basement shop question

I have a 14X22 basement area: double bag dust collector behind the lathe, two circulating filters (one commercial and one homemade). Still get some dust accumulation and always wear respiratory protection while power sanding. Having your sharpening equipment very far from the lathe wuld be a pain in the neck.

Kip Powers Rogers, AR

Hi Matt, Welcome and thanks for joining in. Not many basements in S. Florida so you are spared my advice except to keep sharpening equipment close to your lathe. Please email me if and how PDF files are accessed with WebTv.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter

I moved all of my turning activities out of my unheated garage last winter so that I could develop some work for a show this past summer. The only thing related to turning still left in the garage is the band saw but that's gotta stay where it is; besides, my basement turnery is only 9'x12'.

I enclosed this portion of the basement years ago to be used as a small darkroom in a previous career path. Given it's small size and that the area's separated from the rest of the basement, containing dust has been somewhat easier, I'd think, than trying to capture the dust and shavings in a full basement.

I use a Jet-1100 dust collector with the filter canister to collect sanding dust as close to the point of generation as possible. Also use it to vac up chips after a sweep up of the floor. This dust collector captures most dust down to something like 2 microns in size. Secondary collection is a JDS-750 air cleaner hung from the floor joists above. This is run on medium speed during any sanding and on low speed for an hour after I leave the room when finished for the day (unit has an auto timer feature). This air filtration unit captures air-suspended dust down to sub-one micron - as I recall. Since the bottom of the JDS is a mere inches above my head, I positioned it over the grinder and disk sander cart. I oriented the dust collection tools such that the JDS intake is closest to the Jet's canister output.

Since my wife does the laundry in the basement plus keeps some of her work dresses there for ironing and my daughter uses part of the basement as a play area, I try to be very conscientious about cleaning up before leaving the turnery for the day. Tracking much wood stuff out would be tough on relations and so far it's been fairly easy - at least I've heard zero complaints so far.

Here's a pic of the DC setup I have (kinda messy at the moment as I'm waxing some odds and ends):

In my previous reply I forgot to say, "Welcome!"

As to having the sharpening setup close by... I'd say that'd be mandatory. I hit the stones pretty frequently and if they were up the stairs and in the garage, I'd likely push the edge way past the time it was necessary to resharpen. Way down deep I'm pretty lazy and want to make it as easy as possible to make turning enjoyable.

Chips are mostly a non-issue for me, because of the way I cut, and the fact that my lathe is up against the wall.

Outside shavings drop into a bag, inside shavings are ejected onto the table or into the wall to drop to the table, where they're brushed into the bag. I can fill the bag and a companion in an afternoon of roughing, but humping them up the stairs and out to the heap isn't too difficult, even when they're wet and heavy. My sanding is a bit unusual as well, which allows my to catch most of the dust in a metal vent as it falls. This was on the back while I was sanding outside, because I had a case of the lazy and didn't move it up front where It would be most effective. Back where this is works fine for inside sanding or spindles. I put on a nuisance dust mask when I think of it, but it's not enough to soil a Kleenex usually, even If I neglect the mask. I have vacuumed the area behind the lathe in the last couple of years, but it doesn't bother me much if dust stays there. The real dustmakers in my shop are the belt/disc sander and bandsaw. Even with the DC hooked up, they spread more than sanding on the lathe.

I don't do anything about that other than to vac it up when I'm done. IMO, the lathe isn't the dirtiest tool, that honor goes to my planer. And for that I vac the dust with a dust hood on it. Usually my shop is fairly dirty during machining of the wood, and gets cleaned up before I go back upstairs.

I hung a tarp between the shop area, furnace, and the washer and dryer. The lathe can create a lot of dust and would end up all over the washer and dryer. For example I turned some Padauk, and the red dust settled all over the place. The wife made it quite clear how much red dust was all over the washer and dryer. So, it sounded like I had the ok to go get a dust collector. What a difference that made. I still get a little dust around the shop, but the dust collector made about a 98% difference. And if any wood chips go flying, at least the tarp keeps them in the shop area to be taken care of by the shop vac at the end of my day.

Mike

Forgot to say the grinder is setup on the bench 3 to 4 steps from the lathe.

Mike

I think the concern was explosion of fine dust and sparks from grinding. Filter, filter. And further away is best - in the same room - e.g. turn around and take a few steps - keeps the legs functional - not in a position to long. It also gets the eyes to focus better - to long at the same distance is bad as well.

Martin

Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH, NRA Life NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder

Kip wrote:

on 9/18/2005 1:16 PM Owen Lowe said the following:

[snip]

Okay, Owen, I have a question.

I see that you have substituted a galvanized trash can for the plastic collection bag on the DC-1100. How are you sealing it? It looks like you just used duct tape, is that correct?

Do you have the plastic bags sitting within the trash can or have you decided to forego using them altogether?

Also, I haven't measured mine yet but did you have to alter either the trash can or the stand for the cyclone ring?

Thanks

Thanks for all the great info, everyone. Looks like I will be looking for a dust collector really soon . Can't wait to get everythng set up and start making a mess. Thanks again Matt

I guess I am doing pretty good. I can make a mess and not have to set anything up. And I might say tooting my own horn a pretty dam good mess at that.

Actually the trash can merely acts as a hard outer shell for the stock plastic bags. When installing a new bag or emptying the old one (our city has curbside yard debris pickup and accepts my lathe shavings) I reattach the bag as normal and then stick it down in the trash can and slide the can fully underneath.

I was constantly getting pinholes and small cuts in the bags which of course would then leak dust. I tried coming up with a slick way to have a hard can in the place of the bags and just happened to try it out as described above. The result is that the collector is much quieter without the loud rustling of the dust and chips swirling around the plastic bag and any holes that appear don't leak like they did before. It's also easier to fold the top of the bag down into the can and cart that upstairs than deal with a leaking, dusty bag.

The can was one available from Ace Hardware, I believe. Nothing special. It was used as a dog food container for a while and then a yard rakes and shovels containment system for a while but was appropriated for the DC when I went looking for something that would fit between the legs of the cyclone ring and not be too tall. I'll see if I can remember to measure it on my next trip to the basement.

I had a basement workshop when I was starting out. Chips are no problem, sweep 'em up. Shower curtains around your lathe help if you want to contain the mess to a smaller area. Sanding dust is pervasive and gets everywhere, even with a dust collector and air cleaner running. If you have forced air heat, the furnace will blow micro-fine sanding dust all over your home but you won't see it because the missus will have you out in the doghouse. Use weatherstripping and something under the shop door to seal it as well as possible, tape off the heating vents, and put a fan in a window or install a louvered vent. If you live in cold country you'll want separate heat, an electric heater works fine. If it's too cold to have a fan in the window (blowing out!), at least open it at quitting time and exhaust the dust from the room before you open the door.

-mike paulson, fort collins, co

Owen,

What's the white thing on the black cabinet? Kinda like to see pictures of the rest of the shop if you got time.

I've got a 15x17 area downstairs with a 6' doorway facing the woods that I'd like to temporarily setup for the shop. My dream is a rough cabin with BIG doors on one side facing a porch and the bottoms at the back of my property. Cool birds and deer down there. Wouldn't have to worry about dust or stuff and could store wood under it.

TomNie

Mike, Can you use one of the propane catalytic heaters safely?

TomNie

Ha,ha,ha. The "rest of the shop" he says... You mean the other wall? Well, OK, hold ontayer shorts:

BTW, that's an original Tiedman Lathe Stand.

Now, here's a teaser for you: I got one of the biggest lathes on order to fit in the place of the Midi. I measured and remeasured - it oughta fit...

The white thing is a 12" Jet disc sander. (In the picture it has a beach-found chunk of either Redwood or Western Red Cedar burl on its table.)

Lucky you. I have no windows at all. Have considered putting one in just so I can see into the rest of the basement, but then I'd lose valuable wall space.

First project with the big lathe is to convert those 4x4 s into ornaments. Start small for familiarization?

Hi Tom,

I'm not sure what you are asking. Dust explosion is not an issue. The only time I have ever heard of that it was a heavy dust concentration inside metal ducting. If you are asking about fumes, you oughta check with the manufacturer on that. I have heated with a wood stove for a couple years, an indoor rated kerosene heater for a couple years, and a portable electric heater since upgrading my insulation. No problems with anything except you gotta watch where the shavings land and the kerosene had some startup odor for a couple minutes until it got up to full operating temperature.

-mike