Dust collector for lathe

[Wendell Steele]

The only wood working I do is on the lathe, will a 3/4 hp general dc be enough to use ? It will be only for the lathe.

Thanks

[Steve Arnold]

It's hard to say based on horsepower alone. You really need to look at the CFM or cubic feet per minute when you're considering a dust collector.

I can tell you that my 1HP/650CFM unit works very well for my lathe.

[Brice Rogers]

With a dust collector, bigger (in CFM and HP) is generally better.

Occasionally Harbor Fright has their 2 HP unit on sale for around $ 179.

Some things that I've learned since I got mine: (1) the dust and chunks of wood go through the impeller. If you end up with a wad of curly wet shavings going into the hose. They may stop and the screen before the impeller or may plug up the impeller until you clear it. (2) The standard bags are 5 micron and let a lot of the dangerous smaller particles through. Ideally, you would have the dust collector outside. (3) Dust collectors are good for collecting sanding dust but won't catch many of your chips (because they may be propelled away from the collection hose.

[Brice Rogers]

Part 2: I reconfigured my dust collector by making a pre-filter. They can be as simple as a garbage can (sealed) with a baffle. Or they can be more sophisticated as with a Thien baffle or cyclone separator. This will keep the chunks and shaving wads from clogging up at the impeller.

Many people either buy a DC with a 1 micron filter or they buy an aftermarket filter.

Plan on buying a "big gulp" dust fitting. It works pretty well on picking up fine dust when sanding on the lathe.

I made a Thien baffle for my 2 HP Harbor Fright DC. The baffle catches about 99 percent of the dust and shavings before they make it to the impeller. I vent it outside. When I'm sanding, I usually turn on the shop exhaust fan (in addition to the DC) to pick up airborne dust.

[David Delo]

The only wood working I do is on the lathe, will a 3/4 hp general dc be enough to use ? It will be only for the lathe.

Thanks

Wendell,

Some of the answer your looking for can be found in what type of turning you do. If you only do pens and similar small stuff, you can make/buy dust hoods that pretty much encapsulate the machining area that's producing the chips & dust. Might work okay for the smaller stuff but I'd still wear a mask.

I'm more in the camp of Bill Pentz (not everyone is) when it comes to dust collection of chips and dust collection of "fine" dust particles (which we as turners generate) at the lathe. The fine dust particles are what we need to be concerned with over time. Much good information on the subject at his site. Bottom line is pretty much until you get into 5hp with 15" impeller size ranges, you aren't doing a whole lot for "fine" dust collection.

With that said, not everyone is going to spend that kind of money on a dust collection unit or even have the ceiling height necessary that it would take. Some do some don't.

IMO, use/get the most hp/cfm/impeller size your budget allows AND use some sort of respiratory device with the correct filtering rating.

http://billpentz.com/woodworking/cyc...ine_dust_risks

[Don Jarvie]

I agree with Dave that's it's the fine dust we need to be concerned with. I got a air filtration unit to clear the air from sanding.

[Wendell Steele]

Thanks everyone. I'm going to pass on the one mentioned and get a bigger. I'm also going to make a hood etc. The DC will go right next to my lathe.

[Wendell Steele]

David Delo, thanks for that link.

[Bob Bouis]

If by fine dust you mean the stuff that floats in the air that you can breathe in, absolutely. But after spending several hours reading safety reports and skimming studies, I haven't seen any actual evidence that the really small particles are more dangerous. In fact, the studies and air quality standards are almost always concerned with the total mass of particles in the air rather than the size.

The reason for this seems to be the that the actual demonstrated dangers of wood dust are mostly in the realm of irritation, allergies/sensitization, and associated breathing conditions (like bronchitis). There seems to be little or no evidence that fine wood dust builds up in your lungs and causes cancer or fibrosis like black lung/asbestosis/silicosis, as many woodworkers seem to fear.

I'm not saying you should breathe sanding dust with abandon as that's obviously a bad idea. But you're not going to get black lung if you don't buy a 5hp dust collector.

[terry mccammon]

If the only wood working you do is at your lathe, there is another approach which I wish I had realized as I too have no other woodworking power tools or interest other than hand carving. Consider a room type air filter, the sort that hangs from the ceiling, and use of a personal PAPR. Now you have first quality protection as well for lungs as well as a face shield and no installation. You do need to be sure that dust is not leaving the shop area, and will need to run the cleaner for a few hours after last working.

I popped for a five HP big boy, it is a swell installation and certainly grabs the dust, but my turning interests (big, small and in-between) and mechanical incompetence are such that I failed at building some sort of en-capsulizing rig. So while I am sure grabbing a lot of dust, nonetheless there is dust lying all over the shop, which came from somewhere. As a result I purchased a PAPR (3M AS400) and do not turn without it as it was clear that I still was making significant dust.

Just something to consider.

[Ed Wood]

I never thought thought much about fine dust but I do run a jet air filter and there is a lot of it floating around. see photo of my air filter the blue is a spot I cleaned on the filter before cleaning the whole filter. Not just from a lathe I have most standard wood working machines .
jetfilter1.jpg

[Robert Engel]

Not to be smart, but why bother?

[Steve Arnold]

Not to be smart, but why bother?

I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you asking, why bother trying to minimize the number of airborne particles we breathe in while turning?

[Jeramie Johnson]

Not to be smart, but why bother?

Well, you definitely want to bother with protection. The question is what amount do you feel is safe that you can afford to spend.

For example, some people change their vehicle oil every 2000 miles. I do not, as I feel that is too soon and I can not afford that waste.



I also did the Harbor Freight 2HP vac filter and built the pre-filter with a garbage can. I have a big gulp on either side of my lathe and shutoff valves for each. At tax time I will add a ceiling filter. I have yet to change the bag that came with the HF 2 HP, as everything falls in the garbage can. Note, I changed out the HF micron bag with a .5 canister.