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Question On Dust Collectors

Lamar Wright

Lamar Wright

Joined
Jun 29, 2017
Messages
799
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Location
Jasper, Alabama
Hello turners, while working in your shops do you use your dust collectors the whole time you are in your shop or just use it while sanding? For myself, I have a small basement shop and I use the dust collector when sanding only. I do have a Wen ceiling DC that runs all the time when I'm in my shop. When turning and not sanding I always wear a good 3m dust mask and face shield. I don't won't large shavings going through the dust collector. Is this a good practice?
 
I use my dust collector mainly for sanding, I also use it when coring as that seems to generate a lot of dust and I can capture it at the kerf on the backside of the piece. I don’t know if running it for a few hours while I stand at the lathe would 1)help much or 2) burn up the DC.

I do have a window fan/filter setup in front of me pulling dust away from me that is running the entire time- it’s not the volume of air as a true DC but it catches a fair amount of dust so it’s better than nothing. I’d put one of those ceiling type units in front of me if I had the room. The Powermatic fan type units looks attractive as well but it’s $$$ and I don’t have room for it. You could spend the same $$$ and get a personal respirator setup.

I also have overhead air scrubbers.
 
My dust collection system is run to several different tools. At the lathe I have the dc on mostly when I'm just sanding, always on when using the table saw, bandsaw, drill press or when I'm using carving/texturing wood. Otherwise the Supermax air cleaner that is mounted above the lathe is running most of the time regardless of what I'm doing. I also wear a respirator most times I'm at the lathe.
 
When turning, I turn green bowls to final thickness, so no need to run the DC. With my other shop tools, I run the DC when ever they are on, like bandsaw, table saw, drum sander, etc.

robo hippy
 
I have a box fan with the furnace filter. Run it about two hours after I'm done; cleans up a lot of dust in that time. Shop Vac will pick up some of the fine stuff from the lathe but big shavings go on the lathe and the floor. That is where the SV takes over.
 
My DC is on almost all the time I am in the shop If I am turning or using saws. My overheads are also on . I have a Jet and can't remember the other. The DC is on 220 and it is my understanding that once up and running they can run forever and not hurt them , it is the on of cycle that causes wear to almost all electric devices.

Better to take the precaution than to have to say later on I wish I had done this or that when I was young.
 
I have a small wall-hanging DC set up for sanding, which is a huge improvement over nothing, but it has no cyclone and would fill with chips instantly if I ran it while turning. It was going to be too long a run back to the big shop DC, so I went with a second unit to catch the fine dust. When turning dry wood I use an AirMate type PAPR, just a plain face shield for wet wood.
 
Lamar Wright said:
Hello turners, while working in your shops do you use your dust collectors the whole time you are in your shop or just use it while sanding? For myself, I have a small basement shop and I use the dust collector when sanding only. I do have a Wen ceiling DC that runs all the time when I'm in my shop. When turning and not sanding I always wear a good 3m dust mask and face shield. I don't won't large shavings going through the dust collector. Is this a good practice?
Click to expand...
I always run my DC when turning dry wood.
Why do you not want large shavings going in the DC?
 
Greg Norman said:
I always run my DC when turning dry wood.
Why do you not want large shavings going in the DC?
Click to expand...
Hi Greg, wood shavings and chips clog up the DC and renders it useless in a short while, however, I'm going to look into a cyclone system that catches the shavings and chips and lets the dust collect in the DC.
 
As several others have mentioned, I don't wear respiratory protection when turning green wood. Are we fooling ourselves?

What about when it gets near final thickness and the surface has dried out?
 
Depends on how wet the green wood is, if I see stuff in the air reflected by a light beam the dc goes on. Always on turning anything close to dry (do a lot of twice turned). Also have the versaflow on all the time.
 
My turnery is also in my basement. I would recommend monitoring how much dust settles on surfaces inside and outside of your turning area. If you're getting more than regular airborne environmental dust, then you should experiment with running the collector more often or think about getting a true shop air cleaner that filters down to the couple micron level. Keep in mind that you're never going to eliminate all dust or risk -- unless you got the bucks for a clean-room type installation. ;)
 
My dust collector. Murphy-Rogers 3 HP.

DSCF8634.JPG

I just run it while sanding. When its time to clean up around the lathe, I just sweep the chips into a floor sweep and it goes right through the collector without any problem. Even the really long stringy ones.

I do run a ceiling mounted air purifier most of the time. Amazing how much dust it collects.

Went the pile gets about as high as in the picture I bring the tractor with front end loader to dispose of chips in various holes. The biggest problem with exhausting outside is the noise which would annoy close neighbors (I don't have any). Contrary to popular opinion, exhausting conditioned air has never been a problem.
 
I may run my DC more doing dry bowls. I do have a cyclone separator on it and a cartridge filter.

I just put together a respirator kit off eBay. Expensive but I really really really like it. Wore it for a few hours today roughing out some bowls.

Just be careful with flatulence - that air intake is in the wrong place and the consequences are immediate. Or so I’ve heard.
 
Guys,
I always wear a mask when turning spalted or green wood. One of the guys in our club got a mold infection (that’s what he called it). The doc says it came from spalted wood and spores in the bark of green wood. Any way he was miserable and on heavy duty medication for 8 months until he got rid of it. It seems the docs down here acquired a lot of expertise dealing with this problem during the cleanup after hurricane Katrina, treating what everyone calls the “Katrina Cough”.
Jon
 
I have a 1200cfm dust collector with 4" pipes run as the duct work in my shop. I have one run made of pvc that runs overhead in the rafters to the other end of the shop, and have two branches off that with blast gates installed to be able to shut off that line or each machine individually. The other branch has a flexible hose attached and I can move it from machine to machine as needed. It also serves for my dust collection at the lathe, which I use whenever sanding.
I use an overhead air cleaner and it runs when I'm turning period! Also use a Trend Airshield Pro when ever turning. Sinus infections and respiratory problems can ruin your life! They can even take months to get well from! Wood dust is toxic, and can lead to lung and sinus cavity cancer!
I strongly urge you to always use good respiratory protection.........even with green wood!
 
Larry Copas said:
My dust collector. Murphy-Rogers 3 HP.

View attachment 32166
Contrary to popular opinion, exhausting conditioned air has never been a problem.
Click to expand...

Good that you have enough hvac capacity to condition ~2000 cfm of air. It is not opinion, but fact, that an equivalent amount of outside air will be pulled into the space when air is ejected outside, and to maintain inside temp that “new air” will be conditioned. My 1-1/2 hp dc would have me at outside temp within a few minutes, but by recycling the air I’m able to maintain temp with a small ac or heater.
 
Owen Lowe said:
My turnery is also in my basement. I would recommend monitoring how much dust settles on surfaces inside and outside of your turning area. If you're getting more than regular airborne environmental dust, then you should experiment with running the collector more often or think about getting a true shop air cleaner that filters down to the couple micron level. Keep in mind that you're never going to eliminate all dust or risk -- unless you got the bucks for a clean-room type installation. ;)
Click to expand...
Thanks Owen, I run a ceiling DC (Wen) all the time in my little shop and it helps a whole lot with fine dust.
 
Larry Copas said:
My dust collector. Murphy-Rogers 3 HP.

View attachment 32166

I just run it while sanding. When its time to clean up around the lathe, I just sweep the chips into a floor sweep and it goes right through the collector without any problem. Even the really long stringy ones.

I do run a ceiling mounted air purifier most of the time. Amazing how much dust it collects.

Went the pile gets about as high as in the picture I bring the tractor with front end loader to dispose of chips in various holes. The biggest problem with exhausting outside is the noise which would annoy close neighbors (I don't have any). Contrary to popular opinion, exhausting conditioned air has never been a problem.
Click to expand...
Larry.....now that is what I call a superior DC system!
 
Roger Chandler said:
I have a 1200cfm dust collector with 4" pipes run as the duct work in my shop. I have one run made of pvc that runs overhead in the rafters to the other end of the shop, and have two branches off that with blast gates installed to be able to shut off that line or each machine individually. The other branch has a flexible hose attached and I can move it from machine to machine as needed. It also serves for my dust collection at the lathe, which I use whenever sanding.
I use an overhead air cleaner and it runs when I'm turning period! Also use a Trend Airshield Pro when ever turning. Sinus infections and respiratory problems can ruin your life! They can even take months to get well from! Wood dust is toxic, and can lead to lung and sinus cavity cancer!
I strongly urge you to always use good respiratory protection.........even with green wood!
Click to expand...
Excellent advice Roger.
 
Lamar Wright said:
Hi Greg, wood shavings and chips clog up the DC and renders it useless in a short while, however, I'm going to look into a cyclone system that catches the shavings and chips and lets the dust collect in the DC.
Click to expand...

When I had a smaller DC I had problems with clogging at the inlet until I removed the cross bar on it and then it worked fine. I now have a Laguna pflux 3 and I’m very happy with it. I see a lot of complaints about the short cyclone but I get excellent separation with it and very little dust ends up in the filter pan.
 
Oneida 5hp
I run mine for lathe sanding, table sanding, band saw, and table saw. The DC machine is fantastic, but in a basement shop I can't get more than a 30 gallon collection drum under it and if I use the DC for collecting shavings it will fill up after cutting 2 bowls.
I wear a powered face shield when turning, but not when sanding.
 
I have a dust hood on my lathe connected to my cyclone which I run the entire time I’m turning. I don’t do much wet wood turning so there is always some fine dust regardless of how large the shavings are. It’s always best to collect whatever you can at the source. I also run my ceiling air cleaner and wear a powered dust mask (Airshield Pro) while I’m turning and most of the time whatever I’m doing in the shop when dust is being created. I inhaled enough dust before I understood the importance of keeping it out of my lungs. I don’t need anymore.
 
Lamar Wright said:
That's a good idea Greg. That would defiantly keep it from clogging. My DC is a 1HP jet so if I take a hack saw to the cross bar, it then should be clog free. Only thing is it would fill the bag up much faster as Tom Albrecht stated.

Thanks for that idea Greg!
Click to expand...


No need to worry about turning filling up your barrel. I run mine all the time and most of the shavings are in the half barrel I keep under the lathe or on the floor. The DC does not have enough pull to catch everything that comes off your bowl gouge ; especially a 1hp.
 
I have an overhead air filter that is running pretty much all of the time when I am in the shop. I have a Trend Airshield Pro and a 2hp cyclone that runs when I am turning dry wood, and when I am sanding.
 
Thanks for that idea Greg![/QUOTE]
Your welcome. I had a 1 hp collector for a while and struggled with the clogging problem longer than I’d like to admit before I thought to remove cross bar.
 
Gerald’s post reminded me to add this. My 1200cfm DC is 1.5 hp rated with a canister filter, and I use the outlet that has the flexible [Rockler blue slinky type] hose with a dust right 4 ft tube extension to vacuum up the shavings/curlees. I have a 31 gal trash can with a vortex separator lid on it to collect the curlees in the can, and the dust goes on into the clear bag at the bottom of the dust collector. I have so many nooks and crannies in my small shop that vacuuming curlees is a must unless one wants to totally rearrange the shop with every project turned! I do have to empty that trash can about every 3rd bowl, unless I core, then I might get 4 or 5 depending on the size of the bowls.
 
Gerald Lawrence said:
No need to worry about turning filling up your barrel. I run mine all the time and most of the shavings are in the half barrel I keep under the lathe or on the floor. The DC does not have enough pull to catch everything that comes off your bowl gouge ; especially a 1hp.
Click to expand...
Hi Gerald, Thanks for that info..... you are right.... most all of my shavings end up on the floor. Great idea about using a half barrel under the lathe. I use to be a pen maker and didn't have to worry about making shavings with that! :D....however, I love making shavings! :)
 
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