Hi everyone I’m new to turning and wondering what works best for cleaning up the shop. I’m currently using a separator and vacuum (shop vacuum type) combination that works ok but the small diameter hose results in plugs from the shavings, maybe more horsepower is needed?
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Shop Clean Up
- Thread starter Mark Phiscator
- Start date
Get a snow shovel for the shavings.
Get a leaf blower for the real clean out. Open up the shop and start at one end and work your way to the other.
Get a leaf blower for the real clean out. Open up the shop and start at one end and work your way to the other.
When I use to make furniture I had a big garage door and as you say make quick work of it haha. Unfortunately my lathe is in my basement so all the mess has to be carried upstairs and through the house
Exactly!
I use a broom and shovel. Less dust that way. I put it in bags and spread it out in the woods.
My shop is in the basement also. I have a bulkhead door though so don't go thru the house.
My shop is in the basement also. I have a bulkhead door though so don't go thru the house.
I clean up my shop every 4 to 6 years whether it needs it or not.
I use a snow shovel(kids red one) and 5mil poly reusable garbage bags for my shavings. Everything else gets the shop vac.
I sweep everything up and shovel into large garbage cans. Once in a while I open the big door and get out the leaf blower.
I use a bucket vortex and a shop vac. I had similar clogging problems, as well as a bucket fill rate problem, until I replaced all of my 1 1/4" hosing with 2 1/2" hose. Its not as good as having a proper CD with 4-6" or larger ducting, but the 2 1/2" hose works much better than the small hoses that usually come with shop vacs. I had to kind of jury-rig up an adapter to connect the hose to my shop vac's intake port, but once I did, the entire system was 2 1/2" through and through. I added some basic blast gates, and ran tubing from the one corner of my shop where I leave the shop vac, to each of the key places I need to collect dust and shavings. For the most part it collects the majority of stuff. If I'm turning something bigger, or if I remove more than the shop vac can handle, I'll get a pile of dust and shavings that then needs to be swept up. I used to try and vac it, but its actually faster to just sweep it into a pile, shovel most of it into a trash can, then just vac up the remnant that is left behind.
Leaf blower!
Snow shovel and wheelbarrow.
I can't breathe in wood chips, so they are cleaned up with brush and broom, which keeps that bulk waste out of the collector system and limits it in the shop vac. My dust collection system, which in the past year I've talked about ad nauseam, captures nearly everything I can breathe at the instant the dust is created.
I do not agree with the concept of using blowers or compressed air systems to clean up. All that does is put the breathable dust airborne again, while redistrubuting the dust everywhere. It may be more effective blowing out an overhead door (if the wind isn't blowing back in at the same time), but it will still make a mess within the space. Suction is your friend to clean stuff more than blowing.
I do not agree with the concept of using blowers or compressed air systems to clean up. All that does is put the breathable dust airborne again, while redistrubuting the dust everywhere. It may be more effective blowing out an overhead door (if the wind isn't blowing back in at the same time), but it will still make a mess within the space. Suction is your friend to clean stuff more than blowing.
Dave Landers
Beta Tester
Sanding dust is mostly captured by my dust collector and PAPR. Shavings are swept and scooped. What the broom misses I suck up with the shop vac. Also use the shop vac for the shavings etc on tool racks and shelves and other surfaces.
When emptying the shop vac (and sometimes when sweeping up a dusty mess), I put a pipe from the dust collector at the edge of the trash can to grab the inevitable cloud.
Also have an overhead air filter to try to capture airborne dust.
When emptying the shop vac (and sometimes when sweeping up a dusty mess), I put a pipe from the dust collector at the edge of the trash can to grab the inevitable cloud.
Also have an overhead air filter to try to capture airborne dust.
Well, I don't do production work any more, but still turn a number of bowls. They generate huge amounts of shavings, even with coring. I do like to let the shavings sit for a day or two so they can dry out, and they end up weighing less than half the wet weight. I use the contractor grade 55 gallon plastic bags and a big scoop shovel/super duper pooper scooper. They don't make them out of real steel now days, just the cheap pot metal which wears out pretty quickly. Even the farm supply stores don't have the real steel ones any more. The newer snow shovels just don't compete with the scoop shovel. I take the bags outside and put a short piece of rebar on top after folding the top over since our winter rains make them REALLY heavy! Dust collectors are for dust, and shavings will clog them up, almost instantly, and they will fill your barrel up really quickly! There are a couple of yard waste disposal sites locally, and some times I go there to dispose of them. Some times friends will want them.
robo hippy
robo hippy
My shop is 8' x 10' so must be kept tidy in order to have working space. I use a broom and scoop shovel to collect shavings in a bucket and remove them to the yard waste or dump around the fruit trees. I tend to take a break and clean up every couple of hours when turning. For dust, the old open the door and use a leaf blower works the best. And I always wear the 3M respirator when cleaning up, that is when I make the most dust!
Compressor works as a leaf blower. Wear a mask while cleaning up, as particulates reenter the air.
Good point Alan! I found out I stir up more dust after the shavings have dried as I scoop them up than I do when turning because I turn sloppy wet wood.
robo hippy
robo hippy
Have to make sure I don't leave any sandpaper, pencils, or anything else light weight laying around when getting out the leaf blower. Forget and they go out the door too! 
I would have to say my wife. Never have to ask or even suggest. It's always a welcome surprise when I wander out to the shop and the floor is all swept up. She loves my woodworking and woodturning hobby.
I won't have a dust collector, so this is what I do as well......once a year ^^^^^.
Open the big garage door and two regular doors......and, it's done in about 20 minutes.
=o=
Note: I sweep up weekly using this big dust pan from Home Depot:
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Once you clean it up, how do you find anything? And you can see footprints in the sawdust to see if anyone has been in the shop or touched the handle on the beer fridge.
And the delays starting a new project because you just cleaned it up. And the additional delays because you identified 4 projects you meant to get around to but forgot about. And the rearranging to make better use of space because you can clearly see that the wall has just the spot for a tool cabinet.
You find out your darts aim has gone astray because you couldn’t get to the board and you kept losing darts in the sawdust pile.
By putting it off just another day, you have time to tool shop and watch Richard Raffael turn another bowl and catch up on the forums like I am now.
Clearing the workbench can be an all day affair if you stretch it out and give you one more day of procrastination. It’s also a deterrent to keep others out when you want some me time and don’t feel like a conversation.
Yep, tomorrow is looking like a better day to clean it up. Fish are biting and it feels too much like work……
And the delays starting a new project because you just cleaned it up. And the additional delays because you identified 4 projects you meant to get around to but forgot about. And the rearranging to make better use of space because you can clearly see that the wall has just the spot for a tool cabinet.
You find out your darts aim has gone astray because you couldn’t get to the board and you kept losing darts in the sawdust pile.
By putting it off just another day, you have time to tool shop and watch Richard Raffael turn another bowl and catch up on the forums like I am now.
Clearing the workbench can be an all day affair if you stretch it out and give you one more day of procrastination. It’s also a deterrent to keep others out when you want some me time and don’t feel like a conversation.
Yep, tomorrow is looking like a better day to clean it up. Fish are biting and it feels too much like work……
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I use a large dustpan for ships and a extension vaccum hose for the rest of the floor. Of coarse everyone knows that using a broom actually stirs up dust.
I use my compressor and snow shovel for shavings. I have a Mullet Separator and shop vac for sanding dust.
Try to do a general sweep cleanup once a week.
Try to do a general sweep cleanup once a week.
I would use my air compressor to dust my house. Then my girlfriend moved in. Well, you know how that works.