A manual dust collection system

[Cameron Wood]

I made a stab at rigging up a HF unit, primarily for bandsaw and stationary sanders, but didn't do too well. Couldn't get good collection from the bandsaw, and the filter bag seemed to just pump dust into the air.

This has been the method for a long time- several brooms (lobby broom FTW) around the shop, brush (horsehair) and dust pan(s), & variable speed Makita blower. The blower has a 25' cord taped to it's long cord, can reach everywhere and is always plugged in. At low speed it acts as an air broom, raising little dust. Shavings are swept into piles and picked up occasionally.

The jointer and planer eject most of their chips into containers, & the table saw collects most in it's cabinet. A custom little rake helps when it's time to empty. The other jointer empties into a box which doesn't hold very much. Below the dust pan you can see the trash bin, and a smaller one for scrap metal. Shown are the two favored respirators. The shop gets a good blow every few weeks or so, at the end of the day, then sweep up the following morning. The blower is excellent for cleaning the dust off of oneself at quitting time.

I don't have a lot of room, & if a DC gets part but you still have to sweep and blow, I just do that. I have a Fein vacuum with a long hose and a bag as well as good filter, and avoid using MDF. The vacc is especially good hooked up to a portable power plane to clean up painted wood. Chips and shavings are emptied into the green waste bin. Next to the DC attempt, you can see a turbine roof vent, which does a good job of exhausting fine floating dust. Several mats along the way into the house help with tracking and my spouse is not too fussy.

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[Zachary Hoyt]

I have a Reliant 1 hp collector that was given to me about 20 years ago, and I use it for the drum sander now, and when I'm using the Kutzall disc to carve instrument parts. I also use the shop vac as a dust collector on the spindle sander. Other than that I use a similar concept to yours, except that I don't use a blower, and more often use the shop vac than a broom or a brush. I save jointer and lathe shavings in a 20 cubic foot bag over the summer and use them to start fires in the wood stoves during the heating season. I got a 16" aluminum dust pan from HF years ago and use that to scoop out the cabinet of the Unisaw and dump the dust onto a bed of coals in the shop stove. It burns quite nicely, though I have to poke it around partway through sometimes. Planer (DeWalt 735) shavings get blown into another 20 CF bag via the 4" DC hose and then go to a neighbor who has chickens and from whom we buy eggs now that we are running a chickenless establishment.

[Kevin Jenness]

I think there are very few shops without a broom and a dustpan. On the other hand, catching as much of the machines' dust at the source, using as high an airflow and as fine a filtration system as possible (or exhausting the fines outside if the climate and neighborhood permit) will decrease the risk of nasal/throat cancer and general respiratory hairballs. As well, dust collection at the planer will eliminate chip impressions and decrease sanding time. Your shop, your choice, but the levels of respirable dust particles, especially the smallest ones, generated by our machinery are not good for us.