IDEAS Lathe Station dust containment

[John Dowell]

I am needing ideas for a way to contain the wood chips and dust from a lathe location. I have 2 dust collector lines dedicated to the lathe area. One 5"(low) and one 4"(tool rest height). Any examples of panning the whole lathe station area?

[Bruce Wrenn]

The problem with DC on a lathe, is all the waste comes off the FRONT of the machine. So a DC hood where needed, would be in the way of the turning tools

[Thom Sturgill]

Most turners just give up on chip collection and worry about sanding dust. Richard Raffan, in his DVD, has three 4" lines to the lathe - no hoods, just open pipes, two to the back and one to the front. Its only turned on when sanding. Many others just use PAPR, Positive Air Pressure Respirators, while sanding, as even sanding dust is hard to collect.

[Derek Stockley]

I have a flexible 4" pipe set up behind my lathe for sanding dust. http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...597,62604&ap=1 When I'm sanding, I stick it right in to the mouth of the bowl and I get pretty good results. It has a tendency to pull toward anything close to it once I turn on the suction, so at some point I may make a light duty articulating arm to hold it steady.

Any solution to this problem is going to fall back on that standard woodworking axiom: it depends. That 4" flex host collects practically every chip from my small spindle turnings (think pens or chess piece sized stuff, up to about 4" in length and 2" in diameter), and I do use it for that. For bowls .... not a chance. To deal with that, I have a 2 1/2" hose set up nearby and I use it to vacuum up the mess when I'm done. But I wouldn't recommend that if your dust collector is single stage, because of the risk of sucking up larger chunks or smaller tools - I've lost a lot of sandpaper pieces like that.

[Clint Olver]

Here's my set-up. It provides dust-free sanding, but leaves the big chips to fall. It is a 6" pipe that slides left-to-right on the wall.

However, I've thought about turning the stand into a downdraft table. Has anyone tried this approach?

C