# Does anyone have a PC in their woodshop?



## Adillo303 (Dec 20, 2010)

If you do, what do you do to protect it from dust?

If you have considered it, do you have any suggestions?

I have a few PC's. I am forever coming back inside to look up instructions and take advantage of the many handy woodworking calculators that are available online.

I have an Apple iMac that I am,not overly fond of anyway. The advantage f the machine is that it is pretty much one piece and has a wireless card. I have good signal in the shop / garage. I am just concerned that it will get full of wood dust. So........ Has anyone done it? Any suggestions. As I said, I have no love for the machine, so if I loose it, I loose it. It is just a convenient package. An all in one so to speak. Keyboard and mouse are cordless. I was thinking of a big plastic bag while I was not using it.

Thank You

Andy


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## skyking (Mar 24, 2013)

Adillo303 said:


> If you do, what do you do to protect it from dust?
> 
> If you have considered it, do you have any suggestions?
> 
> ...


Put a drape over it when not in use, and it should last quite a while.
I pack a laptop out there when needed.


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## 4DThinker (Mar 13, 2013)

I've got a Dell small case PC in my home shop to run my CNC Shark. I simply vacuum the intakes/vents every time I'm done using the CNC, throw a cover over it (and the keyboard/mouse/monitor) when not using the CNC, and monthly open the case to vacuum out the inside. 

We've got a similar setup in the Furniture Design shop I teach in, and have a piece of filter material over the intake of the PC, as well as a shop vac nearby to suck it clean periodically. 

No problems so far with either setup. Pressurized air in the school shop blows the monitor clean daily.


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## Fred Hargis (Apr 28, 2012)

I've had a Mac min in my shop now for about a year. Done nothing about the dust...and have had no problems. I do have a fairly good DC and use vacs on all my hand tools I possibly can, but there is still some amount of dust around. Nothing I can do about it, so I don't worry. I do have it up on a shelf about 6' up (to get the router signal), maybe that helps. That's where I'm typing this response. Let me mention this, in my last shop I had a cable box, VCR, stereo receiver, cassette deck (yep, still got one) and CD player set up for over 7 years and had no problems with any of that stuff either. Still use the CD player and cassette deck (yep, too many cassettes to toss) in this shop...all work fine.


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## walnutavenue (Nov 9, 2011)

Look at it this way... most people never clean the fans, heat sinks, etc. on their computers. They go for years sucking in all the dust in a house. If you make a point of cleaning yours, it's probably better off than most computers sitting in cleaner environments. I don't think you'll ever have a problem leaving it unprotected. I'd worry about the keyboard more than anything, and it's probably cheap to replace.

I've had a lot of computers, but never hurt one from dust exposure. The worst I experienced was getting a video card heat sink so dusty that it wouldn't cool, which resulted in graphics weirdness and frequent crashes. Once I cleaned the dust out, everything was fine for years after.


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## against_the_grain (Aug 15, 2010)

Dust is probably more of a concern with laptops I would think. But they are portable, so obviously you can take it back in the house with you.


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## Tilaran (Dec 22, 2012)

I have an old beater Acer 5600 " Desktop"(flat kind) in my tool room. i've blown it out about once every three-four months for the last 6-7 years.
HDD died a couple years ago so I put Puppy Linux on a usb thumb drive. Good to go. All I need is internet on it anyway.
Been considering The Beast as my next purchase.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

I have an HP laptop two years old which I use in my shop all the time, no issues so far.

One thing though, it is black and shiny and an amazing exhibit of showing dust. I think my shop is clean, turn on a 2hp dust collector, hit one board on the table saw and the laptop shows a fine layer of ultra-fine wood dust.:huh:


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## Hunter (May 10, 2012)

You might be able to cover the keyboard with clear plastic and keep some of the dust out of the nooks and crannies. You might even want to put some on the screen, them you could just tear it off and throw it away to clean the screen. You would have to be careful to avoid covering the vents and fans. I would vacuum them out occasionally. 

Hunter


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## tdoucette67 (Feb 17, 2012)

I have an iphone and it stays in my pocket..it can do anything any computer can do.


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## VIFmike (Jul 21, 2012)

No an iPhone cannot do anything any computer can do. I run solidworks cad drawing editors ony pc to draw pieces. No iPhone could run a program like that. The new 3d version is a 6.2gig program. Try loading that on an iPhone. 

Many people who's shop is a business have to have a pc for certain tasks. 

These days an iPhone is not even the best phone on the market. I only have 2 more months and my iPhone gets traded in and I go back to android.


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## tdoucette67 (Feb 17, 2012)

Actually you can get the cad control app and it allows you to use your iphone as a 3D controller to interact with solidworks as you design. My iphone is a 64 gig so it can handle it just fine. So yes my iPhone can do just about anything..it may not be as easy as on a computer but it can be done.


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## VIFmike (Jul 21, 2012)

Yea about like driving a dump truck by remote control. Just because the phone is 64 gig does not mean it can handle a 6.2 gig program. The processor would never handle it.


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## Cliff (Feb 5, 2012)

> No an iPhone cannot do anything any computer can do.


Quite so. 



VIFmike said:


> Yea about like driving a dump truck by remote control. .


Yipper.


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## hays0369 (May 3, 2011)

I use an old dell re-furbished laptop in my shop, I cover it when not in use or put it in a bag. Once I get a DC in there it will help with dust issues


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## ironman123 (Jan 21, 2013)

I use an old Compaq 900 notebook in the shop to run my cnc mill and run my CAD program. No problems so far (8 years).

Ray


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

Adillo303 said:


> If you do, what do you do to protect it from dust?
> 
> If you have considered it, do you have any suggestions?
> 
> ...


I have never found a time when I needed/wanted one.

George


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## mn pete (Dec 10, 2010)

I've got a Sony laptop that I take into the shop regularly. I keep it on a desk at the far side of the shop and haven't had any problems.


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

Speaking as an IT guy:

Sure, you can put a computer in your shop. It will mostly be fine. I've supported computers that were stored in the weirdest places, and most of them never had any problems. The only ones I've seen over-heating due to dust were the ones that were stored for years under a desk in a lab space that never got cleaned (there were some of the labs that the janitorial staff refused to clean, and the Union and Health/Safety people backed them).

That said, there's a few things you can do to lengthen the lifespan of the system.
1) Put some cheesecloth or thin open-cell foam (less than 5mm) over the air INTAKES. Not the exhaust... you want that running fast.
2) A couple times a year, when the shop is clean (or at least when there's no dust actively flying around -- try first thing in the morning) shut it down, open it up and blow it out with compressed air. We used canned air, but a compressor will also work... just make sure you've got it at a low PSI, and make sure there's no condensation in the tank or the line before you start. Filling it with water won't really have the same effect.


If you're going to buy a brand new system, you could get one that runs without fans. There are a few on the market, although the brands and models change often enough that I don't know what they are right now. The odds are good that something like that would run basically forever in a shop.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

GeorgeC said:


> I have never found a time when I needed/wanted one.
> 
> George


How long does it take you to do this without one?

You have a board 56 7/8" long.

You need two edge rabbbets 7/32" and and three dados 7/16" wide to fit a drawer chest as pictured below.

What would the equal distance be between the rabbet, the dados and between the dados themselves, so that any drawer fits in any space snugly?

How would you measure and cut?

On my laptop, that will be the best part of 30 seconds, with a record I can go back to and no chance of error.


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