Need Dust Collection Ideas

[John Stevens]

Dust collection is really important in my home, because my wife has a very serious breathing problem that is aggravated by airborne dust. The main electric tools I use are Festools, so I've been using a Festool vac for dust collection, and that's been fine. But now I went and got myself an 8" jointer, so I need a real dust collector.

I've just finished reading Bill Pentz's web pages about dust collection, and if I understand the info there, nothing but a cyclone collector will do.

That's a problem, because my workshop is in the basement of my home, where the ceiling height is 72" or less...and every cyclone I've looked at requires a minimum of 96". Unfortunately, it's not possible for me to raise the ceiling, lower the floor, move the DC outside, or move my woodworking operations out of the basement. Sending the dust outside is also not an option.

For what it's worth, the jointer and dust collector will be located side-by-side. The other tools that will be used with the dust collector (breadbox planer, BT3100) can be moved next to the dust collector, and only one tool will be used at a time. So ducting and blast gates won't complicate this picture.

What's the best I can do for dust collection in these circumstances? Thanks in advance.

[Paul Dwight]

Most people would probably agree that a well-designed cyclone is ideal, but there are other good options for the kind of use you describe (collecting from one machine at a time with the DC located next to the machine in use). Take a look at the Delta 50-761: 1 micron bag filtration, 12" impeller, 2HP. It ought to move more than enough air to service any of your machines, and should even have enough capacity to service a hard-piped central system down the road.

Cartridge filters are popular on DCs these days. I have one, myself. I'm not convinced a cartridge filter on a single-stage DC is a good solution. Too much dust ends up packed into the filter pleats, which chokes off the airflow and results in less dust being captured at the tool. It seems to me that knocking out the dust cake by raking paddles across the interior filter pleats has to shorten the life of the filter. Plus, knocking off the cake doesn't completely restore the air flow. In my experience with my own cartridge filter system, I either spend a lot of time cleaning the filter or I accept restricted air flow. In my opinion, a cartridge filter really, really needs an efficient pre-separator (like a cyclone) in front of it.

Which leads me back to my suggestion that you look at well-engineered DCs that use cloth filter bags. Bags cake up, too, but air flow can be quickly and easily restored by "beating" the bag with a stick to dislodge the cake.

Just my opinion. Hope it helps. -- Paul

[Jim Becker]

A single stage system with a canister filter is your best lower cost option. It requires more maintenance than the cyclone would, but it will fit in your shop. The "expensive" option is something like the Felder machine show below (63" tall) which will also fit into your space but will cost many, many, many times what your jointer and other tools already set you back!

[John Renzetti]

A single stage system with a canister filter is your best lower cost option. It requires more maintenance than the cyclone would, but it will fit in your shop. The "expensive" option is something like the Felder machine show below (63" tall) which will also fit into your space but will cost many, many, many times what your jointer and other tools already set you back!

Hi Jim, The RL125 is probably a couple of times the cost of John's jointer, planer saw. I think it would go for around $2800 in 1ph. If you say the price quickly, it doesn't sound so expensive.
take care,
John

[Jim Becker]

Well, I was close, John..."a lot" covers it pretty good in retrospect! (But it's a nice machine for a small shop that needs top-notch collection/filtration and can't do the cyclone thing)

[Chris Padilla]

John,

Take a look at: http://www.cleanshopair.com Clarke Echols used to front for Bill Pentz's cyclone design (but they had a falling out) and I have the kit that Clarke/Bill put out. I understand Clarke is still doing well with the biz and he offers a belt-driven impeller stage that puts the motor to the side of the cyclone. This may buy you at least 1 foot on overall cyclone height. Send Clarke an email...he responds surprisingly quick and confesses that his web site is way out of date.

[Doug Jones from Oregon]

If all you plan on running on this DC is the jointer and planer, I would go with any of the higher volume dust collectors. I used several Jet (I think 1900) in the speaker plant on tools like a cnc router(s), table saws, etc with very good results, and before my cyclone, used a couple in this shop.

These two tools do not generate the fine dust of a sanding machine. You might even consider the garbage can cyclone between your tool and the dc to collect the bulk of the chips.

Doug

[JayStPeter]

John,

One of my buddies has a Jet DC1200 with the cartridge hooked to his CNC router. It works great for him. If I was still in my old half a 2 car garage shop, I would've fit my DC1100 with a cartridge filter. Mobility was key there.
My suggestion would be one of the 2HP, 12" impeller cartridge systems. If you tire of the bag, you can rig up a small cyclone. Oneida makes one to retrofit those size DCs. I had one but sold it when my new shop needed something a little bigger. I only ever used it in a test mode as I was planning on making a mobile version. It looked like it was going to work well, not much coming out where the filter would've been if I had one .

Jay

[John Stevens]

The "expensive" option is something like the Felder machine show below (63" tall) which will also fit into your space but will cost many, many, many times what your jointer and other tools already set you back!

Believe it or not, I looked at that, but I think it's too wide. My equipment constraints have more to do with width than cost--there's only one entry to my basement, about 20" wide, so all tools have to be able to fit through there. In 3-5 years we'll probably install an exterior door to the basement, but we'll have to go through two foundation walls and do quite a bit of excavation, so that's where the real financial considerations come into play. (We've got some other priorities to hit before we do that.) The 8" jointer is a compromise--get something small now so as not to significantly delay the happy day when we get the new basement door.

After we get the new door, a used Felder or MM TS-shaper & planer-jointer will probably find their way into the basement, so the Felder DC would be the natural choice, given the limited height.

[Mike Cutler]

John. Any of the 1 1/2-2Hp Dust collector will do the job, ie Grizzly, Jet, Delta, ShopFox..etc.. Get the low micron replacement filter bags from American Fabric and Felt, even the "stock" cannister arrangement would probably be alright. The jointer doesn't put out a lot of fine dust, like a drum sander, so these should handle a jointer or a planer.
I realize that this is not the best solution, but it will satisfy your immediate need and physical space limitation requirement.