Shop Dust Collection

Keep your shop clean with a high-volume dust collector.

shop dust collection

POSTED BY: Dan Cary
January 04, 2012

If you’re a woodworker or you regularly cut wood in an enclosed shop, you need an effective dust collection system. Sawdust and wood chips can be an obvious nuisance, settling on your workbench and tools and making your shop look messy. But they also pose hidden hazards: Wood dust is a fuel that ignites and burns easily, and fine dust particles that you can’t even see can cause serious health problems.

The goal of dust collection isn’t complicated. Robert Witter, founder and president of Oneida Air, puts it quite simply: “You collect as much dust as you can at the source and then stop it with a rated fine micron filter.” It really is that simple.

So if it’s such a no-brainer, why do woodworkers tolerate inadequate dust collection? It’s not that they aren’t trying to collect the dust they create. But unfortunately, many are only cleaning up the mess they can see — and missing the fine particles that are most harmful to their health. Their efforts and resources are often wasted because of manufacturers’ overstated claims. Even with the best intentions, many woodworkers set up a system that isn’t capable of collecting most of the dust created by woodworking tools.

Cost is another factor. An effective dust-collection system can be a relatively major investment – as much as $2,000 for a full system, depending on size. But many shops don’t need that much equipment, and there are many incremental improvements you can make that are not expensive. It’s also true that a new dust collection system won’t make the same kind of visible contributions to the quality of your projects as other new tools (such as a new table saw), but it will make your work more enjoyable and your shop a healthier place to spend time.

Finally, it’s easy to get bogged down in the technical calculations and jargon involved in setting up a dust-collection system. Accurate calculations are critical for complicated layouts and commercial shops, but setting up a small shop system is fairly straightforward. Here’s how to get started.

Design and installation

The frequency that you use your shop shouldn’t affect the type of system you install. The type of tools you use...

Comments

By paddlefoot Sunday, January 08, 2012 5:57 PM

Dave, I think dust collection is very important for several reasons, slips/trips/falls,the quality of breathing air,tool loss in the mess, but most important is the fire hazard associated with flammable dust. I really don't think you covered the generation of static sparks in this enviornmentnaer well enough. Most DIYers like to improvise, and adapt and save a buck.The last pic on what I viewed showed a system with obvious plastic pipe and I didn't see any static control.Remember that this is what causes most grain dust explosions and fires.

By ramtrol Saturday, January 21, 2012 10:06 AM

For a small one-man shop, I would probably forgo the cost for a cyclone separator and use a simpler design like the one in this link:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=25225&filter=separator

I have also seen ones that fit on the top of a garbage can.

But I love the metal ducting for the collection, like "paddlefoot" says, one must be very aware of creating sparks while working with wood.

I work for a gas utility, and since the use of PE pipe has skyrocketed, so have fires and explosions caused by static electricity created by the flow of gas and debris along the side of the pipe.

By ramtrol Saturday, January 21, 2012 11:04 AM

I meant to add to my last sentence, the the fires and explosions occur when the underground lines get hit or damaged by excavators.......and then the resulting static elecrticity caused by the escaping gas creates electrical arcs.

By rjones12 Wednesday, February 29, 2012 7:44 AM

I just purchased a dust collector from grizzly and am in the process of getting it wired and running. I am in a small shop and will take a hose and just plug it into whatever I need for the time being. I am planning on a larger building in the next couple of years and then will install permanent piping.

By rmastrangelo Thursday, April 05, 2012 11:47 AM

Dave,maybe you can help me out or maybe another who may read this.I have a dust collector hooked up too my table saw,the problem is when running it blows the dust back out had the collector checked thought maybe there could be a problem with the wiring and it"s not it.hope for help from any one.
thanks rick from pa

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Shop Dust Collection

Keep your shop clean with a high-volume dust collector.

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