Hi...
I am a woodturner that has a roughly 6x11 area in my garage that has my lathe, bandsaw, grinder, and workbench (tight fit). We are moving next year to be closer to the grandkids, and are building a home that has a roughly 13 x 17' workshop area as part of the home (it is also going to hold my wood blanks, eventually a table saw, and a few more small power tools.)
Currently my dust collection efforts include a fan, suspended from the ceiling behind me pushing much of the fine dust out of the garage. I use my Ridgid vacuum connected to a dust deputy to vacuum up my wood shavings, but they still manage to get into everything in the garage. I want to try to avoid that in the new workshop.
My concern in the new workshop is that I have windows but no external door to blow out the fine dust. I am considering a ceiling mount air filtration unit to deal with the fine dust, but would like some recommendations if the primary source of shavings will be the lathe. Another concern is the decibel level of the floor dust collection unit in a room that size. I already have hearing loss in both ears, and am trying to avoid any further loss (I use ear plugs, and n95 masks from 3m).
My questions are the following:
1) Is it worth getting cyclone (vortex) larger unit that I can hook up a 'big gulp' type dust hood? to catch some of the shavings and sanding dust?
2) Are there dust collection units that have lower decibels so they are not as deafening? (I do not have a way to put the unit into another room and run ductwork.
3) I have been going through the workshop forum and all of the dust collection recommendations (going back more than 10 years), and am probably more confused than ever concerning which way to go on this.
I know this is a fairly small workshop. I have about a year to get this planned out, so any recommendations would be gratefully accepted. I'm trying to minimize the amount of dust on everything. I"m happy to sweep up the shavings, but I literally have to 'blow out' the garage periodically to get all of the dust that accumulates on shelves, corners, areas far away from where I turn.
Thanks in advance.
Dave