I am looking to fit some kind of dust extraction into my workshop/shed, at the moemnt i sand,shape,glass all in the same room (14ft x 13ft triangle shape). There is no air flow at the moment, i have a Clarke modified planer with the dust extraction shute on it. I recently bought a cheap wet and dry vac but it is next to useless so i have decided it is time fo a better system. After reading various posts it seems that some pvc trunking above the board connected to the vac is the way to go and a pipe that i can connect when needed to the planer.
My question is what size/power vac should i be looking for? I am totally lost when it comes to these things i had a chat with a few salesmen but they were'nt really much help.
I am in England by the way, No harbour frieght for us here.
This is a good topic. I’m looking for a dust system for my sanding room. I can ll offer this insight on the noise issue: just build a box with some padding that will knock down the sound. Shouldn’t be too hard. Plywood, some batting/carpet and/or thick drywall (gypsum board) will help. Put a hinged door on it for access. Build it so you don’t have any cracks or holes. If you do, caulk or weatherstrip it.
My question to everyone out there is if you put a dust collector system appropriate to the size room, will it suck enough air to noticably improve air quality in that room, thereby keeping dust down to some extent. Or, do you need to devise a extraction system directly to the tool of choice? This isn’t hard for tools already offering this feature like planers and routers, but what about a hand held grinder/sander? I saw one somewhere here in Sway’s.
Anyone else see that?
Good topic you brought up. Let’s see what happens. Remember, this for the guy’s shed, so no mega system show offs here.
Bside, those dust extractors are actually designed for woodworking machines such as thickness planers. Most feature an 80 or 100 mm diameter tube and you will loose a lot of power if you fit a reduction tube for your Hitachi planer. (Don’t ask why I know that)
What works fine with me is a semi-industrial vacuum-cleaner such as this one, 1200 to 2000 watts in power is way enough:
Thanks for the tip Balsa, i bought a cheap vac http://www.einhell-uk.co.uk/index.php?id=2&br=12&sb=25&gp=198 it says its 1250 watts but by the time i put the bendy tube extension on the planer it has no suction at all. I also have one of those dust buddies (i searched the arhives and people were raving about them) but i cant get any real suction. I have checked the pipes and the filters are all good, probably bought a bit to cheap. ANy recomendations on make?
Do you use anything for air quality? Any above board suction?
Click on “boards” and look at the video. You will have to go through a horror scene where the guy “trues” the outline with a surform (AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHHHH!!!) and using his power planer in a very questionable way but, towards the end of the video, you will see the same guy using a “clean” power sander.
Bside, no air suction over my shaping racks; Actually, the one thing that produces lots of dust in the air is the power planer. Once it is fitted with some kind of vacuum system, you will find that finish work with sanding blocks won’t be that much dust producing at all. At least, most of it goes directly down to the ground, not in the air.
Oh, BTW, if you can find locally the brand “SIDAMO”, those are quite good. Here is the one I had before:
The new one (pictured in my first post) is bigger. The brand is “Mac Allister”. This is a generic brand for products that are sold by the “Castorama” chain here in France. I understand it’s about the same as “Home Depot”.
