Thread: Air cleaning in a large shed

Originally Posted by rsser

My men's shed has a large woodworking workshop that's well equipped with dust extraction but there's still noticeable amounts of fine dust floating around - much of it produced in my woodturning corner!

They're willing to pay for some box type cleaners/scrubbers and I need to calculate how many and where.

Is there anyone here with professional expertise who can advise me?

What DE is attached to what size ducting, this could take some sorting out as a capable system should not need external support to solve the problem.

As well as CPS questions the following are likely to be relevant.

How big is the shed?
Max number of members working at any one time.
Machinery inventory including specs
How many simultaneous users are typically using machinery ?
What sort of extraction do you have for power tools?
What system do you have for opening/closing of blast gates and turning DCs on/off?

Also how about taking a dozen or so photos of your shed's DE, the ducting, and how the ducting is connected to machinery and posting them on here?

Ern, to give you some idea of what is possible I have been involved in MS installations for the last few years and none of them require any additional add ons to control dust and everyone comments on how clean they are. Having said that and to be totally honest nothing comes cheap and in some sheds there can be diverging views on what is needed and in one case it resulted in a lot of acrimony within the shed. My approach has always been figure out what is needed then apply for a grant to get the job done. Most come out at over $10,000 and more like $15,000 complete and installed but you already have some DE and that most probably can get used. I always recommend using automatic gates as that alone can reduce the dust levels because the gates control and lift the efficiency of the existing system due to being open and closed at all times as they should be. Men's Sheds are small commercial installations and should be treated that way for the best results. I know of one shed who sought so called professional advice that cost thousands of dollars and the whole system was specified in 100mm PVC, that was never going to work but someone's pocket was better off.

Thanks guys. Appreciate the advice.

Chris, have you seen a system that gathers all the dust from the sanding of a bowl on a lathe? That's the key source of leakage here.

Originally Posted by rsser

Thanks guys. Appreciate the advice.

Chris, have you seen a system that gathers all the dust from the sanding of a bowl on a lathe? That's the key source of leakage here.

That's just the stuff you can see but what happens is that there is usually loads of fine dust you cannot see escaping from other machinery and power tools that eventually settles out all over the shed. If you just focus on a lathe you won't solve your problem.

This is 1000 CFM sanding dust collection.


While it shows a spindle, it also works on small to medium size bowls. For large bowls you might need two hoods and an extra 500 CFM - one hood above the lathe.
The BMHs collect dust efficiently from further away than any other hood so are ideal for turners.

But there must be 1000 CFM at the lathe.
It's no use having a 2000 CFM DE shared between multiple machines .
Hence all my other questions.

Its a bit like going to the doctor asking for a cure for a specific problem but there are multiple underlying health issue contributing to the problem.

Originally Posted by rsser

Thanks guys. Appreciate the advice.

Chris, have you seen a system that gathers all the dust from the sanding of a bowl on a lathe? That's the key source of leakage here.

How many lathes has the shed got? Not to take the conversation away from here but I think a phone call will make it easier all round as there are so many aspects to a Men's Shed installation that have to be allowed for. If you are happy to do that PM me your phone number and we can have a chat.

Originally Posted by BobL

That's just the stuff you can see but what happens is that there is usually loads of fine dust you cannot see escaping from other machinery and power tools that eventually settles out all over the shed. If you just focus on a lathe you won't solve your problem.

This is 1000 CFM sanding dust collection.


While it shows a spindle, it also works on small to medium size bowls. For large bowls you might need two hoods and an extra 500 CFM - one hood above the lathe.
The BMHs collect dust efficiently from further away than any other hood so are ideal for turners.

But there must be 1000 CFM at the lathe.
It's no use having a 2000 CFM DE shared between multiple machines .
Hence all my other questions.

Its a bit like going to the doctor asking for a cure for a specific problem but there are multiple underlying health issue contributing to the problem.

Thanks Bob. Yes, the sub-5-micron dust is what concerns me. It hangs around and gets breathed in but not out.
Currently a Big Gulp gathers much but not all of the free dust and that drops when more blast gates elsewhere are open.
I'll look into BMHs.
In my own shed I used a filtered visor when sanding, a Big Gulp attached to a 2HP dusty and a box-type air cleaner.

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

How many lathes has the shed got? Not to take the conversation away from here but I think a phone call will make it easier all round as there are so many aspects to a Men's Shed installation that have to be allowed for. If you are happy to do that PM me your phone number and we can have a chat.

Many thanks Chris.