# Lathe and dust.



## Darren B (17 Aug 2018)

Dear all, my first post of many I hope. 

In the middle of setting up my small work shop. Just installed my lathe, bandsaw to follow.

So I had a play with the lathe and holly cow the dust is immense. I used a half decent respirator but I’m thinking about an extra precaution. Looking at a numatic 750 dust/chip extractor, looks like it will do the job. I plan to put the exhaust port out of the shed which from my understanding puts the -.5 micro rubbish outside instead of buying a HEPA filter at £300+! . 

My question and point is could I use a extractor fan to vent out fine airborne dust over buying a jet/record power air cleaner? 

Thanks.


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## CHJ (17 Aug 2018)

As long as the fine dust vented from a chip extractor outside does not pose a risk to others (family, or neighbours) then the only drawback is loss of workshop heat in the winter. (My extractor is located outside the shop in its own little enclosure and vents its fine dust at low level)

Likewise I use a 9" expelair unit to vent shop air outside to reduce airbourn dust that escapes the chip extractor. Once again winter shop heat loss is the only negative.


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## El Barto (17 Aug 2018)

If I was turning on a very regular basis I'd get one of these: https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/trend- ... 9xEALw_wcB


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## Phil Pascoe (17 Aug 2018)

Not to diminish the need for extraction, but you'll have much less dust as you get more experienced - you'll leave surfaces that need far less sanding.


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## Darren B (17 Aug 2018)

Thanks for the reply’s. Building a small shed/box for extractor could work. Maybe a wee stove to keep me cosy in the winter would work. I must admit I was impressed with the finish once I sharped up my round nose scraper. :lol:


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## TomGW (17 Sep 2018)

A friend of mine has concocted his own air cleaning system above his lathe and it is very effective. It adopts the principle of a Rainbow vacuum cleaner and comprises a vacuum unit with an inlet & 100mm flexy hose, suspended over the lathe, then exhausting into a vented plastic container partially filled with water. The dust laden air is directed onto the surface of the water which traps all the dust particles and allows the cleaned air to recirculate out again. Very effective and cost very little.


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## Keith 66 (18 Sep 2018)

At the school where i work we have a Union graduate wood lathe, it has a Numatic NVD750 as extractor, this is basically useless & does not extract anything but the minimum of dust. Woodlathes need a high volume low vacumn type of extractor that shifts a lot of air, the Numatic is a high vacumn low volume type. 
Numatic shifts 144cu m per hour a typical bandsaw or circular saw will require 4 times that to extract most of the dust. 
On a Wood lathe with wide mouth inlet as ours is the air flow stalls just a few inches away from the inlet face, the fan effect of the revolving workpiece easily overcomes the inflow of air.


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## ColeyS1 (18 Sep 2018)

phil.p":1bqfaatu said:


> Not to diminish the need for extraction, but you'll have much less dust as you get more experienced - you'll leave surfaces that need far less sanding.


Now that does sound exciting. I've got a humongous extractor and could never figure out why it was still not catching most of it- besides when sanding.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk


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## woodbloke66 (18 Sep 2018)

CHJ":3hlwvd0u said:


> As long as the fine dust vented from a chip extractor outside does not pose a risk to others (family, or neighbours) then the only drawback is loss of workshop heat in the winter. (My extractor is located outside the shop in its own little enclosure and vents its fine dust at low level)
> 
> Likewise I use a 9" expelair unit to vent shop air outside to reduce airbourn dust that escapes the chip extractor. Once again winter shop heat loss is the only negative.



This is a difficult one to get right and in my experience, no system is entirely foolproof. In my 'shop, machine chippings/dust are extracted via an Onedia cyclone and Camvac. I'm similar to Chas in that the outlet ports from the Camvac which contain the very finest dust are directed through the suspended workshop floor to the underside and hence the outside.

Even so, I'm not an expert turner and still manage to produce a lot of dust which doesn't get sucked up. However, I do use an Axminster APF 10 respirator which is pretty good, so once I've finished a spinning session, I leave the 'shop for an hour for the dust to settle when it's then reasonably 'safe' to go back inside. It's also a good opportunity for a nice brew of coffee and few biscuits :lol: - Rob


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## CHJ (18 Sep 2018)

It needs a lot of air volume movement to entrain lathe produced dust even with a hood arrangement in the chuck/spindle vicinity.
My system, although a cheap chip extractor has been fitted with a large area of coarse fabric as a filter in place of usual felt bag to get maximum air volume.
It will happily drag a 75mm cube of wood as far as the metal impeller and generates enough *air noise* at the lathe to drown out any lathe generated noise and loud enough to have to turn it off for a sensible conversation.

Not ideal from a noise point of view but a compromise I'm happy to live with for the fine dust removal benefits and is not a working annoyance as I wear a full head shield and cowl and lightweight Blue Tooth phones if I want 'phone or music.


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