Shopsmith Forums

Bill
Welcome to the forum. Thanks for all the good reading.

Thanks Bill!

I hope your post brings lots of Shpsmith users to your website for a more in-depth look at dust collection!

Fred

Bill, thanks for your posts here and especially for the info on your website! The amount of information there is almost overwhelming, but I've been reading through it trying to let the main ideas soak in.

I have a small shop (12x24) and a very tight budget. I currently have no active dust collection. I just clean up afterwards with a shop vac. But dust collection does concern me and I do hope to do something about it soon.

If I vent outside, and use a trashcan separator lid, is the Harbor Freight dust Collector adequate for fine dust collection?

When venting outside, are there any guidelines to follow for how far the vent should be from windows and doors, outside kid play areas, etc?

This has helped me a great deal in the house and shop. I have one in each bedroom and in the shop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kH5APw_SLUU

heathicus wrote:Bill, thanks for your posts here and especially for the info on your website! The amount of information there is almost overwhelming, but I've been reading through it trying to let the main ideas soak in.

I have a small shop (12x24) and a very tight budget. I currently have no active dust collection. I just clean up afterwards with a shop vac. But dust collection does concern me and I do hope to do something about it soon.

If I vent outside, and use a trashcan separator lid, is the Harbor Freight dust Collector adequate for fine dust collection?

When venting outside, are there any guidelines to follow for how far the vent should be from windows and doors, outside kid play areas, etc?

I don't think the hf unit has a hepa filter , and if that's the case then it wouldn't be good inside your shop. Now if it was located outside that would be a good plan. (Like the fan in the window idea) maybe set it up outside and make a partially enclosed shed to keep the elements off of it.

jere wrote:I don't think the hf unit has a hepa filter , and if that's the case then it wouldn't be good inside your shop. Now if it was located outside that would be a good plan. (Like the fan in the window idea) maybe set it up outside and make a partially enclosed shed to keep the elements off of it.

This is correct. To vent outside is always better than venting inside into a filter, as no filter that feasible for use collects 100%. The real problem is the HF is just not capable of collecting the really fine, dangerous dust. It's a lot better than a shop vac. There can also be problems with air-exchange when venting outside.

Read Bill Pentz's site for an in-depth discussion of all of this.

Fred

I believe it is a matter of size of the dust collector in terms of how much air it moves, not who made it that determines whether it can gather the finer dust particles from the source of the dust. And in that sense, the Harbor Freight collector is no different than similar-sized collectors from other manufacturers. The higher the CFMs, the greater the ability to pull fine dust into the system. Then, it's a matter of what you do with the dust that is pulled into the collector. If you vent outdoors, all of the dust collected is sent outside. If you use a canister filter or bag inside on the dust collector, some of the finer dust collected will get through the filter or bag and end up back in the shop.

I'm using an Harbor Freight collector with a Wynn filter as is shown on Bill Pentz's website. It's likely the least expensive way to go for decent dust collection. I also have one of those filtration boxes that hangs from the ceiling to gather dust that remains in the air. Combined, they do a decent job at gathering dust, but still they're not capable of doing the job 100 percent.

Bill- Impressive read and thanks for sharing your expertise.

For commercial woodwork shops, I cringe whenever I walk in one. Digits or other cut related injuries have dwindled due to stringent guard and emphasized safety training. But further they make far less chips but instead its all dust.

Purchasing near-dimmensioned stock is usually the norm, veneers applied and finals are run thru large wide belt sanders. Dust collections help the majority but there's always a super fine atmosphere of dust in ALL these shops. Some might wear a paper mask at best. Even worse is the newer and fantastic urethane finishes. This stuff is wicked and catalyze rapidly. So as the chemistry evolved, the call was for higher efficient filtered commercial spray booths. But now I see workers ALL DAY LONG working without respirators in these booths!

I cannot believe the insurance carriers for commercial woodwork shops NEVER audit them and I see a mountain of lawsuits coming in the next decade about this.