Official Luthiers Forum!

Besides regular dust collection systems that hook up to several of the workshop machines, what other gadgets do you guys use?

How do you minimize or capture the dust that gets in the air?

My garage is a mess and I need to find some kind of filtration/dust collection for all that dust that gets everywhere!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Peter, have you thought about getting an air cleaner? Check out the OLF Tool shed and look in dust collection. You will find two air cleaners.

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I have an air cleaner in my shop & it does deal (slowly) with some of the airborne dust. I plan on putting another in the humidity controlled room where i do most of my bench work.
Even though I only do very small hand sanding jobs in the small room, it is still covered with dust on every surface.
The only way I can deal with it is... every time the wind blows hard, I open all the doors & windows, turn on the dust collector & air cleaner & blow the dust off everything & let the wind do its job. (Good thing my nearest neighbour is a hundred yards away)
It's incredible how much dust a one man shop can generate.
The only "dust free" shop I have seen has a $35,000.00 dust collection / air recycling machine which towers over the 40 X 70 foot, two story building.
If someone has a better way, I'd like to hear it too!

There's been a fairly recent discussion here on this topic.

Here's the bible of dust collection

www.billpentz.com

It's exhaustive, and you really need to read and absorb pretty much the whole site to figure out the protection you need.

If you already have a dust collector that you move around from tool to tool and your shop is still dusty, then any or all of the below are likely true.

collector is too small, weak, doesn't move enough air

filters are too coarse so they stop the big stuff but let the fine, dangerous stuff through to be pumped into the air

hoods on tools are inefficient

filters are clogged, reducing volume

ducts or hoses are too small

Bill states that a poor dust collector can be worse than none at all. Really, for your and yours' protection, read it. Sawdust might become the asbestos (well maybe not quite) of the 21st century. With sawdust, the messes in our shops is the least of our problems.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I have just put one in my shop a few weeks ago. best investment I ever spent. It was recommended to me to get one that can filter the shop 8 time an hour.
They do work. Along with good dust collection I know my dust is way down . I can tell by the filers and the amount of dust that is settling out.
   Get one you won't be sorry
john hall
   PS I have a 2 stage 3 speed unit. Goes to 5 microns

Thanks for all the input....
I'll be looking for one soon!

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com