Dust collection and air cleaning
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A friend has his basement as his only space. When he was building with walnut (I think), one of his kids had a reaction. He put a plastic bio-hazard type doorway so would open he basement door, unzip the plastic doorway, step down and reseal. He also found clips that would hold furnace filters over both return and diffusers. This maybe thought to be extreme by many.
He set up some sort of pipe system and cyclone collection. I "think" he spent nearly $2K (maybe even 3k?) for the setup, but the health of his daughter really worried him.
I do remember him saying that even with all that, he had to change his furnace filter more often.
Not sure that this is helpful, except that no matter what he did, I think there was still some dust that escaped.
He set up some sort of pipe system and cyclone collection. I "think" he spent nearly $2K (maybe even 3k?) for the setup, but the health of his daughter really worried him.
I do remember him saying that even with all that, he had to change his furnace filter more often.
Not sure that this is helpful, except that no matter what he did, I think there was still some dust that escaped.
Here ya go. The air is pulled through the filters. The first pic is with the unit in it's home. If I have an exceptionally dirty job I can pull out the frosted inside storm window, open the slider and vent directly outside.da fixer wrote:I'm trying to picture your 20" box fan with 2 air filters...got a pic of it?
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New Leaf Custom Woodworking
Berry Conway - Chief Dust Maker
Berry Conway - Chief Dust Maker
If you purchase a dust collector, make sure it has a HEPA rated filter in the low micron numbers. All of the bag type filters I used always acted like a dust pump with the finest dust going right through the bag. I finally purchased an Oneida Dust Gorilla cyclone (expensive) with a good filter and my dust problems are less than they have ever been. You will still find dust in the shop. With the velocity it comes off the blades and cutters, I doubt you'll ever capture ALL of it. Just my 2 cents.
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BuckeyeDennis
- Platinum Member
- Posts: 3815
- Joined: Tue Jul 24, 2012 10:03 pm
- Location: Central Ohio
Ditto on the HEPA filter. My walkout-basement dust collection system is inexpensive, but pretty darned effective now.
I used to use just a small ShopVac with the standard filter. Fine dust would coat everything in my shop in short order, and cleaning the filter was a frequent, nasty, messy job. Then I discovered the bags that go inside the vacs, and realized that they would catch all the larger particles and keep the the outlet filter from clogging so fast. So I bought a HEPA outlet filter for the vac, installed the bag immediately upstream, and the fine-dust levels dropped to amazingly low levels.
Then with more tools, the problem became that the vac bags filled up too fast. So I bought a big Rigid vac with bigger bags and a HEPA filter. But when I added a jointer and a planer to my power-tool arsenal, I discovered that those puppies can make LOTS of chips real fast. Which made changing big vac bags an expensive pain in the keister.
So next I added an Oneida DIY Dust Deputy cyclone separator upstream of the vac. It works like a charm ... you can believe the advertising claims. Then, to control both both paint/finish fumes and any remaining super-fine airborne dust, I installed an ordinary bathroom exhaust fan to vent any remaining bad stuff outdoors.
Fine-dust levels in my shop are now way lower than outdoors during pollen season. For a total investment of around $200, I have a four-stage dust collection and filtration system.
#1. Cyclone separator
#2. Vac bag (in the large vac)
#3. HEPA filter (in the large vac)
#4. Exhaust fan, for anything that can get through that obstacle course.
This system has now been in operation for about a year, and the HEPA filter has not yet needed a cleaning. The vac bag was also original until last weekend, when I was happily planing and did not notice that the cyclone bucket was full. So then the vac bag filled up quickly, clogging up the works until I emptied the cyclone bucket and replaced the vac bag. Operator error, that. The HEPA filter was still in fine shape.
So I am now very happy with my fine-dust control. The coarser chips, having lots of kinetic energy, still do tend to escape the SS in table-saw mode, as well as the planer, and have to be Hoovered up from the floor later. After which they still end up in the cyclone separator bucket. Here, I suspect that the DC3300 would provide greater airflow, and capture more of the large chips. But I believe this to be just a convenience issue, not a health issue.
Finally, I discovered a very simple trick for keeping basement workshop micro-fine dust and chemical fumes from infiltrating the rest of the house. Iinitially, even with the exhaust fan running, I found that laquer fumes invaded the living quarters. That problem was solved very simply by shutting off the HVAC register that supplies the workroom. Then, the exhaust fan can generate a slight negative pressure in the room, as I had originally expected. So the bad stuff gets blown outside, clean conditioned air is drawn into the workroom, and zero dust or fumes makes its way into the living areas.
Just ask my wife .. no complaints at all.
I used to use just a small ShopVac with the standard filter. Fine dust would coat everything in my shop in short order, and cleaning the filter was a frequent, nasty, messy job. Then I discovered the bags that go inside the vacs, and realized that they would catch all the larger particles and keep the the outlet filter from clogging so fast. So I bought a HEPA outlet filter for the vac, installed the bag immediately upstream, and the fine-dust levels dropped to amazingly low levels.
Then with more tools, the problem became that the vac bags filled up too fast. So I bought a big Rigid vac with bigger bags and a HEPA filter. But when I added a jointer and a planer to my power-tool arsenal, I discovered that those puppies can make LOTS of chips real fast. Which made changing big vac bags an expensive pain in the keister.
So next I added an Oneida DIY Dust Deputy cyclone separator upstream of the vac. It works like a charm ... you can believe the advertising claims. Then, to control both both paint/finish fumes and any remaining super-fine airborne dust, I installed an ordinary bathroom exhaust fan to vent any remaining bad stuff outdoors.
Fine-dust levels in my shop are now way lower than outdoors during pollen season. For a total investment of around $200, I have a four-stage dust collection and filtration system.
#1. Cyclone separator
#2. Vac bag (in the large vac)
#3. HEPA filter (in the large vac)
#4. Exhaust fan, for anything that can get through that obstacle course.
This system has now been in operation for about a year, and the HEPA filter has not yet needed a cleaning. The vac bag was also original until last weekend, when I was happily planing and did not notice that the cyclone bucket was full. So then the vac bag filled up quickly, clogging up the works until I emptied the cyclone bucket and replaced the vac bag. Operator error, that. The HEPA filter was still in fine shape.
So I am now very happy with my fine-dust control. The coarser chips, having lots of kinetic energy, still do tend to escape the SS in table-saw mode, as well as the planer, and have to be Hoovered up from the floor later. After which they still end up in the cyclone separator bucket. Here, I suspect that the DC3300 would provide greater airflow, and capture more of the large chips. But I believe this to be just a convenience issue, not a health issue.
Finally, I discovered a very simple trick for keeping basement workshop micro-fine dust and chemical fumes from infiltrating the rest of the house. Iinitially, even with the exhaust fan running, I found that laquer fumes invaded the living quarters. That problem was solved very simply by shutting off the HVAC register that supplies the workroom. Then, the exhaust fan can generate a slight negative pressure in the room, as I had originally expected. So the bad stuff gets blown outside, clean conditioned air is drawn into the workroom, and zero dust or fumes makes its way into the living areas.
Just ask my wife .. no complaints at all.