New to us SS 510

[ameliacatz]

My husband was just able to buy what I think is an SS Mark 5 from a government auction site. At a ridiculously low price. He was the only one who bid. Picked it up today and it has many more parts than pictured. What does this have to do with me? He wants me to share the unfinished basement with me. My hobbies are numerous sewing, quilting, painting, dyeing and more...all needing to be kept dust free. How are we to manage this? I have done enough construction to know it involves a lot of dust. Frankly, I take my cutting out to the walk out to avoid just this problem. Not an option for the SS as it is not a waterproofed area. We don't have a lot of time to make room for it. Does anyone know how much dust contraction plastic walls will keep out the dust? There is a natural division along the central beam that we could hang that from but we will still have to close up the space between the beam and the subfloor above.

Any and all ideas and suggestions welcome!

TIA,

Liz

[JPG]

In order to reduce the 'need' for a barrier, I suggest investing in a dust collector and having dust collection attachments for all the SS things. Not perfect, but it will help.

Next question is: does the basement have forced air heat/ac? If so, return air vents on the SS side need to be well filtered.

[edma194]

As JPG says, a dust collector will make a big difference. It could be a large shop vacuum or a dedicated dust collection system. Most Shopsmith tools have dust collection ports that should be used. Older machines may need some upgraded parts for that, especially the disk sander which is a major dust producer. That's how you can keep the majority of the dust out of the room to start with. Exhaust fans and air cleaners help clear any airborne dust from the space. That's the stuff that would get all over your crafts, and eventually settle anywhere in your basement.

Plastic walls work well at containing dust. The kits come with zippers to construct a roll up door and taping plastic to the floor, ceiling, and walls will prevent dust travel well. A lot of dust also collects on the plastic instead of remaining in the air. However, without all the other steps to reduce the amount of free dust and provide proper ventilation the air quality behind the curtain can get pretty bad. So at a minimum you'll have to use a shop vac and some kind of ventilation fan or air cleaner to keep things tolerable. An exhaust fan on the dusty side of the curtain will keep dust from flowing out into the rest of the basement when the door is unzippered.

Hope your husband enjoys his Shopsmith. New comers are welcome here, he'll have a lot to learn about a Shopsmith and this forum is here to help.

[JPG]

Look up "dust deputy".

[BuckeyeDennis]

I have a similar setup in my basement, except that the walls dividing my woodshop from the rest of the basement are permanent frame & drywall construction. The wall separating my woodshop from my wife's craft room is open between the overhead joists, and the shop shares the house's central air/HVAC. Still, the dust-mitigation efforts that I've implemented have been successful in preventing workshop dust from travelling beyond the workshop. Here's the basic setup:

I always have dust collection hooked up to whatever machine I'm using. It's usually a large shop vacuum with a filter bag plus a HEPA filter, and a Dust Deputy cyclone separator inline between the machine and the shop vac.

Before generating any dust, I close the A/C vent that supplies the workshop air, and turn on an ordinary bathroom exhaust fan that vents outdoors. It generates just enough negative pressure in the workshop to ensure that house air is flowing into the workshop, and not out of it.

I also have an overhead recirculating air filter that I using when running machines and operations with poor local dust collection. But that's more for the health of my lungs than it is to prevent dust egress from the woodshop. When necessary, I'll wear an N95 mask in addition to all that.

I've been running this setup for years, and have never had a dust complaint from my wife.

[Matanuska]

Dust could definitely be an issue even with a dust collection system and a plastic barrier sheet if both sides share a common forced air heating/cooling system. I set up my shop with a dedicated mini-split HVAC system to keep the shop separate from the system for the adjacent garage apartment. I attach a dust collection hose to the tool in use that runs on through a cyclone droput and then on to a filter bag. I also run a separate dust extractor while working, but still have to clean the mini-split filter screens twice a year. Once or twice a year the mini-split condensate drain line also plugs with dust which must be extracted with suction or blown out with compressed air, but at least there is no dust in the garage apartment. I hope you can make this work well for both of you - a bargain SS is hard to pass up!

[bainin]

Unfortunately, you will not be able to get to "dust free" in a woodshop environment. If you choose to go down the dust collection/filtering route, know that these things will reduce dust but not eliminate it entirely.

I would think awhile about if this is acceptable for your other hobbies.

good luck !

b