Dust Collection Posts

[dabeeler]

I have been reading with interest the different posts related to dust collection issues and machines. The only dust collection "system" I presently have is my shop vac which I hook up to the table saw, small band saw, RO Sander and router table fence. It captures a fair amount of stuff, requires frequent filter cleaning and does not capture fine dust.

I have concluded from reading the several posts that moving up to a larger DC such as the Jet DC-1100 canistor collector would suck in more material from the machines leaving less chips to be vacumed up later, not be as portable as the shop vac thus needing hoses run to the various machines and would still release the finer dust particulers into the air although it would capture finer dust than the shop vac. What I am seriously considering doing is to add the Oneida Dust Deputy http://www.dustdeputy.com/product.php along with a HEPA filter to my shop vac to keep portability and install an air filtration unit in the basement workshop such as the JDS 750-ER or the Jet AFS-1000B. I am thinking the end result from this set-up would only be different from a larger DC such as the Jet DC-1100 in having to move the vac from machine to machine and more waste to clean up at the end of the day. Air cleaness and fine dust in the shio would the same. Am I missing something in my thinking?

[siliconbauhaus]

Your setup is what I use but I have one of those lids on a 5 gal bucket. It does the job fairly well but the vac does get a fair amount of dust in it.

I'm going to get the dust deputy as soon as I have some spare cash.

[LCHIEN]

I have been reading with interest the different posts related to dust collection issues and machines. The only dust collection "system" I presently have is my shop vac which I hook up to the table saw, small band saw, RO Sander and router table fence. It captures a fair amount of stuff, requires frequent filter cleaning and does not capture fine dust.

I have concluded from reading the several posts that moving up to a larger DC such as the Jet DC-1100 canistor collector would suck in more material from the machines leaving less chips to be vacumed up later, not be as portable as the shop vac thus needing hoses run to the various machines and would still release the finer dust particulers into the air although it would capture finer dust than the shop vac. What I am seriously considering doing is to add the Oneida Dust Deputy http://www.dustdeputy.com/product.php along with a HEPA filter to my shop vac to keep portability and install an air filtration unit in the basement workshop such as the JDS 750-ER or the Jet AFS-1000B. I am thinking the end result from this set-up would only be different from a larger DC such as the Jet DC-1100 in having to move the vac from machine to machine and more waste to clean up at the end of the day. Air cleaness and fine dust in the shio would the same. Am I missing something in my thinking?

My comment is that having the dust deputy - a small cyclone - will remove the fine dust from the stream that the shop vac sucks in. But the volume that the vac sucks in will still allow a lot of fine dust to leave the machine. The objective of a big DC is to get most of the fines and everything else- to let as little get airborne as possible.

remember the DC pulls on the order of 1000 CFM and the shop vac a mere 50 CFM.

The air cleaner is sort of a last ditch effort to get everything that the DC misses.

So in your proposed system the air cleaner takes on a much bigger role...
there will be considerably more dust in the air than with a DC, even if the AC eventually gets it, you will be breathing some of it.

At least, that's how I see it.
P.S. I don''t know how much that Oneida unit goes for, but you might do just as well with a shop vac, chip bucket and HEPA filter on the shop vac. for less money.

[JoeyGee]

You should check out CGallery's innovation on the cyclone/shop vac front:

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=34483

It looks like it's doing exactly what the Dust Deputy is doing.

[Garasaki]

I have concluded from reading the several posts that moving up to a larger DC such as the Jet DC-1100 canistor collector ... and would still release the finer dust particulers into the air although it would capture finer dust than the shop vac.

This, I think, is a very major part of the puzzle that you don't quite have right.

Building a bigger DC system will allow you full control over what size of particle is "released" back into your breathable air. Having a bigger DC will be much more effective at capturing the fine particles and retaining them then a shop vac.

It seems they way to "have your cake and eat it too" when it comes to the fine particles (the most important to "neutralize") is to have a big DC coupled with a powered air cleaner...

It's about health and what gets stuck in your lungs when your working...

[JR]

It seems they way to "have your cake and eat it too" when it comes to the fine particles (the most important to "neutralize") is to have a big DC coupled with a powered air cleaner...

I agree with this. I also found that above-table dust collection on the TS and router was also very beneficial.

I will add that every step taken to collect dust is a good step. If you can only afford a shopvac, then hook it up! Adding one of those $15 pwer boxes that turns on the shopvac whenever you turn on the TS is a great way to overcome the urge to claim "Oh, it's too much hassle to reach the shopvac and I'm only doing a few cuts...".

JR

[steve-norrell]

The key to reducing the amount of very fine dust that recirculates is to use a filter bag or canister rated at 5 microns or lower (instead of the 30 micron bags that come with some DCs).

I don't have room for a DC so I use a ShopVac. I use a HEPA filter, one of the "dry wall" rated filter bags, and a cyclone separator on a five gallon pail. The cyclone traps most of the big chunks and the dry wall bag gets almost everything else,

The 'downside' is that I have to change the bag (dry wall bags are a little more expensive than others) often, but I consider that a small price to pay for avoiding sensitivity and allergy prolems with wood dust.

Regards, Steve

[Garasaki]

I'm using the drywall bags in a shop vac too. I also go thru them fairly quick. I'd say thus far I've spent over 60 bucks on the bags in the last year...

IMO that's money being dumped down the drain - if I had just ponied up the money for a real DC off the bat, that's 60 bucks I wouldn't have wasted....

[cgallery]

You should check out CGallery's innovation on the cyclone/shop vac front:

http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=34483

It looks like it's doing exactly what the Dust Deputy is doing.

Hey, thanks for the plug!

I received the following E-Mail yesterday [edited for length]:

Given all of that, I ran one test. I measured out 13.7 oz (digital postal scale) of fines (not much coarse stuff), dumped it on the floor, slowly vacuumed it up into an empty and clean collector can and then measured 13.5 oz captured in the can. That is only 98.5% efficiency!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOW.

When I looked in the can, the collected material looked "skimpy" and I thought I had missed a lot of it, but the scale told the tale. Wow again.

Where he says "only" 98.5% he is being facetious. 98.5% is pretty amazing.

Those Dust Deputy and Mini ClearVue cyclones are not magic. They will still allow fines through to your filter.

You can see more of my cyclone lid design at:

http://www.cgallery.com/jpthien/cy.htm