Very small shop dust filtration

[Christopher Wagner]

I am trying to layout my first truly organized shop. Mostly, I do woodcarving and sculpture, both 3D and relief carvings, using primarily hand gouges.

First, a brief description of my shop layout:

My shop is located in a single car attached garage. The floor plan is open to our laundry area and the furnace sets around a corner sort of tucked away, but with no real separation from my shop.

My ceiling is quite low at 7’ 5” with a support beam running across the middle that is even lower and I am 6’ 2” tall.

The shop area dimensions are roughly 10’ x 15’.

I purchased a Jet 708620B AFS-1000B 3-Speed Air Filtration System.

There is not a good place to suspend the filter from the ceiling without running the risk of knocking my head into it constantly.

I am mulling over two options. First, building a sort of rolling cart that I could set the filtration unit on top of positioning it either vertically or horizontally. A vertical setup would take up less floor space.

My other idea was to place the unit beneath a workbench I plan to build in the near future. The bench will primarily serve as a place to do relief carvings. The bench will come out from a wall in an L-shape. I like the idea of the air filter being set under the bench vertically on the end that will extend into the room.

Mostly I use hand tools, but recently I did purchase a Laguna 14” bandsaw. I am still researching the best dust collector options for the bandsaw; I’d like to find something that filtered down to 1 micron with a minimal footprint.

Any thoughts, ideas, advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[ian maybury]

Hi Chris, this is just to offer some thoughts rather than a specific solution.

Carving doesn't sound like a big dust producer - at least not if you are using sharp edge tools/unless you are sanding, using powered sanders, burrs/rasps/files and the like. Whatever dust comes off will presumably not be projected at high speed.

The band saw or for that matter any future machines will on the other hand produce both small chips and fine dust and require collection through a duct - and band saws (depending on the specific set up) can need decent air flows (ideally heading up towards 700 CFM+) to get good dust collection.

Another factor may be your frequency and duration of use/level of dust production in the case of the various sorts of operations - although in truth it's hard to recommend short cutting on dust collection for reasons like this as over time the dust will (even with occasional periods of production) build up in the shop and fill the air when you move around.

It'd be interesting to test your air quality in differing circumstances using a Dylos meter or similar - just in case the assumptions above e.g. carving being a low dust producer are wrong, or it was to turn out that your dust production is minimal. That said it's hard to say what minimal really means - I for example developed a dust sensitivity as a result of building model aircraft where the major dust source was the sanding of balsa wood parts. A little dust goes a long way when you are leaning in over the work and breathing it in.

The point is that there's potentially two or more different types of dust collection solution required. Machines like the band saw or others requiring chip collection require a ducted system delivering the fairly high air speed needed for chip and dust collection through the machine hoods.

Fine dust producing operations - as in sanding and/or filing where the dust is not thrown off at speed - may do better with large intake area solutions like downdraft tables and/or the likes of a fume hood/dust cabinet. In that case you are looking to maintain a decent inwards airspeed (i don't know what the official recommendation is, but i've seen about 0.5m (1.7ft)/sec) mentioned as being the minimum required across the full face area for spray booths, while Bill Pentz reckons at least 50ft/min = 0.83ft/sec for a downdraft sanding table where the dust is just floating about)

This won't pull in wood chips unless you use a horizontal mesh table they can drop through with an angled chute below so that gravity can get them to the duct intake. It won't capture the dust thrown away from powered hand tools at speed either. This latter is tough to deal with, there doesn't seem to be any real option beyond fitting an intake chute (a gulper) on the duct from a ducted dust system and positioning it as best you can to intercept the dust.

Dust booth/downdraft table solutions need to move a lot of air in volume terms, but the pressure drop can be minimal - meaning that the cheapest route is probably an axial flow fan of the sort used on dry spray booths ( http://www.rdmengineering.co.uk/spra...YAwA#DRYFILTER ) pulling through a mesh to equalise distribution of the inwards flow.

The downside of the axial fan route may be heating/air conditioning/boiler draughting (you don't want to pull carbon monoxide from the boiler into the room, or to dump large amounts of heated or conditioned air) considerations may mean that air recirculation is a requirement. (an axial fan would need to exhaust outside, and must pull in air through an intake to replace what it exhausts)

The difficulty with recirculation is that a 2 or better a 3HP cyclone based HEPA filtered dust system system delivering 7 - 800CFM through short ducts and/or hoses that delivers clean and breathable air) would do a great job on the band saw and other foreseeable machine requirements, but could be more marginal on a fume hood/spray booth type set up depending on the intake area you need.

In this latter case (presuming a 3HP unit) a 4ft x 3ft = 12ft2 booth back or floor intake panel would result in an intake/face velocity of say 800CFM/12ft2 = 67ft/min = 1.1 ft/sec which may (but check the official recommendation) be enough to do a decent job on ambient dust.

Talk to some dust system suppliers to see what they recommend, and bear in mind that i've no experience with your sort of requirement - so comments are invited. You would also need to check with them to ensure that their fan and motor combination is suitable for running in a very low pressure drop/short duct scenario too - that it wouldn't cause it to draw too many amps and overheat.

If you could manage with a booth for your carving with a 4ft x 3ft = 12ft2 intake diffuser/back/downdraft table panel then the 700CFM + that a unit like the above could well cover both the machine and booth/downdraft table requirement - not to mention run an intake on a flex hose when needed because what you are doing is chucking dust and chips at speed in whatever direction.

An axial fan based set up would require a solution to the exhausting issue, and won't be much use on the band saw or on any other future machines.

The problem with the air cleaner is that while it's always going to be of assistance it permits the dust into the air where you can breathe it before removing it. I'm guessing you are still thinking of dust collection because you're not happy with the job it's doing.

It probably sounds like a lot of dust system for a minimal application, but that seems to be the way the numbers run...

ian

[Prashun Patel]

I would use a rolling cart. A lot of the dangerous dust will float up and at you instead of under the bench.

[Jim Neeley]

I have two such units and I have used one as a fines-catcher while sanding by having it horizontal on the table next to my work area. Be aware if you use it this way you will have to periodically put on your respirator and blow out the filters but that's easily done outside. It isn't great and I plan to build a downdraft sanding table but it'll suffice until I get there.

Also, Wynn Environmental sells far superior (MERV 15) filters for the Jet (and several others) room dust filters. Despite being an industrial supply company, the owner is a woodworker with a fondness for the problems we face keeping our breathing air clean so takes good care of us "little guys". Unfortunately the fan isn't strong enough for a HEPA filter, but MERV15 is on the way.

[Christopher Wagner]

I don’t have the hang of quoting replies yet, but I’ve drawn something from everyone’s responses.

So here goes my current updated plan based on the replies:

I’m going to build a rolling cart for the Jet AFS-1000B to get it up as high I can and upgrade that with the Wynn filters.

I do very little sanding, but I do use files and rasps a fair amount, so a down draft setup seems a good idea. I’m working on incorporating this into my bench design even if it is just something hooked up to my shop vac for now. My bench will be by a window so I will also try to vent directly to the outside (easy enough with just a box fan in warmer weather).

I think I’ve narrowed it down to two possible setups for the bandsaw dust collector (I’m itching to start using it, so I want to get this setup soon):

I’m leaning toward the Jet DC1100VX-CK dust collector. What I like about it is the vortex cone separator and the fact that it is prewired for 115V. From reading some online reviews it appears the Jet may be a bit quieter than some of the comparable models (sound rating 70-80 dB). The biggest drawback in my mind to the Jet is that it filters down to only 2 microns. Which I am not sure if that is sufficient or not? Also, I am not sure if this model can be fitted easily with the Wynn 35A filters?

My other thought is to buy something like the Harbor Freight 2HP dust collector and add on the Wynn 35A nano filter and maybe even a Super Dust Deputy separator. What I don’t like about this setup is that it lacks a paddle style cleaner on the filter. I’m not sure if this is a big deal or not? I can certainly vacuum the filter.

I ordered a Festool CT 26 with a Dust Deputy. I don’t have any of the Festool tools, but with limited space and wanting a clean working environment I think some of their line might be a good supplement to my hand tools and bandsaw. I don’t use a table saw often, but I have one available to me at a local college fine arts workshop.

Everyone’s input has been invaluable. There is so much information out there that it can get overwhelming. Having this forum as a resource to help figure this all out is so helpful for less experienced woodworkers like myself. Thanks again and any more thoughts would be welcome too.

[Christopher Wagner]

Quick update.

After all that I went with an Oneida 1.5HP Mini-Gorilla with a mobile base. I thought about bumping up to a 2HP model, but with this pretty much being dedicated to just the bandsaw the hose will have a pretty short and straight run, so I am hopeful the 1.5HP will suffice. The bandsaw has both lower and upper dust collection ports so I should be able to capture a great deal of dust at the source.

In warmer weather I'll even be able to position the mobile collector right in front of an open garage door.

Now if I could only keep my two dogs from shedding in the rest of the house, I'd really have some healthy lungs.