Makeshift Dust Collector

Xped · Post by **Xped** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 4:52 pm

Hey...

So, I'm setting up a rather small workshop in the basement. It's only a temporary setup until I can turn part of my garage into a heated workshop. For now, I'm going to enclose the area in with plastic vapor barrier sheeting dropped down from the ceiling to the floor. This is to prevent the dust I create from making it's way to the furnace.

To futher reduce the dust I was thinking about creating a makeshift airborne dust collector and wanted to have some opinions on if it would work. I would use this in conjunction with a localized dust collector using a shop vac. Also, I'm using a respirator...so no worried there...it's mainly for preventing the dust from making it's way to other parts of my house.

Here's what I'm thinking of:

Airborne dust filter
To reduce airborne free-floating dust, I employed a trick which I saw recently in a home improvement magazine. I took a normal household box fan, and attached a furnace filter onto the intake side of the fan. I took the plastic grill off the intake side of the fan and reattached it with spacers and longer screws, allowing me to simply slide the furnace filter into the slot. It works quite effectively, producing a nice brown circle on the filter in no time at all. This is good, showing dust that is not getting inhaled or settling on everything else.

I'm trying to save money and that is why I'd like to do something like this as opposed to buying a manufactured dust collector right now. I figure this will cost me less than $50 to make. The area is only 12x12.

Anyone else try something like this?

LatakiaLover · Post by **LatakiaLover** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 5:03 pm

Interesting. It's unarguable that whatever's caught in the filter is out of the air, but it seems you'd have to be careful that the fan's exhaust wasn't setting up air currents somehow that cause more dust to escape the "tent" than it would otherwise.

Definitely a case-by-case vs. categorical sort of goodness or badness, though. Fan position, room shape, etc. would make every situation different.

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 6:46 pm

They sell versions of the tool you describe putting together for hundreds of dollars, and they operate on *exactly* the same principle, and are very effective. I've got my own that I put together like that, but I just use a couple big rubber bands to hold the filter on the box fan. Works like a charm.

Xped · Post by **Xped** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 7:16 pm

KurtHuhn wrote:They sell versions of the tool you describe putting together for hundreds of dollars, and they operate on *exactly* the same principle, and are very effective. I've got my own that I put together like that, but I just use a couple big rubber bands to hold the filter on the box fan. Works like a charm.

Cool...I'm glad to hear that someone else has tried it, Kurt. And you're right, those expensive units are all based on the same principle. A fan and a filter.

LL...I, too, was wondering how room size and positioning would affect how this setup would work. From what I gather, I should position the unit on the longest wall...this helps in getting the air to circulate in a regular pattern. I'll have to use the smoke from my pipe to follow the current!

JHowell · Post by **JHowell** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 9:17 pm

I used the same principle to make a downdraft sanding table, sort of. I made a plywood box, open on the top, with a baffle in the bottom that holds two ventilation fans. Above that, a furnace filter sits on a lip, just fits inside the box horizontally. The thing is maybe 20-24 inches tall, just at the right height while seated. I do all my hand sanding over it, now the dust drifts down into the filter instead of up into my face.

Jack

hazmat · Post by **hazmat** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 7:55 am

This is going to turn into an extremely handy thread!

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 8:06 am

JHowell wrote:I used the same principle to make a downdraft sanding table, sort of.

Holy cow, that's a great idea! Now, if only I had enough room to put one....

ArtGuy · Post by **ArtGuy** » Wed Oct 10, 2007 12:03 am

My buddy Adam has one that he made. He used to use it when he worked in a blown glass studio. He just laughs at my 300 dollar delta

souljer · Post by **souljer** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 7:01 am

Excellent idea JH!

For a while I was working in my kitchen and I would do most of my grinding and sanding work over the sink by a window. I just put a little turbo fan in the window pointing outwards. When I positioned myself and the fan correctly I could see the sawdust being pulled away from me and out the window.

Wasn't great, but definitely better than nothing.