Mine's pretty fancy - you may not want to go to this much trouble
View attachment 71729
I jammed a length of copper pipe in a spare nozzle and added some duct tape.
That looks good for dust. Do those long small nozzles get clogged up with chips?
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Compressed air at the lathe: where to place it?
- Thread starter John Whitley
- Start date
That looks good for dust. Do those long small nozzles get clogged up with chips?
Look for 'computer attachments' or 'small attachments' sized for shop vacs. Like these:
Steve, does having been a building engineer fit that qualification? Coors Light please.
Dave Landers
Beta Tester
Mine will clog right at the end, so I just take it out of the hollow form and yank off the chips. Still gets the chips out
Usually only a problem for wet side-grain forms where you get long curls.
Occasionally but just at the tip.
Sure! One Coors Light, coming right up.
I made an adapter to use some stainless steel tube in the nozel for my shop vac. It gets used for all sorts of things including vacuum sealing.
I did a search looking for how other folks run air to their lathe and came across your picture. Great looking turning area!
I realize this is an older thread, but there are some good comments here, so I thought I would respond to them. I have always thought the same thing about blowing things off. I am going to have air near my lathe in my new shop set-up for vacuum chucking and will have a quick disconnect for a hose, but I would rather vacuum saw dust rather than blow it all over the shop.
After buying the shop from the widow of a woodturner/friend/neighbor, I was running some additional circuit wiring thru the attic and found lots of shards of shattered PVC pipe on top of the insulation layer. One piece even penetrated the steel pole barn siding. Must've been one hell of a bang. I wish he was still around to ask him if he was there when it let go.
I used 3/4 and 1/2" sweat-fit copper water piping for my compressor at home. I ran a couple drops in my basement workshop, and one out to my garage. I had planned something similar in my barn shop, but so far, I've just run a 50' rubber hose alongside my dust collection piping to near the lathe.
I have 8' ceiling in my shop space, but instead of hanging a shop light over the lathe, I build a large plywood box/shelf for over the lathe. It has LED tubes on the underside, and a generous shelf for chucks, paper towels, stereo receiver, etc. It also gives a "wall" space at each end for hanging tools and a track on the back for dust collection hose drop. It's not pretty, but effective.
I used 3/4 and 1/2" sweat-fit copper water piping for my compressor at home. I ran a couple drops in my basement workshop, and one out to my garage. I had planned something similar in my barn shop, but so far, I've just run a 50' rubber hose alongside my dust collection piping to near the lathe.
I have 8' ceiling in my shop space, but instead of hanging a shop light over the lathe, I build a large plywood box/shelf for over the lathe. It has LED tubes on the underside, and a generous shelf for chucks, paper towels, stereo receiver, etc. It also gives a "wall" space at each end for hanging tools and a track on the back for dust collection hose drop. It's not pretty, but effective.
I was going to suggest the same. I have had a 25 foot retract reel for about 15 years so when turning I can pull out enough hose for the purpose and hook the nozzle near to hand.
I must share with you, folk, how nice it is to have air hoses on reels. I have three hoses on reels: one at each end of my shop bay and one upstairs in the storage area for cleanup. The one by the big shop door is used for everything from filling truck tires to reaching the hose bib to blow out my sprinklers in the fall. When done with the hose, it's out of the way, retracted onto its reel. Clean setup, not tripping on a hose.
As I have gotten older, tripping hazards have become an issue for me; this is an engineered safety thing. I have two pull-down power cords at ceiling level as well.
Again, my shop is CLEANER because of this design.
When I am done for the day at my lathe, I make it a habit to clean the floor into my big shop vac with the Dust Deputy on top of a 5-gallon bucket. A ten-inch bowl is equivalent to about 6 to 7 gallons of shavings, and goes right into the garbage can outside at the door.
As I have gotten older, tripping hazards have become an issue for me; this is an engineered safety thing. I have two pull-down power cords at ceiling level as well.
Again, my shop is CLEANER because of this design.
When I am done for the day at my lathe, I make it a habit to clean the floor into my big shop vac with the Dust Deputy on top of a 5-gallon bucket. A ten-inch bowl is equivalent to about 6 to 7 gallons of shavings, and goes right into the garbage can outside at the door.
Are you available to fly to TN a couple of times a week to clean my shop? I currently clean it up about once a year whether it needs it or not.
But I don't do big bowls so the volume of shavings would be small.
JKJ
This, so much this. Though I went a different route in my shop and plumbed a compressed air loop using RapidAir's MaxLine system. The flexible line and compression fittings together are great for ease of routing and assembly. I just finished that install a few weeks back, so I'm still full of "hey, there's compressed air, right here!" There are now ceiling (low ceiling, very reachable) and wall outlets placed strategically around the shop. And the main loop is placed such that if I "missed" anything, it's straightforward to add another outlet in the future. I think the main case for that would be if I end up going with pneumatic hold-downs for my sliding table saw at some point. Otherwise a not-very-long hose covers things from whichever outlet is nearest.
I put the RapidAir system in when I built my shop maybe 10 years ago. No problems.
I did have one coil of tubing that was too stiff for some reason and they sent out a replacement right away.
JKJ