Should I buy a DC3300 dust collector?

[8iowa]

Ivan:

Lathe turning does indeed present a different type of dust control problem. I don't do a whole lot of lathe work, but my so-in-law does. Two years ago when he visited my Upper Peninsula "Workshop in the Woods" he turned several bowls out of different types of exotic woods. Problems really arose when he used a sanding pad on a rotary drill to sand the bowls as they spun on the lathe. He wore a respirator, but the whole shop was engulfed in fine dust, which was toxic as all heck as well.

Last year when he visited, I had purchased a hood on a stand that could be placed close to the turning, and was of course connected to the DC3300 on the other end. I’ll give the hood/DC3300 set-up an efficiency rating of perhaps 25%. Frankly, I doubt that a 2HP dust collector on the other end would increase this efficiency very much. The real need is to capture the dust close to the source. To try to accomplish this, my son-in-law had a new Metabo random orbital sander ( http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/meta ... ander.aspx ), which I had given to him as a Christmas present to replace his drill with sanding pad. The Metabo sander attaches to my Fein Turbo II vac and did a great job of sucking up fine dust particles right at the source. Finally, I also installed an air cleaner on the ceiling that sucks up fine airborne dust down to one micron. We still had a quantity of larger chips on the floor to sweep up, but the fine dust / health hazard problem is essentially solved.

[charlese]

Ivan:... Finally, I also installed an air cleaner on the ceiling that sucks up fine airborne dust down to one micron. We still had a quantity of larger chips on the floor to sweep up, but the fine dust / health hazard problem is essentially solved.

Right on there, 8iowa! The bigger saw dust that falls on the floor won't hurt you, unless a piece gets in your eye. Or it gets tracked into the house! It's the fine stuff (the size of smoke particles) that won't settle quickly that'll get us in lung trouble. Also there are other woods that will give off odors (actually very very fine dust) that will set off allergies.

Your air cleaner is a very good thing!!!!!

[iclark]

Problems really arose when he used a sanding pad on a rotary drill to sand the bowls as they spun on the lathe. He wore a respirator, but the whole shop was engulfed in fine dust, which was toxic as all heck as well.

8iowa,

you understand the issue. several of the recent guest turners at the local monthly woodturners club have spent time in the ER and/or hospital because of fungal infections in the lungs from turning spalted woods without a respirator.

I have leased space for a hobby shop that I am still setting up. the previous occupants of the space were a couple of auto detailers. I am still cleaning the fine grit that they left everywhere. it really shows that dust in this unit stays airborne for a long time.

unless I add a mezzanine, there is not a good place to hang an air scrubber since the unit's ceiling/roof slopes from about 30' high at one end down to about 20'. too high for my ladders to reach anything away from the walls. for fine hazardous dusts, that means that I either have to capture the dust at the source or make everyone wear respirators until the entire volume of air settles out.

I've had enough hazmat schooling and practice that toxic dust gets respect and proper handling. biohazards like fungal dust still scare me, though.

I am leaning towards setting up something conceptually similar to a finishing booth that I can roll lathes or sanders in and out for doing the processing that generates dangerous dusts. one good thing about the really fine particulates is that their drag to inertia ratio is so high that they don't go far upstream even when coming off a high-speed lathe. I am thinking that a combination of a dust collector hood at the source and one of the large fan-based filters (like was posted here by someone a while back) as a back wall for the booth ought to have a reasonable safety margin.

basically, I want too achieve the sort of set up that you did plus add a good steady air flow past the worker and the tool to the filter wall.

Ivan

[shipwright]

If you dont have to keep the shop closed up for heating / cooling reasons etc., a good exhaust fan vented to the outdoors can replace all the air in your shop every couple of minutes. The ones on discarded gas furnaces pass big volume and can be had free or cheap at your local heating / air conditioning repair place.

Paul M

[iclark]

If you dont have to keep the shop closed up for heating / cooling reasons etc., a good exhaust fan vented to the outdoors can replace all the air in your shop every couple of minutes. The ones on discarded gas furnaces pass big volume and can be had free or cheap at your local heating / air conditioning repair place.

good ideas and I had not thought of the furnace fans (maybe because that is always the part that has died first on mine). excellent idea.

to heating/cooling, around here you can add gnats and mosquitoes. ever since they imported the tigers, it has been ungodly here in warm weather.

several of the neighbors do almost all their work with the roll-up door open. rolling the lathe outside might be one way to get even. I better make sure that my liability insurance is good first.

Ivan

[hudsonmiller]

I have the DC3300 hooked to the 4" port of a cabinet saw via a daisy chain of adapters. I was very skeptical that it would do the job considering that the cabinet saw suggested that it have a 400 cfm minimum. There area chips in the bottom of the cabinet but there never seems to be any dust in the air in my shop. There is a haze on some of the toolboxes to attest that not everything is captured but I never get the feeling I can see any dust in the air in the lights.

That said - I also use a box fan with a 20" home air filter over the suction to help clean shop air.

If you are considering the DC3300 then I recommend it.

[powder2burn]

Like most folks on this forum, I have a small shop. I think air quality is so important I own two DC3300. I use one to connect at the tool I am using and the second DC3300 I use as a general room air filter. Maybe not the most efficient use, however, cleaning up some of the air I am breathing is better than not cleaning any at all. Some tend to forget that many of the resins and glues used in plywood and MDF are better off not being ingested into our lungs. Here is a quote from the introduction of Wood Dust and Health published by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): "Wood dust becomes a potential health problem when wood particles from processes such as sanding and cutting become airborne. Breathing these particles may cause allergic respiratory symptoms, mucosal and nonallergic respiratory symptoms, and cancer...". Work smart and work safe.