Dust collection for a mainly handtool shop

[nosuchhounds]

I mainly use hand tools apart from a planer thicknesser (triton) so need some dust/chip collection for this. My space is pretty small and im planning on having all my units inc workbench on castors.

I have a festool midi vac i use with my ts55 for ripping sheets and a Titan Screwfix wet and dry vac. Is the cyclone an option? I also see, mainly American Youtubers, using dust collection bags attached directly to units, an option?

 

[D_W]

what is your ability to use a fan to exhaust air?

I have a fairly active shop and no dust collector. I do have a vacuum and separator bin before it, but nothing special - just a can and no cyclone which leads to a little more tapping out of the vac filter than some folks might like.

The one thing that comes to mind in terms of dust (outside of the odd use of the thickness planer here and there, something I don't do much) is hand sawing and hand resawing wood will put a lot of fine dust in the air. Lest anyone think that isn't the case, resaw a board in a vise and set a fan far away with a gradual breeze blowing your way and try to keep your eyes open.

I also grind a lot of metal - which is why I mentioned the fan question. i can open the door and direct a cheap box fan toward it and keep particle counts where I'm standing reasonable. Without the ability to exhaust that out, it would be really difficult and I wouldn't care for a shop with a howling dust collector.

 

[nosuchhounds]

So just a standard mobile fan? Its a good idea that i hadnt thought about

 

[D_W]

So just a standard mobile fan? Its a good idea that i hadnt thought about

Yes - the idea being pretty simple - it's really hard to move air with static pressure around in the shop at a high rate, but it isn't difficult to create a slow directional flow that just sends all of the fines out.

The issue with it is that it doesn't collect chips and if it's cold, your shop will be cold. I find it a lot easier to send the fines out and pick up the chips later rather than trying to treat them both the same way.

With metal dust, I have no real choice - it has to go out and leave only filings behind, and if you're grinding something, it'll be warm enough to keep your whole body warm through your hands. I do the same thing in the winter, though - if resawing something where the board will be near face height, you'll be sucking in a lot of dust whether you know it or not. gradual air movement will allow the frass to fall to the floor and the fines will generally stay away from you.

box fan current draw is about 100 watts or so, too, for a huge amount of gradual air movement - that part is also nice as it can usually follow you around and stay on the same circuit as whatever else you're plugging in.

 

[nosuchhounds]

With that in mind would a wall mounted extractor fan work or not powerful enough?

 

[D_W]

With that in mind would a wall mounted extractor fan work or not powerful enough?

You could use both - a local fan to move the fines away from you, and a second exhaust fan to get them out if a large opening isn't available.

 

[Jameshow]

If doing real hand work I doubt there is much fine wood particles unless you do alot if sanding. (I find planning gives a finer finish)

A dust pan and brush is a good investment!

I'm no expert though..

 

[thetyreman]

actually you do get quite a bit of fine dust in the air even with hand tools, there's just less of it, the worst culprits are woods like mahogany, beech, sycamore, fine tight grain woods it's similar to MDF in terms of fine dust and just as bad for you, decent filtration is the key, I have an AC15 air extractor from axminster, and wear a mask when sawing and sanding, a good vac with hepa filters is good to have too, yes the cyclone can help your filters last longer, also thinking of making one myself soon.

 

[Inspector]

Somewhere on Bill Pentz's site he states that crosscutting a 1" thick x 7" wide board by hand produces enough fine dust to contaminate a workshop (I believe it was one car sized). If you want to exhaust the air then you need as a minimum 10 air changes per hour but 20 is preferred. You will need to work out the volume of the shed and then get a fan able to move that amount of air. Openings on the opposite wall are needed to provide the makeup air. In some climates it isn't a problem, others like mine, it is a bit more of a problem.

Pete

 

[D_W]

Somewhere on Bill Pentz's site he states that crosscutting a 1" thick x 7" wide board by hand produces enough fine dust to contaminate a workshop (I believe it was one car sized). If you want to exhaust the air then you need as a minimum 10 air changes per hour but 20 is preferred. You will need to work out the volume of the shed and then get a fan able to move that amount of air. Openings on the opposite wall are needed to provide the makeup air. In some climates it isn't a problem, others like mine, it is a bit more of a problem.

Pete

There is an easier way to measure what's going on than calculating, though. It depends on where you're standing. If your center of work is arranged between machines, you can put a particle counter where you'll stand at head height, even if's one of the less than stellar chinese versions sold on aliexpress. Those lag and I think they undercount, but you can do relative comparisons with them.

box fans are a little roughshod, but they move about 1-2k CFM in a general direction. if you can get the dust to the exhaust area rather than continuously circulating around the shop, you can move less air.

The only thing that triggered me to look further at this and find a simple solution with an outcome (particle count) is the fact that even if you do mediocre removal of the fines from metal grinding, the dust - I think - will oxidize in your eyeballs and make you feel like you're on a redeye for a day. A bad sign.

 

[stuckinthemud]

Don’t want to sound trite but I like to work at a bench outside my workshop for dusty jobs, just a thought.

 

[D_W]

Don’t want to sound trite but I like to work at a bench outside my workshop for dusty jobs, just a thought.

A solution my dad did my entire childhood. My mother was a folk art painter, he got to prep the wood, which sometimes would involve face sanding wooden bits for the better part of a day. If it was breezy and dry, he took the belt sander outside. We weren't so classy as the folks here, so the idea of a workbench and a hand plane would've been a contest to name what the bench was for and what the plane was.

 

[Inspector]

Let me see you do the dusty jobs when it is -20℃ or colder outside. Your little trite will freeze off. My Dynabrade air sander freezes up and I have to go back inside and wait until it thaws out enough to run again. Upside is nobody is outside to hear you working so no noise complaints.

Pete

 

[stuckinthemud]

Fair enough, annual temperature range here is -2 to 27 deg C

 

[MarkAW]

...Although more recently more like 40c

I doubt many are out in their workshop during that though

 

[Inspector]

Nope, out watering the trees.

Pete

 

[D_W]

Illustrating what tyreman said - usually something like new and not dried out (old wood is more dusty) cherry or brown oak or whatever else will plane cleanly:

I forgot about posting this - look at the area left around this billet. All I did was plane the surface of the blank to get a feel for it. Look at the dust on the plane. It planed wonderfully, the shavings were continuous. It still produced a steady stream of dust. What in the world is that? I don't know, but it leaves your hands black, etc, too.

I've seen it on a lot of woods - it's either being sprung out of the shavings while planing or it's in the pores or who knows what.

Ebony is another one, but it's an entirely different type of wood that is almost directionless seeming in the best of samples. Very dusty even when planed cleanly.

 

[Alli]

You could always use Veritas's plane vacuum adapter, they're out of stock at the moment but should be back in stock next April