Sawdust Everywhere

[woodchux]

Getting more into the fun of Scroll sawing by continuing to practice with designs, blades, and types of wood (mostly small scrap pieces). Started out in a basement corner, but the AC/Heating unit spreads the sawdust everywhere. Moved the SS to a corner of the attached garage, confining most of the sawdust, but am now thinking about adding a dust collection system to control it more. Has anyone added a vacuum dust collector to the scrollsaw - direct or indirect? Any ideas/comments are welcomed. Be safe. 

[WayneMahler]

Depending on the saw you can hook up a shop vac. You can also use a 20" box fan with a furnace filter attached to the back so it draws the air through the filter which helps. Don't forget to wear a dust mask either way though. I'm sure others will chime in on this also.

[Scrolling Steve]

I read  that you either have a dust collection system or you are one !.....Do wear a mask if you can !

[GrampaJim]

I use a box fan with a good furnace filter and run the fan on high speed - in my basement.  The wife has allergies and asthma and has not complained about dust in the 3 years I have been scrolling.   Change the filter often and keep the floors clean.  I have a used piece of carpet on the floors and use a vacuum on them often.  All the big sanding and the chop saw is done in the garage.

Jim

[redwine]

I have the shop vac set up to connect to the saws, table and scroll, plus the hand sander as well. I do have a box fan with 20" x 20" furnace filter attached. When the vac is attached to the scroll saw it will start and stop with the saw by using a 3 way plug into your wall or electric strip and the foot feed. Be sure to wear some type of mask, It all helps & if you can afford the large collection systems, that would be even better.

Erv

[CharleyL]

I have a re-purposed whole house central vacuum unit that I've rebuilt and installed in the attic of my small shop with pipes running to inlets in my shop. I mostly use it for scroll sawing, but I have added an Oneida Dust Deputy and a 20 gallon metal collection drum to it. Since adding the Dust Deputy, there has been no visible saw dust in the base canister or fabric filter of the vacuum. It's all now going into the metal collection drum under the Dust Deputy.. The Dust Deputy does a fantastic job. With the metal end of the hose just tie-wrapped to and alongside the lower blade guard of my DeWalt 788 it is picking up all of the sawdust coming off the lower end of the blade. Unfortunately, it doesn't get any of the sawdust that comes off the blade above the table (I'm working on this problem).

 

You could do this same thing with an old canister type household vacuum, a Dust Deputy, and a 5 gallon pail (use a metal pail or stack 2-3 plastic pails together for increased resistance to collapsing) and it should work just as good and be much quieter than a shop vac. My central vacuum exhausts to the outdoors, so I'm not worried about micro fine dust getting through the Dust Deputy and the filter in the central vacuum unit and then back into my work area. I'm not sure what to tell you to do about this when using a canister type vacuum, except to suggest that you make a panel to put in a nearby window and route the exhaust of the vacuum through a hose and out through a hole in this panel. The exhaust from any vacuum is the source of most of the noise, so this should make working near the vacuum much more pleasant (not so for the neighbors though). They do make mufflers for shop vacs and central vacuums, but I've never tried one. My central vacuum exhaust is pointed toward a 250 acre lake, so I'm pretty certain that it doesn't bother anyone, except maybe the Canadian geese, and I can only hope that it helps to keep them away.

 

I don't yet have a good solution for the sawdust coming off the top of the blade, but I scroll saw in my detached wood shop and any floating dust in the air is trapped by the pleated filter in my heat pump air conditioner with the fan in it running constantly. When sawdust builds up on the table of the scroll saw I just remove the vacuum hose from under the table and use it to clean the table top, then replace it in the tie-wrap under the table. Some saw dust still falls to the floor, and my present recommendation for this is to use a carpet wider than the scroll saw area to catch this falling saw dust. Then vacuum this carpet after every scroll saw session. 

 

Hopefully some of these ideas will help you. 

 

Charley

[trackman]

Good ideas! I have my shop vac hooked up to my foot switch so it only runs when the saw runs.

[Jim Finn]

Like trackman I had a shop vac that ran only when the saw ran.  I killed three shop vacs this way. One of them was a brand new Ridgid.  I think the box fan and filter is a better way to go.  I only killed one of those....  so far.

[Lucky2]

I use a box fan with a furnace filter attached to the front of it, it does a descent job. I also have a ceiling mounted dust collector, it filters dust out of the air. Don't use a shop-vac for a dust collector, you risk losing everything if it catches on fire from prolonged use. Shop-vacs aren't meant to be used that way, they have the wrong type of motor for this type of use. You need something that has a motor on it meant for prolonged use, they don't heat up like the ones on shop-vacs do. I know people use shop-vacs for dust collecting, but they're taking an awful risk.

Len

[amazingkevin]

Getting more into the fun of Scroll sawing by continuing to practice with designs, blades, and types of wood (mostly small scrap pieces). Started out in a basement corner, but the AC/Heating unit spreads the sawdust everywhere. Moved the SS to a corner of the attached garage, confining most of the sawdust, but am now thinking about adding a dust collection system to control it more. Has anyone added a vacuum dust collector to the scrollsaw - direct or indirect? Any ideas/comments are welcomed. Be safe. 

I scrolled 1 year right in front of a central a.c. units intake.I put a pleated paper filter in it and when it bowed in from being clogged i vacuumed it cleaned and reuse it .Absolutely no dust went anywhere in the house.

[Sycamore67]

Most shop vacs are not rated for continuous use and doing so will kill them. Unfortunately, the ones that are rated continuous are more expensive. I have one and it works very well. I have it plumbed into below the blade and above the table. The above the table part uses a loc-Line which makes it adjustable.

[bandaideman]

Many years ago I bought a set up for the dewalt locally made by a scroller and sold at the local wood shop supply store. It has a piece bolted into the back lower leg with a 2 inch connector for a shop vac. On the other side of the board there are 2, 1 1/2 inch ports for that size hose one that goes up top and one that connects below. I put a adaptor from 2 inch to 4 inch and use a  jet dust collector works well. However with small fret work sometimes you may lose a piece as it get sucked up before you can stop it. That is assuming you like me may cut something off that should remain. I know this is not a good explanation but no pic to post and can't post anyway. It was mad by a man locally and sold I think under Old Grand dad wood shop. I do not think they are available now since I think he has passed away. He first made them when Dewalt first came out.

[Doug]

http://www.scrollsawvillage.com/topic/7141-dust-collection/?hl=%2Bdust+%2Bcollection

 

See above link for more discussion.  I have updated some but most of what is shown is still current.  There is more discussion in that link or to get even more ideas go to the top right of the page search "forum" for the words "dust collection".  Regardless of how good you collect it, the main goal has to be that none of it is collected by your lungs.

 

By the way, I have a shop vac running through a switch that turns the shop vac on when the scroll is on and runs the shop vac for seven seconds after the saw is shut down.  No extended runs of shop vac and I have never had to replace a shop vac.

Edited August 4, 2016 by Doug