Thread: Dust control for belt and disc sander

Can I suggest you repost your enquiry at the Dust Collection Forum ... DUST EXTRACTION

BobL is our resident dust collection expert. I am sure if you re-post on the dust collection forum he (and others) will be able to help you.

Also, can you post a pic of your machine ... helps us understand the issue.

My sander is a horizontal/vertical machine that used to produce mountains of dust. The fix I used can be found here ... https://www.woodworkforums.com/f200/m...chines-161166/

What is the vac hose attached to at the end opposite to the sanders.
What size is the vac hose?
What brand are the sanders
Do you have dust extractor?

A couple of pics of the sanders might help.

Sorry John Samuel and Bob L for late reply, but for some reason having problems posting picture, it's a Chinese disc and belt sander, just sits on top of bench, has a 2" vacuum hose on the end of the belt, the back takes about 40% the other 60% is going everywhere. The only thing I can think of is, it needs a bigger back hose, but can't fit as it has a 2" attachment, tried to build a cardboard hood around machine which helped a little bit, wish I can show picture but will keep trying to download, I will check forum with the problem, thanks for yout help
Billylad

Originally Posted by Billylad

Sorry John Samuel and Bob L for late reply, but for some reason having problems posting picture, it's a Chinese disc and belt sander, just sits on top of bench, has a 2" vacuum hose on the end of the belt, the back takes about 40% the other 60% is going everywhere. The only thing I can think of is, it needs a bigger back hose, but can't fit as it has a 2" attachment, tried to build a cardboard hood around machine which helped a little bit, wish I can show picture but will keep trying to download, I will check forum with the problem, thanks for yout help
Billylad

Yep I know the sander you refer to and their dust extraction port it completely inadequate. In my testing of DCs around the traps this sander stands out like the proverbials as a big problem. You are on the right track building a hood around it but unless you can get 800 - 1000 cfm air extraction up to it the sander will continue to spray stuff around your shed. A minimum DC to get 800 cfm is a 2HP DC with 2 x 4" short lengths of ducts attached.

I have a stand with the dust hood attached to the dust extractor, that I put right behind the belt sander, and it works reasonably well - catches MUCH more dust, than built-in port.

Originally Posted by Ilya

I have a stand with the dust hood attached to the dust extractor, that I put right behind the belt sander, and it works reasonably well - catches MUCH more dust, than built-in port.

What Diam is the dust hood?

This is the photo of the belt and disc sander T013.jpg

Originally Posted by BobL

What Diam is the dust hood?

I use the small dust chute from Carbatec (Plastic Dust Chute - 10" X 4" : CARBA-TEC) right behind the belt. I can use bigger hood, or better attach the second bigger one to the second port of the 2HP dusty (maybe put it above the belt?), but current setup works well enough for me. Proper dust collection is still not an option for me at the moment and when I am sanding I work in a proper mask.

You are on the right track ... the machine needs a decent hood, but BobL is correct; you are going to struggle with anything less than a 2 HP dust collector.

My vertical/horizontal sander was hopeless for dust collection for a long time with a 1 HP dust collector and a 4 inch hose. A redesign of the hood (made from 3 mm MDF) helped a fair bit, (see pic), but while that hood was not quite up to scratch it could have been improved further.
IMAG0128.jpg

Finally, I had a sense of humour failure with my dusty workshop, and installed a cyclone with 6 inch ducting ... and now have good dust collection.

The main problem with the 1 HP dusty was that no matter how good the hood became, it was never going to grab the very fine (invisible) material. Nor did it have enough suction to capture all of the visible dust.

Thanks for all your replies, Bob L, Ilya and John Samuel. Yes I will try a bigger dust hood a 10x 4 but my main problem is I only have a 1hp dust extractor, cant justify a bigger unit just yet, as I only have a half of a garage. Will keep on trying different ideas, but I think I will have to put up with a little bit of dust and a dust mash all the time, once again appreciate all your help
Billylad

Billylad, you are on the right track ... stick with it.

If you are limited to a 1 HP dusty for now, that makes your hood design mission critical. The one I made of MDF picked up about 90-95% of the visible dust, so, not perfect but a lot better than it was.

Also, if you are careful to keep the filter bag clean your dusty will provide maximum suction. I am ashamed to say that a couple of times I surprised myself with the improvement once I cleaned the bags (way too long between cleanings).

Finally, with my sander I found that dust collection worked best if the work was as close to the wheel and the dust collection point as possible.

thanks john , i will keep trying all types of hoods till i win like you did

That begs the question of whether the holes across the opening are to spread the collection area or is it to keep stuff from entering the port while the sander is running? Like an "operator" reaching into the opening?

Pete