Thread: Dust Collector Hood

Can anyone share their idea of mounting a dust collector hood to a lathe instead of mounting to a stand]

Hi Keoni,
I have yet to do this, but I have been giving it serious thought of suspending above the lathe to remove the airborne dust. One of the draw backs is the size of the unit and the air flow required to do effectively.

So what I am looking at is placing it on the opposite side to the turners side and building one some what like a paint shop extraction unit and adding an angled fan to blow across the work piece, situated near the headstock.
The idea is have it blow the fine aprticles across to the extraction unit, this keeps the air flow requirements much lower.

As to catching the heavy stuff, well, given the way the lathe works. I doubt that there is really good system out there. But have a search of the forum there was a really good ieda of mounting chip and dust collection via the tool rest, for external and spindle turning this should work very well.

My set-up is on my website.... http://web.aanet.com.au/ttit/gadgets/gadgets.htm#Dust - works well for me

Keoni - I mainly turn bowls outboard (not much between centres) and have played around with various fixed hood arrangements in the past but now (at least for now) I simply hang my 6" flexible hose from the toolrest. This method does involve frequent fiddling around with its placement to optimise proximity to the job and tool access, and may sound a bit slack, but I find it quite effective.

I do have an old dentist's light boom which I will probably adapt to the task at some stage to see if that is an improvement, but for now simple does it.

Neil

Originally Posted by hughie

...
But have a search of the forum there was a really good ieda of mounting chip and dust collection via the tool rest, for external and spindle turning this should work very well...

That might have been mine;
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f8/toolrest-dust-extraction-79566


I still use it between centers (that same one) and for a lot of faceplate work. but it gets in the way on anything more than 2" deep, where I swing the end of the toolrest inside the workpiece envelope. A different shape could do it.

The main factor for me was that the chips come off towards you on the lathe - so why put extraction behind the lathe?

A fan blowing the chips towards extraction also works well according to a number of sources, but I have not tried it myself.

I also had mine set up using a second MC-900 banjo & arm. The hood simply had a post fastened to the side that dropped into the banjo instead of a toolrest, which made it very easy to move it into appropriate positions.

However, I grew weary of having to put it back on the original lathe (for use as a toolrest ) and I stopped using it... until such a stage as I can get my hands on a spare, anyway.

yeah first thing i did when buying the lathe was price a spare banjo - $45 dollars. I have not bought one though. But I am tight.

Hi Keoni,

Here are some shots of the set up I've been using now for a couple of years. It's a three piece articulated arm, made from RHS and is movable and adjustable in virtually every direction. I use this on both a long and short bed VL 300. In ten years of turning (and after much experimentation) this has been by far the best set up I've used as it can be quickly and easily positioned anywhere along the bed. Good luck with it, hope this helps.


Fredo

Dang good idea, Fredo, thanks!!

Fredo
looks good - only thing I'd add would be a bit of wire netting in the scoop to catch wayward bits of sandpaper

Originally Posted by Fredo

Hi Keoni,

Here are some shots of the set up I've been using now for a couple of years. It's a three piece articulated arm, made from RHS and is movable and adjustable in virtually every direction. I use this on both a long and short bed VL 300. In ten years of turning (and after much experimentation) this has been by far the best set up I've used as it can be quickly and easily positioned anywhere along the bed. Good luck with it, hope this helps.


Fredo

Great set up Fredo.....like the look of your chisel cradle as well,,Must make access easy...is it on a positional arm as well or fixed??

Originally Posted by Sawdust Maker

- only thing I'd add would be a bit of wire netting in the scoop to catch wayward bits of sandpaper

Good point Sawdust, except losing 'things' down the duct is less of a problem if you have a cyclone.... they just get deposited into the drop bin, usually intact, whereas as a straight DC will shred/crunch them through the impeller.

I found that wire mesh over the duct inlet quickly clogged up with long shavings, which are tedious to remove. So, if you have a straight DC, perhaps the mesh may need to be readily flipped in/out of position.... out when the long shavings are flying and in place when sanding.

Neil

Fredo...like the custom made shroud for the dc inlet.

....those of us (meaning me) with no "imagination" would have used just plain old sheet metal