Shopsmith Forums

Hey all-

I realized after starting the staining / finishing on my first project that everytime I stained something, everything had to stop in the shop to keep the dust down.

This was difficult-as I tend to want to keep going once Im started up .

So I had this old metal half height shelf with a missing shelf which wasn't doing much except providing a flat surface and I had an idea to convert it to a dust free drying box. You can see its twin off to the right there-it used to be a 6' shelf-but after many moves, it no longer stands straight-so I used it as 2 3' shelves.

I wanted to keep the shelf metal framing, so I built an MDF box on the inside.
Ripped a couple of 2x4s down to make the tray frames, which gave me the opportunity to try the overhead router and drill press setup on the SS-was pretty happy with the frames and the router/drill press operation.
I picked up some 1/4" wood rods from the craft store as grid material and press fit.
Some sizing for the box..
And then height setting and braces to allow the routed rabbets to slide along the braces.
Finally- i just finished off with an MDF cutout to form the cabinet front and drawer covers.
and now have a reasonable dry storage unit to allow me to feed the demon.


I'm already annoyed at the MDF front around the drawers as I can see in continuous use, the edges around the drawers will get flaky-and thats kind of opposite my intention of a dust free dry box...so it will end up being replaced by a nice plywood front and drawer faces at some point.


b

Great idea and, good use of the old shelf unit.

That is pretty slick!

rjent wrote:That is pretty slick!

Not a bad idea either!

Wonder if a small computer fan would circulate enough air to speed up drying ?

Ya-its pretty humid here in NC..things take some time to dry out.

I was thinking about a small fan, or maybe an old 20W lightbulb.

Do you think a small fan in an enclosed box would move air enough to
aid drying?

bainin wrote:

I'm already annoyed at the MDF front around the drawers as I can see in continuous use, the edges around the drawers will get flaky-and thats kind of opposite my intention of a dust free dry box...so it will end up being replaced by a nice plywood front and drawer faces at some point.

How about just using a liberal coat or more of clear polyurethane?

As far as heat and air, search on homemade food dehydrators. Your goals are pretty much the same and there is no need to reinvent the wheel.
I read about one guy that used a string of the "old style" Christmas lights (but not series wired) for a heat source and he could just unscrew part of the bulbs as needed to adjust the heat. I thought that was kind of a novel concept.
I saw muffin fans mentioned a lot. The addition of a small furnace filter might be a good idea to keep the air cleaned of dust.
I saw mention of a hair dryer but those little "universal" brush type motors are not safe to just leave running. Go ahead, ask me how I know that... Yes, I once started an engine compartment fire while drying out a pesky ignition system and the hair dryer did a full melt down while I was back in the house getting warm one winter...



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bainin wrote:Ya-its pretty humid here in NC..things take some time to dry out.

I was thinking about a small fan, or maybe an old 20W lightbulb.

Do you think a small fan in an enclosed box would move air enough to
aid drying?

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It might take a little experimenting about number of fans ,size of fans and fan placement , The heat idea will work well in some cases , I was thinking of low velocity circulation more then introducing outside air and dust or heat but it should work with good filters you cold circulate outside air ?? jmo

Good idea! I've used a food dehydrator to circulate and dry my projects here in Florida. I also provided a small vent hole at the bottom and at the top of the enclosure in order for the humidity to exit. Works great for the past 12 years or so.