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Retired - Finally and time to "wood out"

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2K views 18 replies 12 participants last post by  Larry Schweitzer 
#1 ·
OK, I am new to the site and re-awakening my career blocked wood working hobby.
My Dad had a great wood and metal shop and I enjoyed my time there.
But my career in high tech and 4 kids and a red headed wife left me little time to continue my wood joy. After 13 moves and lots of home projects I am done. In the midst of revamping my garage into a true shop and in the midst of a few projects (1 at a time).

The one thing that drives me nuts is DUST. I have not made the move for a full dust system but use a Rockler cyclone and a large shop vacuum. My Dewalt Jobber table saw makes a mess - even with its dust port. Looking at putting it on a cabinet with a surface cut out below the saw to catch more dust. I will post my solution. Since my wife seems to park in the same garage as my shop I need to move to a dust system soon.

I am located in West Michigan and pleased to be a part of the Woodworking Talk group. I will need help re-learning my old wood skills so watch for my posts.

Thanks for all the great sharing of knowledge.

T
 
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#2 ·
Welcome, Reducing dust is a constant challenge, and we would be interested in any solutions you come up with. We like pictures. Sounds like after raising 4 children and a full career, you deserve your woodworking shop after retiring.
 
#3 ·
Welcome to the forum! When you get a minute complete your profile with location and first name. Your location will show in the left panel and you can add your name to your signature line so we know what to call you and it will show in each post.

Dust is an issue, for sure. Our shop is the two-car attached garage and we leave the door open into the house all day so I have to catch dust at the source or it will migrate into the house. I typically only run one tool at a time so the HF 2 horse DC does just fine but I did add the Wynn 0.5 micron filter to keep the fines out of the air. It made all the difference in the world. There's a 20' hose that I move to each machine as I use it and that works pretty good.

David
 
#5 ·
Welcome, Yank!
Hope your garage has heat for those February projects. I am sure we all wish you the best of luck in your dust battle. Perhaps you could invent a small, dedicated cyclone permanently attached to your table saw? Oh, and I for one sympathize with your wife and garage usage plight. They just don't seem to understand. But, ya gotta love em!
 
#6 ·
Rider351: Welcome to the world of retirement and to this forum.
Yeah, life got in the way for decades.

I'm here because I retired 10 years ago and I have not done one damn thing that I planned to do.
Yup, my bucket list was pretty shallow, I didn't need to do those things. Still don't.
I wish you every success in your ambition.
 
#8 ·
Howdy Yank and welcome to the club. Im pretty much doing exactly what you are but with just 2 grown sons and been divorced since 1999. Just started up my wood shop also and have been seriously looking over the dust problem. Ive got 4 or 5 of those plastic 50 gallon drums and I was considering either building an impeller or perhaps buying one, if the price is low enough. Use a drum as a separator with a dust collection bag under it and exhaust it either into a micron filter bag or just let it blow in the woods behind the shop if theirs not alot of saw dust getting thru. Now all I need is a motor, a few fittings, some plywood and more energy than i have at the moment.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with so dont be shy post pics. Have a great day!!
 
#9 · (Edited)
I'd invite you to visit my collection of dust, but that's basically just what it is. My dust collection sits mostly on the floor and everywhere else that dust can settle.
I might actually decide to get a dust collection system that isn't just little more than one big mess. That'll probably start after I upgrade to a saw with dust collecting capabilities instead of my old Craftsman built before dust collection was even an issue.
I really need a heater as well. It's usually not that cold most of the year here, but when it is it's really cold. Since I don't have a dust collection system I do worry about igniting the dust flying around the shop.

My daughter and her kids and her man are coming to visit for a few weeks. We're gonna build a new stool and he can learn a few new things. I'd really like him to teach the kid the fine art of building furniture from plain old boards instead of only playing video games.
He expressed an interest in it as well as metal working. I'm not set up really well for metal working the way I once was, but I do have enough to get his feet wet. You know...standing in a puddle of water whilst using a high voltage welder, something every teenage kid should do.. lol
 
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#15 ·
Rider, be careful about taking advise like that from Pineknot! You could wind up sleeping out in the driveway in front of the garage with all those pretty new shiny power tools!!! I speak from experience...in the rain!!
Jon
 
#17 ·
Finally done with DUST..

Well I was seeking great advice from you all on dust issues and after your feedback and lots of reading I am going with a JET Cyclone 2 HP system..Running a 6" pipe down the ceiling of my shop and 4 " pipes to drops to each machine and blast gates on the 4" pipes.

I tried to get my wife's car into the driveway but that was a violent exchange and I thank PINE for the advice but it was scary...

I did buy more tools - as you all suggested - and am learning how to really leverage the router table.

I will send pics of the final shop and it is also heated and a great hiding place for when the grandkids show up. They are in the terrible 2 years so I need to hide at times.

Thanks for all the great feedback!

Rider>:)
 
#18 ·
Welcome to the forum Rider351. Hope you enjoy your stay.
I understand what you mean about having to hide from the grandkids at times; especially at that age. But I would be sad if my six (mid-teens and adults now, thankfully) didn't want to spend time with me.
 
#19 ·
Rider, Dust collection is good but keep in mind things that need to be considered. !. The velocity of the air in the duct needs to be fast enough to prevent the dust from settling in the pipe or hose. In a horizontal run 3500'/min. In a vertical run 4,000'/min or more if there are any chunks or big chips. Hose has a lot more friction lose than metal duct, best kept to a minimum. PVC DWV pipe can be used but will often shock you. Some say it is a fire hazard. Spiral metal duct is much better than furnace duct. You can often buy it from local heating/AC shops that do commercial work. Saves the high shipping cost. The filter bags that usually come with cheap dust collectors are often very under sized. You can have any size you want made by American Filter in FL. Have fun, be safe.
 
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