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Workshop and Air filtration.

T

Titusak

Member
Hello !
Long time no see haha !
So, I'm back to unemployment and I would like to take the time to redo my workshop to include more space for metal work. As you can see, it's an old interior swimming pool 🙂
My first thing will be to install a wooden floor in order to get a straight floor, because right now its completely curved.
I'm also gonna organise all the tools, and try to find a nice place for the 3d printer and the small CNC
.
BUT my biggest question and my main worry is about AIR quality / filtering and dust.

Because just above me is our main room, and the dust (metal or wood) goes up quite easily. I would like to avoid that as much as possible. Also I can't tell you how much wood dust fill the room. its everywhere, every time I cut something.
The thing is, money wise, my total budget for that is around 1k CAD and I don't know if it's enough for what I would like to buy: A cyclone dust collector (but, would it fit the room, which is quite small ?) and I would like to pair it to a workshop air filtration system. I'm wondering if I should also add a dehumidifier in the room.

What do you think guys ?
Thanks you very much !
 

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The best way to control dust is to collect it at source.

This can be challenging if you have machines with varying sizes of dust ports. A traditional dust collector works by moving a high volume of air at low static pressure (HVLP) through large 4" + lines vs. a shop vac which move small volume at high static pressure (LVHP) through small hoses 2" or smaller. Using an HVLP collector with small hoses is pointless as they just do not work well.
There are collectors which will work on both 4" and 2" and smaller hoses but they are not cheap.

I have a two-motor Record CamVac which is so powerful it will collapse a metal trash can if the intake port is blocked. But it does not move a huge volume of air so I also have a traditional collector on a cyclone for the big tools with 4" ports (tablesaw, planer, jointer, thickness sander). But the CamVac is brilliant for my tracksaw, CNC router and all my tools that have small ports.

If your machines all have small ports (2" or less) then a big shop vac and a dust deputy can work well. But a mix of port sizes complicates things.

An overhead dust filter can do a good job of clearing the air of small particulate.
 
Trying to control dust can be a problem, and more so when the shop is also in the house. It sounds like some sealing of doors and other spots may help. Is there vents into other parts of the house from the shop area? The heating/cooling system can spread dirt and dust very easily, yes there maybe filters, but are the filters sealed around their edges, or even in the proper place. And have the filters been changed regularly.
Doors may have very large openings under them with no sealing there.
Dusting yourself off before leaving the shop can help, can be surprising how much can be tracked around the house on shoes/boots, etc.
Controlling at source as per @David sometimes is the best, but might be costly. Even if a system can be moved/hose put to each tool as needed when used will help
Good luck!
 
Well the machines producing the most dust right now are my table saw that I'm using for wood, and a small routeur (cant plug hose on it, I should have bought a better one). I'm also using grinder to cut metal and a circular saw, but I'm using those outside whenever I can to avoid dust, and also because I don't want to start a fire at home yet. The room is not isolated at all from upstairs. Its just some Plywood and some fiberglass for insulation. (I think there is some plastic too....) It's a old house and rooms, this setup has been done like 40 / 50 years ago.

@David, from what I understand, I guess a CamVac with different port( I have to check if I have one entry on my table saw) and for the routeur would work. Then add an air filtration system at the top center of the room. For manual metal work (filling, dremel) I guess I could add a small air station like this one:
1749075914190.png

As for the cnc, enclosing will be a necessity, but even that, when its working, I guess I should connect it to the CamVac.

What do you think ?
 
Titusak said:
Well the machines producing the most dust right now are my table saw that I'm using for wood, and a small routeur (cant plug hose on it, I should have bought a better one). I'm also using grinder to cut metal and a circular saw, but I'm using those outside whenever I can to avoid dust, and also because I don't want to start a fire at home yet. The room is not isolated at all from upstairs. Its just some Plywood and some fiberglass for insulation. (I think there is some plastic too....) It's a old house and rooms, this setup has been done like 40 / 50 years ago.

@David, from what I understand, I guess a CamVac with different port( I have to check if I have one entry on my table saw) and for the routeur would work. Then add an air filtration system at the top center of the room. For manual metal work (filling, dremel) I guess I could add a small air station like this one:
View attachment 65501

As for the cnc, enclosing will be a necessity, but even that, when its working, I guess I should connect it to the CamVac.

What do you think ?
Click to expand...
I use a dust boot on the CNC router and connect it to the CamVac. Works amazing.
The brilliant thing about the CamVac is you can step it down to a 2" or smaller hose and not lose suction. And it has two motors so if both is too much suction you can run just one motor.
 
My first shop was in the basement of my house. All woodworking related equipment. My room didn't appear much bigger than yours in the photo you posted.

First I tried to seal off the room from the rest of the house. The entrance door, suspended ceiling, vents, etc. I had considered a fresh air exchange set-up but never installed one.

The second most important dust control tool was my Sears Craftsman wet/dry vacuum. 20 plus years old and still going strong. I rigged up ways to have it running to catch some of the dust off of stationary and portable tools. Used it for general clean-up.

The most important dust collection tool was the ambient air cleaner. Built from a furnace squirrel cage and motor. Two filters, standard flat foam filter in front and pleated filter directly behind that. Started it up before the dust started and let it run for several minutes after as needed. Still use it in my garage shop.

Lastly, I got into the habit of cleaning as I go. Still to this day in my detached garage shop I am often sweeping the floor and vacuuming up little piles of dust from foot traffic. IMO a house shop that isn't engineered from the ground up for dust control will require constant cleaning of the area and cleaning/maintenance of the dust control tools. This is going to be second in importance only to shop safety.

You will likely need to check and possibly replace your furnace filter a little more often, too.
 
A trick I used to use was to create a negative pressure in the work area. That is as simple as locating the shop vacuum outside and running the hose inside.

That way, no dust migrates to other parts of the house because all the airflow is inward not outward.

If I had a shop like that, I might rig up something more permanent like a shop exhaust fan.

This doesn't control dust in the shop but it does a great job of keeping the dust out of adjacent areas.
 
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