Machining Dust collection

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SolarYellow

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Figured I'd start a new thread rather than hijack another one:

I've been slow rolling getting into my CNC router because of the particulate control issue. These couple of posts have made me realize that it's probably an easier job with the router than with a laser due to the burning stuff. Burning phenolic (plywood) isn't exactly awesome, not to mention trying to do any composites or plastics.

Dust control on the particulates front has recently gotten a lot better. Reviews of this seem to indicate it's a good solution. I first became aware of it when researching table saws, but I'm leaning toward it for the CNC router, old-fashioned router table, big disc sander, and mitre saw I already have. I'm not allergic to wearing PPE, but I still don't want a lot of dusts (especially composites) getting all over the place even if I drag the tools outside.

https://www.harborfreight.com/12-gallon-osha-compliant-dust-extractor-58966.html

If I won the lottery, my shop would have a sanding/dust room where all the dusty things happened. The very rare ticket purchases I do haven't paid off yet, so I'm looking for alternatives.

Figured there are probably enough here with industrial and serious hobbyist woodworker and other experience to give me some good advice.
 
ill say that there is no way the motor on the vac in the link is 6 h.p. and not too sure about 155 cfms on that small of a diameter of hose.

2 different things to consider- dust collection at the source and dust collection in the air. the fine particles in the air are not good to be breathing in.

a downdraft table is a good thing when sanding.

dust collectors work pretty good with a seperator and canister filters on them help keep the fines from getting back into the air.
 
Have your dust collector outside your dust collection area. That way any fine particles missed by its filtration are not recycled back to you. So if you're using your garage say, the extractor goes outside. This can make it cold in winter when you're using the extractor. Also makes it quieter. For you.
 
We have dust filters in the room where the cat boxes are [ big cat boxes ]. They work good at pulling the airborne dust out of the air. They consist of 4 20x20 #12 Home Depot air filters with a box fan sitting on top. The box fans are 20"x20". You could use 20x30 filters too. They all sit on the floor. As soon as I get off my lazy butt I'm going to build stands for them to sit on that will raise them off the floor. I think they will be more effective higher off the floor. If you buy at least 4 filters at a time they are $11 instead of $22. I buy a dozen at a time every couple of months. We have two ac units for the house and one uses a 20x20 and the other a 20x30. The one in for the garage uses 20x20 filters too. It's a cheap alternative to try.
 
A good extractor is key to CNC work, however, no matter what you do, you will still get particulate matter in the air. It is bad enough when you are CNC'ing wood, but CNCing MDF and composites put a lot of crap in the air, no matter how good your extractor is.

I installed one of these on the ceiling over my CNC station. It is not a panacea (I still recommend wearing decent PPE when CNCing in an enclosed shop), but it makes a huge improvement. It is not very loud at the low speed, so I tend to keep it running whenever I am working in the shop, even if I am not doing something dust producing. Just gives me more peace of mind that I am getting as much of the particulate matter safely removed as I can.

https://wenproducts.com/collections...led-industrial-strength-air-filtration-system

There are more expensive versions from different manufacturers, but, like some other products I have in the shop, I find the "budget" WEN products to be good enough for my needs. In this case, I didn't think the $800 Jet brand, for example, was going to improve things much - after all, it is pretty much just a fan in a box with a couple filters on one end.

You could always go the DIY route like this guy:

This Powermatic fan is stupid expensive and won't help (much) with whole shop filtration, but if you need localized air filtering, this thing is very, very good. I use it all the time when I am sanding fiberglass rocket parts, for example.

https://www.amazon.com/1791331-Powermatic-PM1250-Filtration-System/dp/B07HR7YVN2?th=1
 
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