Dust collector?

Made one from an old window AC unit + 1 trash bag for duct + 12" dia hole in the side of my garage + nailed on a screen on the outside. Works like a charm. The fan and motor multi speed controls remain in the frame.

Actally it is not. Better than nothing, that is. Reason is the 35 micron bag. Your nasal hairs do a real good job on the big stuff, (i.e., what get through the HF filter bag). It is the stuff below 5 microns that really gets you.

As for blowing it outside, great, as long as the really fine dust is not recirculating back into the shop.

I took the blower/impeller off the large HF (which scored poorest of all in a test of similar size DC's) mounted it up above my ceiling, routed the vacuum though a cyclone and discharged the fine stuff in a small building built outside the shop just for that purpose.

Deb

Thanks I was thinking of getting the 1 microns filter bag from Sears because the 35 microns does seam rather large, but I need to start somewhere. I was just turning a few pens & wine stoppers for gifts but now I want to do a lot more turning, so thinking more about the fine dust issue.

Marty Making fine sawdust from good wood for since 1972

I am thinking here that the reason you are posting concerning this particular unit is that you are trying to save some bucks. I understand.

But you don't want to be so cheap you do no good, either. You don't get a lot of leeway when it comes to your lungs. And with a 30 micron bag on a dust collector, it becomes just a pretty good vacuum cleaner. Not a great one.

I would suggest one or two solutions to keep the price affordable and get something usable in the deal.

I like this one from Rockler:

I like this one because it comes (should check before purchasing) with a good hood and stand to use. You can park the hood and the stand next to the lathe and get going.

And this one from Woodcraft:

This is probably the same unit, just without the stand and the hood. I have had one very similar to this that I bought at WC several years ago, and it is the one that I take out to the jobsite. Note on the link to WC, you can purchase a better bag for these collectors. Buy it, and it will fit both WC and Rockler's machines. The difference in performance is huge.

I bought this second bag and was concerned with the bag only stopping down to 5 microns. But after I used it for a couple of jobs, the felt in the bag became so clogged it seems to stop pretty much everything now.

When we are inside a house, we can block off a room, open a window and tape off around the hose to seal the hose in the window. If we take the bag off, it will clear out large rooms on minutes. If we cannot get to a window, we use the 5 micron bag inside the house and it does an amazing job with dust collection during our demolition process.

When my WC goes, I will buy the Rockler model and get the stand and hood.

Just my 0.02.

Robert

Splurge on a 5 micron bag. Your nose will love it.

** Posted from **

In article , "MGIB" wrote: ,,

I use a similar dust collector (it's a Delta but...), PLUS a 1 micron hood, PLUS a 0.3 micron continous air filter. The result of the three is I don't get much dust collecting on the tools that (often) just sit there, like the storage-table-saw. I also never cough at the end of a sanding/sawing/dust making session

But it is free and idiot proof (a requirement for me). One can adjust the volume and location of the intake and provide some sort of duct for return air to keep hot/cool air loss to a minimum. It is a shop not a hospital room - right. Just my 1.29 micron worth .

The closer to the work, the better, and if you

I have been using a Toro Leaf blower and vacuum.Fifty eight dollar. Works beautiful.