Thread: underbench dust collection

Originally Posted by Bluegum

I am in the market for a small dust unit. I don't have a large area and was looking at the under bench models. I know there are a few on the market and reading here in a post has suggested the carbatec version is not all that effective. I know that Hare & Forbes have a similar model 1.3 hp, 500cfm with a 50l container. I would only be using it with my lathe and was wondering if anyone has used one or can provide some feed back on them.

None of the <2HP DCs are effective mainly because the flow rates for these are far too low to collect (especially fine dust) at source from a wood working machine, especially something like a lathe.

To have a hope of catching the fine dust at source the DC need to be able to draw 800 (and preferably 1000) cfm .
Although the manufacturer claims 500 CFM, but since it uses 4" ducting this means it simply cannot carry more than 400 CFM
However, once the filter clogs up a bit, the flow rate will be more like 350 - 300 cfm.
I have not measured the efficiency of any of the filters in any of these units but and the 5- micron rating means very little. My guess is the filter will be similar to a basic vacuum cleaner which is poor to useless. Also vacuum cleaner DC designs are fraught with problems and commonly make more fine dust than they extract,

Do you have any room outside your shed to locate a DC there and duct it back inside the shed?