How satisfied are you with your CURRENT dust collection system?

[Van Huskey]

How satisfied are you with your current dust collection? I am talking about the entire "system"; machine collection, hand power tool collection, ambient air collection, everything taken as a whole. I am using percentage in the poll since it is less ambiguous but still pretty vauge in many ways, best that I could think of though.

[Andrew Joiner]

Thanks for starting this Van.
I'm happy with a broom ,open windows, and a fan. I do wear a good mask some times. This is way more protection than I ever had working for years in commercial shops.
I did put a shop vac on my planer and it saves me a few minutes a month of sweeping in that corner of the shop.

I'm an all or nothing guy and a perfectionist. My concern is if I put in dust collection and it doesn't get all the dust, it'll drive me crazy.

It will be great to read the thread. Maybe I'll get inspired.

I want to do the poll but I'd need to qualify my answers. I'd have to say I'm 90% satisfied with the primitive things I do now. If I got into real dust collection I don't think I'd ever be satisfied.

[Harvey Ghesser]

I've got the 3 HP Oneida installed and love it. It captures fully 99% of dust and debris.

[Mike Cruz]

I have a 5hp ClearVue. It does a great job. I voted 90-99% not because there is anything wrong with the unit, but rather there are things I would change if I had more room (like location of the unit, runs, etc. If there is one thing I would change on it, it would be that it would have an 8" intake. But I'm not sure that the unit would support that kind of air flow. But I love the unit, and it really sucks! or blows, I suppsose...

[Paul McGaha]

My shops getting there.

I have a 2 HP Oneida Dust Gorilla and a Powermatic Air Filter.

With my jointer, planer, drum sander I'm completely satisfied.

I'm pretty much satisfied with my shaper.

I need to install a Beismeyer overarm blade guard I bought for my Unisaw. Once it's in place and the dust collection is working on the top of the saw I think I'll be satisfied with my table saw. I already have dust collection on the bottom of the saw.

I'm reworking my crosscutting station. The saw is a 10" sliding miter saw. I expect to build a shroud around the saw and connect that to the dust collector (probably from below the saw) and then connect a shop vac to the saw itself. That should be pretty decent.

I use my drill press and band saw so little that I dont have either hooked up to the dust collector. I just use the shop vac to clean up after use.

As for hand held tools the only tool I tend to connect to a shop vac is my ROS. My shop is a 2 car garage and I try to make dust making tasks like sanding , routing, cutting biscuit slots outdoor activities.

I was in on the Dylos group buy and per the meter the shop is pretty clean.

I'm getting there.

PHM

[Larry Edgerton]

Mine sucks, but not in a literal way......

I moved out of my old shop and tearing out the system was not an option so I am rolling around a 4 bagger Jet until I can get time to work on my own stuff. That thing is a dust redistributor. It pulls it out of the machines and spreads it out nice and evenly all over my temporary shop. In the warmer months I set it outside with the tractor.

Time and money, time and money........

Larry

[Alan Bienlein]

I checked 100%.

I started with a Delta 1hp bag unit that was adequate for chips. When the allergies and being stuffed up kicked in a few months later I realized I wasted my money on that dust spreader.

I did alot of research and decided to build one from Bill Pentz's plans. I figured I'm only doing this one time so I got the 5hp motor and the 16" impeller and made a 20" dia. cyclone. I setup a 8' main that splits into two 6" lines.

I've got my scms, table saw, router table, jointer and surface planer connected and at times have 3 blast gates open at one time with no problems. I still need to make the hood for the band saw under the table to connect it to the system.

[glenn bradley]

I'm at 80 - 89%. I need to convert the 6" pipe to 4" hose connections to 6" at the tablesaw lower location. I would like to increase the duct size at the guard from 2-1/2" to 4". I am also running a modified bagger for the jointer versus making a long run from the cyclone to that location. I could gain some reasonable real estate by running the duct. With the DC's and Dust Deputy/HEPA filtered shop vacs for those tool requiring that sort of collection I am pretty close to happy-land.

[John Coloccia]

I voted 80-89 because my sanding dust collection stinks. Ditto for routers. The pin router is the worst and I've yet to devise a contraption to do dust collection on that.

[Dick Mahany]

Now that I upgraded to an Oneida V3000 and 6" ducting, I can't believe what a difference it has made. I've been increasing port sizes on most of my machines to take full advantage of it. Improving collection hoods is an ongoing effort.

[David Kumm]

Van, I about as high tech a system as a hobby guy can have but with old machines and some with very little ability to improve I went in the 90% catagory. If you have read the DC threads you know I have some pretty specific opinions. It would also be fair to ask the voters what testing they have run to back up their impressions. My Dylos taught me a lot, my anemometer even more. The amp meter on my vfd gives constant feedback as to airflow and how the filters are impacting that flow. What I have no real way to test is the efficiency of my cyclone although it seems pretty good with the fine dust- Torit 20-5. Most cyclones are rated at efficiency at particles of 10 microns or more rather than at the smaller ones that clog up the filters. Torit does run a chart on their site and Clearvue talks about it some. FWW was going to run a test on efficiency but due to some testing problems and advertiser feedback it never got published. Dave

[Andrew Joiner]

. It would also be fair to ask the voters what testing they have run to back up their impressions. My Dylos taught me a lot, my anemometer even more. The amp meter on my vfd gives constant feedback as to airflow and how the filters are impacting that flow.

Good idea Dave.

A simple test of collection efficiency in the real world could be: How long does it take to see a coat of dust on horizontal surfaces in the shop.

Say a shop had the best dust collection. After a few days of work including sanding, routing and drilling, do you still have a coat of fine dust visible?

[Jim Finn]

I have a Grizzly dust collector and it removes all the dust from my workspace just fine. Is quiet enough in the insulated room I built for it but:............... the airborne particles still get everywhere in my garage.(not in my workshop though). So I seldom use it.

[David Kumm]

I think we are missing part of Van's point. An entire system includes DC, ambient, respirator, etc. To be at or near 100% we would have to deal equally effectively with hand sanding- respirator, down draft table- routers, drilling, all types of sawing, the list goes on and on. I know I'm guilty of grabbing a sanding block and giving a few quick swipes and running to something else and then notice the dylos goes through the roof. To be really effective the DC or the ambient has to clean the air back up in minutes rather than hours. I'm not fanatic about it but age and allergies are causing me to pay for the lax attitude of my youth. Dave

[Rod Sheridan]

I selected the 90 t0 99% button.

I probably have the smallest collector, I have a 1.5HP Oneida with a HEPA filter.

I also have a very small shop with only 3 machines connected for dust collection

- saw/shaper

- jointer/planer

- band saw

The lathe and drill press use hoods as required for some operations.

I also have a Dylos particle counter, an annemometer and an ammeter.

Dust collection is very good as per my particle counter, and no complaints from Diann as her stained glass area is in the basement also.

I also have a small Festool vacuum which is my first shop vacuum, I simply couldn't stand the standard shop vacuum that spews more dust than it captures, or requires you to wear earplugs and ear muffs.

Regards, Rod.