# Help With Dust Collection



## OHNOIMONFIRE (Sep 13, 2012)

Hey All,

Newbie to woodworking here. I need some advice on how to get started with dust collection in my fledgling shop. I'm working out of a one car garage that houses my tools (no car in the garage). I usually work with the garage door open in the winter (I live in Florida so there's two seasons: summer and winter, and the winter is perfect work weather at 50 degrees). In the summer it's too unbearably hot to have the garage door open. There's a standard sized door in the back of the garage that I'll usually prop open too if the weather is right. The garage has no windows, and is half drywall, half concrete. 

Anyways, I have a work bench, and permanently housed under the work bench is my shop vac which I keep connected to either my miter saw or router table, whichever one is in use. That's pretty much it. Needless to say the garage is covered in dust. 

I'll admit that I work with a respirator at all times except minor things like drilling, glue-ups, etc. I think those are the times that dust gets in and kills my allergies.

What do you guys use to keep dust to a minimum? I would also like to keep the costs affordable. 

Thanks. 

-Jeff


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## Gilgaron (Mar 16, 2012)

This is my hobbyist setup:

I use a Shop Vac with a HEPA filter and a drywall dust bag inside. I also use a 5 gallon bucket inline with the shop vac with a chip seperator lid, and it helps a lot and the dust bag doesn't really fill at an appreciable rate. 

My ambient air cleaner is a box fan mounted to the ceiling with a pleated furnace filter and fiberglass filter in front of it. It is also setup so that air drafts into the work area rather than leaving it.

My personal protection is a 3M mask with P100 cartridges, an apron to keep most of it off of me, and I have a shoe mat so I don't track dust out of the work area.

I get a lot less dust in my basement with this setup now. If you intend to run planers, jointers, or even just make a more professional amount of dust you may want a real dust collector.


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## Shop Dad (May 3, 2011)

Capture as much dust at the source as you can. This may be with a shop vac for now but use a Thien baffle or other separator (like Rockler Vortex) in front of it. Also filter the ambient air to capture the fine dust that floats for a while. This can be most harmful since it's so small and you are likely to have taken off your respirator before all the fine dust is gone. You really want something that will filter down to 1 micron.


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## SteveEl (Sep 7, 2010)

What others said and consider a box fan exhausting out the window. Consider a cart for the vac + can with separator lid; Build a floor sweep; When I want to dust a busy work area I often hold the vac attachent a few inches above a surface in one hand and blow air from a compressor with the other..... the junk goes airborne but gets sucked up by the vac; I keep dust masks I a going to reuse in a brown paper bag so they can dry but stay clean; If a power tool does not have dust collection go online to find ways people have added it.... there's lots of clever tricks. Have two filters for the vac.... when you wash one you have a dry one ready to go.


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## OHNOIMONFIRE (Sep 13, 2012)

Hey guys, all helpful tips. My shop vac has nothing but the OEM equipment. If I'm reading this right, there's special filters and bags specifically for saw dust?


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## Gilgaron (Mar 16, 2012)

Yes, the stock filter won't stop some of the smallest particles, which are also the ones most likely to make it deep in your lungs. With the stock filter, the ultrafines are blown up into the air by your vacuum's motor. HEPA filtration is a standard that removes 99.97% of all particles greater than 0.3 micrometers.

Here's an example HEPA filter for a Shop Vac, and I double it up with the drywall bags 



since that increases your effective filter area.

Use one of these inline on a 5 gallon can and your bags will last longer, as it'll catch the big debris. If you're going through bags, there are baffle designs described here in the forum that are better than the one I linked to.


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## OHNOIMONFIRE (Sep 13, 2012)

Gilgaron said:


> Yes, the stock filter won't stop some of the smallest particles, which are also the ones most likely to make it deep in your lungs. With the stock filter, the ultrafines are blown up into the air by your vacuum's motor. HEPA filtration is a standard that removes 99.97% of all particles greater than 0.3 micrometers.
> 
> Here's an example HEPA filter for a Shop Vac, and I double it up with the drywall bags here since that increases your effective filter area.
> 
> Use one of these inline on a 5 gallon can and your bags will last longer, as it'll catch the big debris. If you're going through bags, there are baffle designs described here in the forum that are better than the one I linked to.


Gilgaron, thanks for the great advice. I'll be investing in that equipment prior to my next project.


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