[Closed] Workshop Air Filteration

Peter Millard has done articles on air filtration which are up on his 10 minute workshop channel.

I need something similar for when I finally start grinding and cutting up sheet metal. Last garage had no extraction and every where was covered, I don't want to repeat that.
I'm kind of leaning toward a big extractor with some ducting and just putting a vent on the door to attach it to.

There's loads of home made ones on YouTube. It just a fan and a filter in a box. The US ones tend to use furnace filters which are common over there but still available here.

Its worth having a think about why dust is ending up everywhere if you're using extraction - is the filter not very good so that the finest dust is just blowing straight back out again? Is it just not powerful enough to catch the dust the tools are making? Or are the tools you're using not designed well to extract from with a vac? Just having a port to plug a vac into doesn't mean the rest of the tool has been designed to facilitate extraction.

Depending on what you're connecting things to a 'vac' isn't always the best way of capturing dust from the tools you're using. Shop Vac type extractors rely on suction and only really work on power tools that are quite well sealed - something like a plunge saw where the saw blade is almost entirely enclosed - the vacuum is only capturing air/dust from within an inch or two of the end of the hose so its relying on the design of the tool to deliver the dust there to collect.  'Dust Collectors' (the big floor standing machines with 4" ducts) create airflow rather than suction - on something like a table saw they pull air through the whole machine and catch the dust no matter where its being flung.

Smaller table saws often have smaller ports for a vacuum rather than a collector but unless the saw is very well designed all the vac is doing is gathering the larger particles that would otherwise fall on the floor and letting the finer stuff escape. (the newer dewalt table saws are an exception where the saw mechanism is enclosed in a flexible sleeve and keeps the vaccum airflow concentrated where its needed.)

With table saws in particular theres often a port on the body of the saw and one on the guard above the blade - the lower one collects the bulk of the dust from cutting as the cutting edge throws material downwards - but the finest dust is the back of the blade just skimming the edge of the cut as it comes up and throwing fine material upwards - so if you're able to, collect from both that upper port seems to collect hardly anything volume wise but I makes a big difference to what ends up in the air.

Solve those things first really - a workshop filter will pull dust out of the air eventually but it will still have floated around you for a while before its caught any off it - best to capture as much as you can at source. The filter is only catching some of the stuff that would otherwise settle on a surface its not really making much difference to the air you're breathing while you work.

Personally in a small workshop I'd try and get airflow through the space (a door open at one end and an extractor fan at the other) and make up some sort of downdraft table - so working with smaller tools dust is being caught that the extractor is missing. A workshop filter is only catching dust once its gone up and past you and around the room - a down draft table is pulling dust down and away from you and filtering it before it gets into the room

Definitely worth having.
I have the Record one and judging by the filter, it does have some benefit.

It looks as though the Rutlands one is very similar.

It has a timer so you can leave it running for a while when you exit the workshop.

I bought mine because unfortunately, the dude I share a workshop with has a significantly more carefree approach to dust extraction than I do, despite my complaining, and this helps a bit when he inevitably starts ripping sheets of mdf and fails to notice that the single large extraction hose that we have to cater to several machines is still connected to the planer, not the saw! 😡

You'd think the large enveloping cloud of dust might be a clue....but that's another story.

It's important where you site it and it should come with a guide for that.

Deffo worth having as a single layer in your whole dust collecting approach.

That reminds me, must clean my filter!

best to capture as much as you can at source. The filter is only catching some of the stuff that would otherwise settle on a surface its not really making much difference to the air you’re breathing while you work.

I completely agree with this. Best to catch it at source, however, it's not possible to do this 100% and so helping to keep dust down in any way you can at all is always a positive thing I feel. If dust does settle, you only have to move things around and it's airborne again. If a filter can reduce that then it's worth having imho. It's not of course the solution to everything.
As mentioned, airflow is good.

[i]Its worth having a think about why dust is ending up everywhere if you’re using extraction[i/]

What I have at the moment is an old vacuum cleaner in the corner connected to a cyclone bucket and then 40mm push-fit plastic tubes run across the ceiling to various points where there is a flexi down pipe that I can used to suck up the chippings after making a mess or connect to a tool that (slightly) reduces the mess. It doesn't, and was not designed to, extract fine dust from the air.

I am just building a little rolling workbench to hold me table saw and sanding wheel and there is room underneath that to fit an air filter. My thinking is that this will such air down and away from my face instead of up and across my face. I was thinking of hanging one of the ceiling mounted ones at 90 degrees to normal so it sucks air from one side of the bench and blows clean air out the other.

If I am working on the other elsewhere in the garage I can still leave it running or wheel the bench closer if I want to.

Make sense?

I do often work with the up and over garage door open and the side door open for through drafts but that is not always possible.

I was thinking more lofi.
Just stick this against open door vent so draws air through one side of garage and blows out the other.
Linky

I am just building a little rolling workbench to hold me table saw and sanding wheel and there is room underneath that to fit an air filter. My thinking is that this will such air down and away from my face instead of up and across my face.

Hmmm, that's not really how they're designed to work. They are sited so that they encourage/maximise airflow around the room, not so much as a local extraction method.
They are a filter, not extraction.

I have This kit from Axminster too which uses 100mm hose. You have to build an enclosure for it but it sounds as though it would be more suited for going under the table as you suggest. There's many ways you can achieve a similar thing.

It sounds as though your dust collection isn't really adequate. Maybe the distance and amount of pipe you're running is an issue. Might be worth having something more 'local' to the thing you're using.

I also have This dust collector from Rutlands and it's very powerful.

Might be worth getting something with a bit more poke.

Kayak - I know what you are saying about airflow rather than being a vacuum cleaner and my design works with that. Basically the air is blown through the bench, under the surface rather than being blown up into the ceiling.

As I mentioned, for most of the dust collection I will still have the dust vacuum cleaner.

Other than possibly creating lots of low level drafts I am not sure if the air filter cares if it is mounted on the ceiling or nearer the floor. The ceiling makes sense if you want it out of the way but floor level should work just as well if there is the space.

I am going to order the Rutland I think. I can mount it in the ceiling easy enough and they recommend about 2m off the floor but I will ask them about low level mounting.

Some good stuff here on deciding where to site a filter unit.

I've been looking at these the last couple of days. Asked for the record one from Santa but he got me a subwoofer instead.
I think I'll be ordering one soon as I will have 4 sheets of 18mm ply to slice up.
I do have a cyclone setup for the tools but need to look at the table saw flow. The zero clearance insert I made is redirecting the suction. I need some flow holes in it.

Thanks - I will do a quick video of my setup when it arrives if I get bored enough.

I have the high pressure, low volume shop vac for use with small tools and to clean up chippings and will have the low pressure air filter for the fine airborne stuff to save my lungs. If I was going to be in there all the time I would get a big dust extractor for use with the table saw etc to batter catch the chippings and dust at source but cannot justify the cost and space for the amount of work I do.

I have the Record Power one too, I use vacs on saws and sanders and it still catches loads. Doesn’t eliminate dust on surfaces but much reduced.

Be careful with the remote, they’re fragile rubbish and you can’t set the timer without it. If I buy another remote I’ll stick it to the wall.

[i]Be careful with the remote, they’re fragile rubbish and you can’t set the timer without it. If I buy another remote I’ll stick it to the wall.[/i]

Pretty much every remote I have seen in a workshop has been stuck to the side of the machine that it operates. I guess it is cheaper to replace remotes when the buttons break that fix them in the main machine, plus it is a 'feature' when selling them.

Having said that, I am thinking of getting a remote for the shop vac as it is just a plug socket on one wall of the garage which mysteriously always seems to be the furthest and most inconvenient point from wherever I am stood when I want to turn it on.

I had a Jet one in the workshop

As well as using a Festool vac which connected to various tools eg track saw.

However, everything still ends up coated in a layer of fine sawdust.

I now just working out side on the patio when doing things which generate a lot of dust eg using table saws etc.

^^^ I actually find the table saw in my workshop is one of the better machines for catching dust as it has extraction under and over the table.
It's only when my colleague regularly forgets to connect the tube to the right machine that dust goes everywhere!

I suppose a lot of machines don't have an extraction port built into the crown guard. Feeding slower also helps it deal with the dust I find.

WCA, simple remote controlled plug sockets can be handy for remote switching. Maybe you could make yourself a velcro hat with all the various remotes stuck to it? 😉

I've got one of these stuck to the table saw which operates the Henry that's connected to the crown guard.

The main under-table extraction is a separate, larger machine.

Do these air filters default to a certain "on" state when power is applied? Be nice to have them on one remote with the dust/chip vac. Or on the same extension with one remote plug. Power/current limits allowing of course.

Actually scratch that. You would lose the timing function. I'll just stick it to the wall as above.

You need to move air. Then concentrate on the issues at source ,metal is the hardest as the tools spin faster (angle grinder ect) and almost impossible to collect the dust.
Tables saws are the easiest as they dump 90% of the problem out the back at high speed extract the fine stuff directly above with what mols or kayak has.
Router table is easy to collect if you direct the dust.
Hand Sanders are alot better now my RO connected to vac via cyclone is almost 100%

I'm careful now even with all that it's ffp3 disposable at a minimum. More than 2mins it's a mask by 3m or trend pink filters my old shop had 2 fans that stayed on all day they took care of the fine dust and more importantly welding fumes I took one out and it's fitted in my garage but it needs to move air and more importantly have a place to pull air from.
Always suck up dust never sweep.
If you get it right your snot stays clear ☺️.

I also periodically open beck door and up/over door for flow and blast the dust about with my blower. Mask on of course.

Many good tips in here. Didn't realise there were so many workshop people on here.

[i]I also periodically open beck door and up/over door for flow and blast the dust about with my blower.[/i]

Likewise but is not nice in cold wet winter and wife / neighbours don't like their washing covered in wood dust in the summer.

My editorial quality standards will nbot let me release this on a thread of its own but the air filter turned up today. SO here is my dust collector and air filter set up

Looks good WCA.
It looks pretty central in your workshop. Did it come with any siting instructions?

My understanding is that you tend to want it nearer an outside wall so that it encourages circulation of air around the room.

Be interesting to see if it makes a difference for you though 👍