for this kind of thing.

RE: fans blowing towards the outside.
This will be about as effective as herding cats. To be moderately effective the fans should be embedded in the wall opposite the major shed opening and extracting from teh shed - blowing doesn't do much apart from distrubtiong teh finer dust all over the shed..
For a 6x3 m shed I would be looking at 2-3 bathroom type exhaust fans that run continuously to vent the shed.

Working outside as much a possible is a good idea but if not collecting the sawdust then a mask is essential.

Hi Bhag,

welcome to the forum.

As others have mentioned spending a few hundred on dust extraction isn't going to get you very much, and what you do get is a waste of time and money. You'll be better off working outside and letting nature take care of the fine dust. You'll still obviously need to clean up the chips.

To give you some context when i first started woodworking my first dust extractor was a used 2hp Carbatec unit which i purchased for $200. I then purchased a 3 m length of 6" flexy tube, thinking i'll just make do with the hassles of unplugging the dust extractor from each machine i was using. Fast forward to today, that DC is now being used as part of a downdraft table and has been replaced with a 3hp unit and hard pvc ducting around my shed. All of which costed much more than i had originally planned on spending.

Dust extraction is all about physics, so there is a minimum requirement to achieve adequate dust extraction. So unless you're able to find someone who's giving away a dust extractor be prepared to bite the bullet if this is something you're planning on doing long term. In answering your question, as a hobbiest a minimum is a modified 2hp dust collector outlined in the dust forum, and 6" ducting all the way to your dust source. Combined with a respirator and ventilation in your shed.

A general rule of thumb if your dust collection system is working. Is if you see dust gathering on your tools after you've made some dust you need a better dust extractor/ reevaluate your layout

Thanks all, much appreciated.

what part of SA are you in?