Air Filtration

How I did it:

1. Bought a , 1 hp dust collector from a traveling tool company.
2. Hung the blower and bag section of the dust collector high on the wall with a homemade wood mount
3. Bought a filter and 6" hose from
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   4. Took off 1 bag. Put the closed end of the filter in front of the hole from the DC bag opening, approximately 2" away. The filter is supported on the opposite, flanged end by a bracket hung off the ceiling. The bracket has an open center. Placed a large plastic tube (made by cutting off one end of a 24" diameter plastic dust bag) over the bracket and over the bag flange of the dust collector. So the air blows in the outside of the filter and out the inside through the supporting bracket. 5. Took off the other bag and lined with a black garbage bag ( the simplest way to block it off). 6. Replaced the dust collector intake flange (for 4" hose) with a homemade flange for 6" hose. 7. Cut a scrap of plywood so it is wide enough to sit on top two of the ties that go from one way of the bed to the other. Put a flange for mounting the hose. 8. Put a medium/small cardboard box to serve as a collector on the plywood. Then cut with a utility knife to allow room for chucks and arms. See
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   Mount a scrap of galvanized hardware cloth over the opening. The system works good and I can vacuum some of the dust off the outside of the filter periodically. I don't suck chips so I don't need a cyclone. I like the filter over a bag which usually has less area or is coarser. The 6" hose makes a huge difference. I have limited power (on a solar/generator system) so I was pleased that this only draws about 7 amps at 120 V. Derek

Where is the sanding dust coming from? If it is from sanding on the lathe, then collecting it at the source is your best bet. There are some funnel type attachments that work ok, especially if you are hand sanding and not power sanding. You can make a box ( I used half of a plastic 55 gal barrel, and cut out part to fit around the headstock), which works better. The important thing is to get as much of the box as possible around the bowl and still leave access for you to sand. I made a separate room in my shop for the lathe, which controled the dust before I made my hood. The air scrubbers work well for all of that fine dust that the collector doesn't get at the source. robo hippy

--I'm very happy with the Jet. Just make sure you get one of the new bags with the smaller "pores" or whatever they're called, so it doesn't put the small particles back in the shop with you. If you *can* put the thing outside somewhere, make sure you put it downwind, heh.

That's the one. I like the metal HVAC ducts, and since I power sand, they mount magnetically to the lathe bed outside when I'm sanding out, where they gain the advantage of gravity and suction, on the opposite side of the bed when sanding inside, where the dust tumbles out the bottom of the piece by gravity and is captured in the stream.

Most of which is on its way to the ground rapidly after creation. So why do they tell you to mount them on the ceiling?

I take care of me with a nuisance mask and collect at the point. the rest sweeps up.

None of the dust collectors filter out the harmful particles. Here is my collation for dust free air.

I would start with reading this month's issue of Fine Wood Working, whch has a review of dust collectors. The point is to use the resources they list to see if you can find a 1 micron bag for your current dust collector. Many come (stock) with a 10 micron bag, which is not very good. Not good enough to actually catch the fine stuff. Of course having your dust collector hose set to pick dust directly from the lathe is I help, I use something like this

to collect the dust as I sand. Of course that doesn't get everything, so I also have this Delta air cleaner which has a 0.5 micron filter. It also has lights, which help illuminate the work area. Lastly, since I also wear a full-face shield, I wear one with a dust filter on it, see for what I wear. The Triton is cheaper, adds a helm, but requires you to carry the battery on your belt. I am a firm believer in the saying there are two kinds of woodworkers, those that have wood-dust reactions and those that will.

--Although the mass of the particles is much different I've found that collecting beneath is, indeed, much superior when I'm grinding metal on my belt grinder or any other grinder for that matter. Photo #6 on this page:

shows how I licked the belt grinder problem. As for sanding on the lathe, well, I'm trying to make some sort of bottom collecting duct for that now; probably a narrow slot running along the front of the lathe bed.

good point about ceiling mount... the one that I made (old portable swamp cooler with added 3M filters) is under the bench and works well...traps a lot of the small stuff.. Mac

A cheap way to double the CFM of your DC is to double the number of filter bags. A manifold mounted on top of the collector ring, with two bags on top, makes a big difference in performance. What I used was a couple of collector rings from HF to mount the bags to the manifold.

As for bags, Highland Hardware (or whatever they are calling themselves now) has "Shaker Felt" bags that are supposed to filter down to less than a micron, once they develop a "dust cake," for about $29.95

Deb

{2D7C69DE-D04C-4D3B-9BC7-4A40623C1706}&ReturnTo=BDSearch%2Easp shows the stats on Oneida filters. After you get some dust in them 5 times, the filter catches 96.7% of 0.3 to 0.4 micron dust. gives the OSHA standard for dust as 5 mg/m^3. A good system can reduce dust to this level. For those of us with heated or air-conditioned shops, a big fan exchanging inside and outside air is not a good option. Derek

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I have a budget system that works well. I use a 20 inch window fan with a pleated paper furnace filter on the inlet side of the fan. The fan is placed directly behind the lathe as close as practical depending on what's being turned, (I have a swivel headstock, so close proximity is not always possible) but usually about 6-12 inches behind the headstock. Filtration quality is dependent on the filters you choose. HEPA filters are available with high efficiency results, also electrostatics that attract and hold allergens. Most can be blown out (OUTSIDE) with shop vac or compressed air for reuse. You can put one of these together for under $25.00 when the fans are on sale at Lowe's, Walmart, Home Depot, etc. Works for me, YMMV.

Ken Moon Webberville, TX.

Another magazine tested filtration and they discovered that using a recirculating dust collector with too coarse a final filter actually INCREASED the amount of airborn particles in the 0.5 to 2 micron range, the most dangerous to inhale. Better to use none and let it settle to the floor. All the big chip collectors do is stir it up and keep in airborne so you can inhale it.

I'm adding a 0.5 micron pleated filter to my Big Boy collector very soon.

Good solution, especially if it can also be moved to the bench for bench top sanding.

What mag was it?

Dan Boll>> I would start with reading this month's issue of Fine Wood Working,