Dust collection for apartment neander

[Matt Lau]

I'll be building guitars and small boxes in an apartment in SF.

I'm 95% neander (I have a Dremel and corded drill) because I don't want to disturb the family living above me.

What would you recommend for dust control? I'm looking for something silent, HEPA, unobtrusive, and can handle lots of plane shavings without clogging up.

I particularly wanted to post in the neander forum as I don't think the power tool users have an idea about *really silent* dust control.

[Tony Shea]

A broom and dust pan. I live in an upstairs apartment and do all my woodworking in a spare bedroom. There are times I wish I had more room but for the most part I am satisfied with my shop for now. At least I am on the same floor as the living room and kitchen which means I can have conversations with my girlfriend without having to yell, and she can pop in to have me try something out she is whipping up in the kitchen. Just the fact that I'm so close by really makes up for all the downfalls of not having my own large dedicated shop.

[Jim Ritter]

I have a Festool vac and it is the quietest one I know of. You can dial back on the suction electronically if you just need to just suck up pearl dust. Add a Dust Deputy in the suction line and the vac bags will go a long time before they fill and the big chips have a place to go. The Festool vac is quieter than our home vac.
Jim

[David Weaver]

I'd get the fein turbo II.

But I'd pick up all of the plane shavings with a dust pan and broom.

I don't have a "real" dust collector, just a couple of vacs hooked to trash cans. Sucking in plane shavings, especially if you're dimensioning wood and have coarse long shavings never really works 100%.

[Derek Cohen]

I have the Fein. One of the reasons I purchased it over the Festool was because it was reputed to be quieter. That must be a statement of relativity. They are all loud and require hearing protection. It's a good vac, however, and useful when you use a router or ROS.

A broom and dust pan sounds a good plan.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Chris Griggs]

I just picked up one of these "Trash Pans" when I stumbled across it at Lowes. It basically a trashcan with a snap on lip so its easy to sweep stuff directly into it. Its pretty handy actually. http://www.incrediblesolutionsinc.co...on-trashpan-2/

32-Gallon-Trashpan-2-e1350161365304-600x600.jpg 32-Gallon-Trashpan-31-90x90.jpg

I think its like $20 at Lowes.

I do also have a regular shop vac that I use for actually get the dust and stuff the broom misses.

[Judson Green]

Broom and a dust pan/shovel. Its neander and stealthy.

You didn't mention what your shop floor is. Hopefully it's not carpet but if it is I'd try a regular home vacuum with a beater bar.

Oh and I use a large old paint brush to dust off the bench.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I bought a Ridgid small shop vac http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-3-...3050/202078667 Just because it was marked down really cheap, and I thought it would be good to have a small vac for when I don't need the 6 (peak) hp Craftsman monster. I was really amazed at how quiet it is, and how well it works. For your limited space, it might be the ticket, and way cheaper than a Festool. I am, until this week (closing on a house Thursday) a fellow apartment woodworker but my landlord is very lenient, and I have a yard and large porch to do table saw work. The Ridgid vac has now become my go-to for indoor work.

[Mike Olson]

I have a Quiet Series ShopVac and it's quieter than my home vacuum. Only down side is that the hose it skinnier than most big shopvac's so it clogs on any big shavings, though mine is kinda old so maybe they use big hoses now.

[Brian Holcombe]

I use a festool vac. with a HEPA filter. It's pretty quiet. I'm a hybrid (lol) so I use to collect dust for a router, router table, saw, and sander (which have been seeing less and less use as I acquire more hand tools). I sweep up pretty much everything created by hand tools, since there is no reason to fill the vacuum with shavings that I can otherwise collect.

[Judson Green]

I have a Quiet Series ShopVac and it's quieter than my home vacuum. Only down side is that the hose it skinnier than most big shopvac's so it clogs on any big shavings, though mine is kinda old so maybe they use big hoses now.

I've got one of these too. Keep it hooked up to the band saw. I think its louder than the band saw.

[Bill Houghton]

Far and away the most effective Neander dust collector I've ever found, short of a broom and dust pan:

NewfoundlandsSatchelJack.JPG

The trouble is, the dust tends to get emptied where you don't want it.

[george wilson]

I might be getting deaf!! But my Fein medium sized(7 gallon?) sized vac is pretty quiet. I don't need ear protection for it. Not sure if it is really quiet enough for an apartment,though. It has a long hose smaller than I like,BUT,by luck,if you remove the hose,the hole in the vac is just right for jamming a Sears 2 1/2" standard size shop vac hose into it. The only time I use the original hose is when I am using the vac with a sander or an electric hand plane. The vac will start and stop automatically when you use it with a power tool. Very handy feature. I had to make an adapter to use my Fein half sheet sander with it. That horribly expensive ($950.00 ?) sander came with a cheap looking cloth bag I have NEVER used. It goes about 20,000 orbits per minute,and sands like a belt sander. But,it NEEDS a good dust collector as you can imagine the dust it would put out.

What do you do about hammering? I recommend getting a NERF hammer!!! The foam head is silent.

[Matt Lau]

Thanks for all the input!

I have a fein turbo I (with auto start and variable power) at my remote "power tool workshop." I'm putting together a dust deputy for it and adding a clean stream filter. Maybe I'll use that...any improvements with the new models?

I just didn't want to mention anything to bias the crowd. I'm not sure how the new festool compares, but the fein was quieter back in 2011.

As for my floor area--purple marble tile with some acrylic rugs over it.
I was almost tempted to rig up something with a dyson vac!


As for hammering, most of mine is done with a Glenn drake titehammer #4 mallet. It was a gift from my sister.

[Matt Lau]

Note: I'm also going to get a dustpan...