Is there such a thing as a low-dust lathe shop.

[Brian Kent]

Of course the answer is no,

…but I am willing to see if there is an easy answer I am forgetting to reduce dust or control where the shavings accumulate.
I am planning a re-organization of the 24' x 24' garage-shop in the next year. Now is the time to plan.

I have lung protection and eye protection by what I wear. Now I am looking to systems that would reduce the scatter of dust 'n shavings in the shop and make sweeping easier.

What I have now:

Best invention in the world: 20" box fan covered by a 20" furnace filter. It is on whenever the lathe is on. Best single helper to reduce dust. It is just about a foot behind the headstock.

2 (reduced noise) shop vacs, one of which I keep ready under the lathe.

3M Half-mask with P-100 filters. Full face shield.
Long nylon windbreakers to keep dust off clothes.
A floor-standing fan pointed at me.

Broom and Dustpan.

4-year old grandson shop helper who LOVES to help me sweep the corners every week.

Garage door, but I prefer to keep it shut or only open 6" so the neighbors won't see all of the tools.

Delta 1.5 HP dust collector (50-760) in the center of the shop, attached to 4 tools with gated hoses. This is NOT hooked up to the lathe. I doubt that this unit would be powerful enough to pull dust from the lathe using overhead ducts, and I need it for the other 4 tools.

Jet air filtration unit (AFS 1000B). This has not yet been ceiling mounted and is setting on the floor. This could be mounted on the ceiling near the lathe or over the washing machine / dryer to reduce the nuisance dust that collects on them.

I also have a solid table stand that the lathe is mounted to. The flat surface collects piles of shavings continually.

The garage door is not insulated, so it has aluminum rims at each part of the door that collect shavings and dust. I plan to move the lathe a few feet from the garage door and insulate the door with panels where the shavings fly.

I am planning on enclosing the open tool stands so shavings cannot fill that space.

Photo Essay to follow.

[Brian Kent]

I hope these photos help you feel good about your shop.

The first shows the dust 'n shavings trap on the garage door.
The second shows the table that acts as a dust 'n shavings trap.
The third is the floor area with several open-based tools that I may enclose so the dust 'n shavings can't get in.
#4 & 5 are the dust collector, air filter (to be ceiling mounted) and a second shop vac that is dedicated to the combo sander.

The last photo shows an area just outside of the shop that could potentially hold a major outdoor dust collector. While that would be fun, it is thousands of dollars from possible.

[daryl moses]

I put a shower curtain behind my lathe to keep the shavings a "little" more confined.

[Thom Sturgill]

Daryl beat me to the shower curtain idea. I have not done that myself, but plan on it. The air filter needs to be along the longest wall and removes the fine dust after you leave. Recent studies seam to indicate that using it while working is not a good idea, especially if you are in the air stream as it keeps the fines suspended for quite a while.

I have a drop from my dust collector that provides a floor sweep and collects sanding dust at the lathe. My shop has 12' wall and no ceiling, just exposed rafters, so I am not sure that the curtain will work for me.

[Reed Gray]

Well, an enclosed hood for the lathe will tame that part down a bit. Seen my bowl sanding hood?? I need one that will stay in place. When cleaning up the shavings, that generates a lot of dust as well. If you have a flow through shop (open on both ends), then makes a push/pull fan set up work great to keep things flowing. Containing shavings???? No totally effective way unless your lathe is outside... Pitch fork, bow rake, hoe, several brooms...... I put mine in contractor grade 55 gallon bags. When it is dry outside, like now, I rake them outside and let them dry for a day or two which reduces the weight by half... An electric blower to really clear things out, with the fans.

robo hippy

[Thomas Canfield]

To expand on the shower curtain suggestions, Amazon has various sizes of shower curtains beyond the normal 5'Hx6'W and different material. I use 7'H in my 8'ceiling height current shop and had some 8"H on a suspended rod in my previous shop with 10' walls. I try to drop the shavings within a multi-shower curtain area that I connect adjacent curtains with a clip, but can open up when not turning. That prevents a lot of shavings/dust on tools and other items, and I can reach or walk outside curtain to sharpen, etc. 1" EMT works well for a rod and that can be hung with wire from ceiling easily. I do have a dust collection big mouth for use sanding, but the shavings would overload a dust bin in short order. My shop is somewhat air conditioned so keeping the dust down is important, but seems to be a losing battle.

[Brian Kent]

Thank you for the shower curtain idea. I have heard of that but never tried it. When the new positions are set, it would seem good to see what direction the most shavings go and mount the curtains accordingly.

Thom, great idea on the use of the air filter after sessions. That is actually when I use it the most anyway.

[robert baccus]

I don't know if your yard or layout would allow it but I have been using a wall fan 18" behind my lathe. Several friends also use this. Sucks all the dust and spray fumes outside but most of the heavier chips remain. The dust is what kills people & chips broom up easily. One of my cowboy type friends mounted two 48" attic fans in his wall--sucks your shirt off.

[Peter Fabricius]

Hi Brian,
I can sympathise with you, I work in a small basement shop and controlling the dust is critical to the sanity of our household (wife)...
All my tools have Vacuum ports made to accept the 1.5" vac hose going to the Shop made Cyclone sitting beside my lathe. The Cyclone is driven by the house central vac system which is located in the garage. (the central vac exhaust is fed outside via a 2" vac pipe).
So my complete shop is powered by Vacuum through the Cyclone. I get Zero wood dust in the canister under the central vac. All of it goes into the plastic 5gal pail under the Cyclone.
I turn a project then vac the chips, the dust is collected by a hood or pipe immediately behind the cutting action.
there is also a floor sweep below the headstock and I can kick or sweep directly into it for chips on the floor.
The Cyclone is modelled from a Ron Walters UTube video and is the best thing since sliced bread!!!
just my way of coping with lots of dust. There is no dust in my shop!?!?
Peter F.

[Brice Rogers]

Brian, thanks for the reminder about using a window fan. I am in the process of setting up a dust collection system. I bought a big gulp and it is helpful at picking up the fine dust depending on how I'm sanding on the lathe. It doesn't do much for the wood chips and curls of wood that fly five or so feet in the opposite direction. I'm thinking of adding a window fan in front of the big gulp to help increase the airflow for dust collection. I'm also going to incorporate a floor sweep for the big stuff.

I modified a HF dust collector into a 2 stage with a Thien baffle. It works pretty well. I'm planning on exhausting the remaining fine-particle dust outside

[Bob Bouis]

I used heavy (6 mil ish?) clear plastic sheeting, with grommets to attach it to hooks in the ceiling. Spring clamps for weight. Overlap two pieces for a door. Works very well even when roughing green bowls.

[Kevin Jenness]

I have a 6" drop from my central dc system with a flexhose right behind the headstock positioned with wires to get as close as possible to the action. It doesn't do much for the large volume of chips, but I borrowed a Dylos particle counter and found that it did reduce the fine particle count a lot. So you might consider getting another portable dust collector just for the lathe. Keep in mind that effective control of the fines depends on good filtration- you may need an oversized aftermarket bag or cartridge filter to get effective results.

[Hilel Salomon]

An additional note about shower curtains. In Virginia, I had difficulty in heating my shop, and decided to move my lathe into my house in a seldom used room. I bought some pvc pipes and built a shower enclosure all around my lathe. That took care of most of the shavings. The dust, however, is another story.