Help making a dust collector

derekdarling · Post by **derekdarling** » Thu May 17, 2012 12:40 pm

ryanbp01 wrote:Why not just purchase the DC3300 and be done with it?

BPR

... then why not just hire someone to make stuff out of wood for you and be done with it.

I am NOT meaning to insult you (please imagine my tongue firmly embedded in cheek here), but if you make your own tools, you get a. better tools, b. an intuitive and highly practical knowledge of how and why they work, c. the ability to fix it when it goes south, and d. gloating rights!

Derek

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Thu May 17, 2012 1:13 pm

dusty wrote:I found out the hard and embarrassing way, a couple weeks ago, that I cannot leave out the filter. When I did that, the fine dust just got expelled out into the shop.

Dusty, at our old house we had a fireplace. I shoveled out the bigger pieces of unburnt wood and my wife decided to vacuum out the ash with the Shopvac. She forgot to make sure the filter was in. And she didn't realize it wasn't until all the ash had been sucked up and she turned around and saw the cloud.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Thu May 17, 2012 1:23 pm

heathicus wrote: And she didn't realize it wasn't until all the ash had been sucked up and she turned around and saw the cloud.

How LONG were YOU in the dog house for that?:D

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Thu May 17, 2012 2:56 pm

heathicus wrote:Dusty, at our old house we had a fireplace. I shoveled out the bigger pieces of unburnt wood and my wife decided to vacuum out the ash with the Shopvac. She forgot to make sure the filter was in. And she didn't realize it wasn't until all the ash had been sucked up and she turned around and saw the cloud.

I'll take the fine saw dust over ash any day. I fear that breathing the ash would be an irritant for a while after the ash was gone.

However, I do a lot of sneezing when I have worked with MDF.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Thu May 17, 2012 3:13 pm

dusty wrote:In addition to the DC3300, I have a 4hp, 10 gallon ShopVac. I use this a lot just as a vacuum but this thread got me to thinking about adding a Dust Deputy type interface to the Shop Vac. The down side of the Shop Vac, for me, has been the degree to which the filter plugs up (especially when using MDF).

However, if I read all of this correctly, the Dust Deputy would do nothing to improve that situation because the fine dust will still end up in the Dust Deputy barrel via the filter.

I found out the hard and embarrassing way, a couple weeks ago, that I cannot leave out the filter. When I did that, the fine dust just got expelled out into the shop.

The BEST SOLUTION is - don't use MDF or cut it way out back amongst the cactus and don't breathe while cutting:rolleyes:.

Not having a functioning blade guard/dust chute make it a challenge to test the DD/shopvac effectiveness on mdf, but I will do so 'sometime'.

Do not take my fine dust comment too seriously, since I have not observed buildup in the DC3300 filter. Take it as more of a foregone conclusion.

When trying out the DD with a shop vac, I did not notice any fine dust buildup on the shop vac filter(wet sponge type(dry), not paper), nor any dust emanating from the SV exhaust.

But then I was not cutting MDF.

I will also try DD/SV and sanding disc. I do have a modified 510 lower guard that I use with the sanding disc.

FWIW the small SV that I have will move(through the hose) jointer debris better(faster) than the DC3300.

In other words, do not disregard the DD/SV as an option for you so quickly!:)

heathicus · Post by **heathicus** » Thu May 17, 2012 6:29 pm

beeg wrote:How LONG were YOU in the dog house for that?:D

Fortunately, it wasn't my fault that time! And she has a great sense of humor so she just laughed about it. We still laugh about it sometimes.

db5 · Post by **db5** » Mon Aug 13, 2012 11:57 pm

Well of course she laughed. It was her screw up. Here's the way it works: If I screw up, I laugh and she doesn't. If she screws up she laughs and, being a wise man, I laugh too. Obviously, before you were were married, no one explained "the rules" to you and no one has since. So, that's one of the rules.

Another important rule is that the woman always gets the last word in an argument. If she doesn't that's the start of a new argument.

keakap · Post by **keakap** » Wed Aug 15, 2012 12:24 pm

lightnin wrote:[...
I have never even used a dust collector before so I am hoping the voices of experience
to input on this before I progress to far in the planing.

You could try this:
Shopsmith Sawdust Collection System plans: "Shopsmith Woodworking Plan FA-1867"
I think it features the (excellent) Shopsmith "SHOPMATE Dust Collection System", which sounds like just what you're looking for.

terrydowning · Post by **terrydowning** » Wed Aug 15, 2012 12:32 pm

Isn't the Shopmate just a wet/dry vac??

rpd · Post by **rpd** » Wed Aug 15, 2012 4:58 pm

db5 wrote:Well of course she laughed. It was her screw up. Here's the way it works: If I screw up, I laugh and she doesn't. If she screws up she laughs and, being a wise man, I laugh too. Obviously, before you were were married, no one explained "the rules" to you and no one has since. So, that's one of the rules.

Another important rule is that the woman always gets the last word in an argument. If she doesn't that's the start of a new argument.

Great news!

The book, "Understanding Women," is now out in paperback!][ATTACH]18193[/ATTACH]