Dust Collection

[John_T.]

In everyones opinion, what is the best, and most affordable dust collection system for power carving? I have developed a bad case of tennis elbow, hurts all the way down to the fingers. so I will be using the power tool more often. But I don't like the dust. Thanks

[Captain_Bandaid]

Check out the back copies of WCI for a do-it-yourself dust collector. If you want an in-lap version, consider buying a bathroom vent fan and mounting it behind a hole in the lapboard. Cover the hole with suitable screen, mount a dust bag on the back of the blower, wire it up carefully, fire it up and go back to carving...

[Carver_Boy]

I have just made my own dust collecter. I bought 3 used fans from northern tool company. I sodered all of my connections and wired them all into a reagular switch for a light in a house, then i added a outlet below the switch to plug in the power carver so you don't have to have a spliter on the end of a power source. I hope that helps you if you want to build your own!!

[pinefeathers]

The design of a home built dust collector requires some fore-thought. For carvers, there are basically three types: under-bench built in; laptop; or portable table-top. All require sufficient air flow to collect the dust.
After building several, I learned that a minimum of about 750 CFM is needed to be efficient. At this rate noise starts to become objectionable. A squirrel cage blower has less noise, but useing only a bag type filter lets all the dust move through the blower, eventually clogging it. The small 'muffin' fans are silent, but don't move enough air.
If anyone needs some help you can e/mail me and I'll be glad to give some input.

[John_T.]

Thanks guys. I ended up taking a large window type fan for comercial use, that I got out of a building slated for demo. mounted it directly over my work area, fitted it with air filters and put a reostat on it to adjust the speed depending on the amount of dust I'm generating. It seems to be working very well. It not only collects the dust from my work, but also keeps all the air in the shop clean.