Down Draft Sanding Table??

[kmmcrafts]

Anyone have / use one that can share how well it works etc.. 

The cause of most airborne dust in my shop and probably any shop is from sanding..  I have a Bosch R/O sander and it has a filtered dust canister... My first one did a great job of collecting that sanding dust.. But it wore out.. I bought a new / refurb. one last spring and it did seep a little more dust that my other one did but was tolerable.. recently ( maybe the colder weather ) this thing is spewing dust out.. Before I bought the refurb.. I bought a HF model and that was was really bad too.. my refurb isn't quite that bad but I'm noticing a lot of dust settling and my air filtration filter needing cleaned way more often..

I'm wondering if a downdraft table would be the ticket.. It seems the dust is escaping the sanders through the vent holes in the side of the sander near the bottom by the sanding pad.. I haven't taken the thing apart to see if there is a broken seal or something.. I just know that I need to get this taken care of in some way... I've often wondered about the downdraft tables.. I've never seen much talk of them so who has one or used one? Any thoughts on them..

Thank you  

[new2woodwrk]

I use and I made 2.

They are both small and I place them on a workbench when I flat sand

I made mine out of peg board and drilled out some of the middle holes to make them a little larger

I use a 2" pvc pipe to connect to my shop vac.

When I want to use it, I hook up the shop vac with a clamp, and sand away.

I can use my orbital, hand sander, or home made sanding pads

It works quite well.

 

Edited October 28, 2020 by new2woodwrk

[OCtoolguy]

5 minutes ago, new2woodwrk said:

I use and I made 2.

They are both small and I place them on a workbench when I flat sand

I made mine out of peg board and drilled out some of the middle holes to make them a little larger

I use a 2" pvc pipe to connect to my shop vac.

When I want to use it, I hook up the shop vac with a clamp, and sand away.

I can use my orbital, hand sander, or home made sanding pads

It works quite well.

 

Considering that I have a very small shop and try to do most of my sanding outdoors, what size do you recommend for a box? I was thinking maybe 20 x 20 similar to a box fan. What size is yours?

[trackman]

Mine has baffles in it like a V to make the dust go into the middle. Hooked up to central dust collection. 

[new2woodwrk]

47 minutes ago, octoolguy said:

Considering that I have a very small shop and try to do most of my sanding outdoors, what size do you recommend for a box? I was thinking maybe 20 x 20 similar to a box fan. What size is yours?

20x20 is a decent size

Mine is 22x24 simply because that was the size of the pieces of peg board I had at the time

It fits perfectly in a slot in one of my workbenches

[dgman]

I do not use a downdraft table because I keep my ROS connected to a dedicated vac with a DustDeputy. It collects ALL the dust when sanding. With the Dust Deputy hooked up, I only have to clean the vac filter once a year, weather it needs it or not! And there is no airborne dust!

[kmmcrafts]

27 minutes ago, dgman said:

I do not use a downdraft table because I keep my ROS connected to a dedicated vac with a DustDeputy. It collects ALL the dust when sanding. With the Dust Deputy hooked up, I only have to clean the vac filter once a year, weather it needs it or not! And there is no airborne dust!

Interesting you say this... what kind of sander do you run? I ask because my sander ( Bosch ) came with a fitting to hook up a vac to it instead of using the dust canister.. However.. I hooked up the vac yesterday and while it did help some from what I was getting with the dust can.. my shop was still getting a fair amount of dust.. I suspect I have a blown seal or something in the sander.. My old Bosch was awesome for collecting the dust in the canister.. this new one seeped a little but no bad.. but it's getting bad.. The whole point of me buying the Bosch again was I was very happy with performance and dust collection.. Like I said.. I bought a cheap Harbor Freight sander and had to quit using it like the first day because not much of the dust was getting collected in the canister, so I ordered a new / refurbished Bosch just like the one I had.. 

Another annoyance for me was the dang Vac hose was always in my way.. which is why I wondered about the downdraft table.. Very tempted to take both my old and my new sander apart and maybe put the new sander motor in the old sanders body.. LOL 

Since I'm in production mode most of the time I do things in batches.. There are days that I might spend 4 hours pre-sanding boards and finish sanding projects.. The other half of the day is usually cleaning up the sawdust off everything, LOL didn't used to have to do that.. I'm looking at putting heat un my shop.. and I can't have all this fine dust floating about and causing issues.. not to mention fire hazards.. If a downdraft box works well I may go that route.. Not at a point where I can justify a Festool sander and vac just yet, LOL   

Edited October 28, 2020 by kmmcrafts

[Terry Jay]

Go with the smallest active surface for your work, like 12" square, with additional inactive surface for piece support.  On my lathe a 10" square hood hooked to a 4" dust collector hose works OK at about  a 3" standoff.  A Shopfox downdraft table about 12"X20" was OK with a 2" hose to a shop vac using a  DeWalt RO sander with collection bag if I stayed over the inlet.  Then I found that Festool had an adapter from a 2" hose that fit snuggly over the outlet nozzle on the DeWalt.  

As an experiment, hook you hose up to something the size you are contemplating and see if it will pick up sawdust from the floor.  Good luck on your search.

[Garyrenee]

Not tried the vac table-box idea. Instead, I invested in a Mirka sander. Age and bad habits have changed my life in the last two years dramatically when it comes to my shop activities. Masking up is now second nature except when sanding with the Mirka system. The initial investment hurt,but the results are exactly what they advertise and more. Easy to move around if you want to. You don’t have to use their vac. Any good quality vac will work. I’m pretty new but thought I would chime in on what works for me. 
 

Great forum by the way, always informative and interesting. Pretty new to scrolling, learning as I go and having fun doing so.      Thanks to all.

[Be_O_Be]

 I just replaced the sanding pads on my ROS and found quite a bit of fine dust caked in around the dust ports. This was the first time I replaced pads and the sanders are about 8-10 years old.

[Bill WIlson]

11 hours ago, dgman said:

I do not use a downdraft table because I keep my ROS connected to a dedicated vac with a DustDeputy. It collects ALL the dust when sanding. With the Dust Deputy hooked up, I only have to clean the vac filter once a year, weather it needs it or not! And there is no airborne dust!

Same here.  The Dust Deputy works great.  

Although, a downdraft table may be a worthy addition, even with the ROS hooked to a shop vac.  It could help with dust from hand sanding or from sanders that don't have a shop vac connection.

[oldhudson]

I made one about 5 years ago. It's pretty large, something like 24" x 36". It works okay, but not great. Some help is better than none. My ROS is a Porter Cable. Here's a couple of pics. Mine folds against a wall when not in use. Note the black strips running through the top. This is the material from a track saw base. It keeps smaller pieces from moving around so much while the sander spins. There was an interesting YouTube video I saw recently Stumpy Numbs Drool Tools

There's a sander near the end that looks pretty good, but $$$$

[OzarkSawdust]

I use a DeWalt ROS and don't notice any great amount of dust. I do use my air gun and blow it out from top to bottom about every 2-3 sandpaper changes. Also I empty, and blow clean, the bag fairly often. 

[OzarkSawdust]

34 minutes ago, oldhudson said:

I made one about 5 years ago. It's pretty large, something like 24" x 36". It works okay, but not great. Some help is better than none. My ROS is a Porter Cable. Here's a couple of pics. Mine folds against a wall when not in use. Note the black strips running through the top. This is the material from a track saw base. It keeps smaller pieces from moving around so much while the sander spins. There was an interesting YouTube video I saw recently Stumpy Numbs Drool Tools

There's a sander near the end that looks pretty good, but $$$$

OK...after watching that video, twice, I'm going to buy a lottery ticket today!!! Didn't see a single thing I wouldn't want to have in my shop...just how to pay for it all. 

[oldhudson]

53 minutes ago, OzarkSawdust said:

OK...after watching that video, twice, I'm going to buy a lottery ticket today!!! Didn't see a single thing I wouldn't want to have in my shop...just how to pay for it all. 

I know exactly what you mean. The challenge is to see how much you can do with how little. I actually own one of those, the Dowelmax. Over the years I've made quite a few mortise and tenon joints, using the Dowelmax it's a lot easier to joint a couple pieces of stock, without screws or nails.

[dgman]

17 hours ago, kmmcrafts said:

Interesting you say this... what kind of sander do you run? I ask because my sander ( Bosch ) came with a fitting to hook up a vac to it instead of using the dust canister.. However.. I hooked up the vac yesterday and while it did help some from what I was getting with the dust can.. my shop was still getting a fair amount of dust.. I suspect I have a blown seal or something in the sander.. My old Bosch was awesome for collecting the dust in the canister.. this new one seeped a little but no bad.. but it's getting bad.. The whole point of me buying the Bosch again was I was very happy with performance and dust collection.. Like I said.. I bought a cheap Harbor Freight sander and had to quit using it like the first day because not much of the dust was getting collected in the canister, so I ordered a new / refurbished Bosch just like the one I had.. 

Another annoyance for me was the dang Vac hose was always in my way.. which is why I wondered about the downdraft table.. Very tempted to take both my old and my new sander apart and maybe put the new sander motor in the old sanders body.. LOL 

Since I'm in production mode most of the time I do things in batches.. There are days that I might spend 4 hours pre-sanding boards and finish sanding projects.. The other half of the day is usually cleaning up the sawdust off everything, LOL didn't used to have to do that.. I'm looking at putting heat un my shop.. and I can't have all this fine dust floating about and causing issues.. not to mention fire hazards.. If a downdraft box works well I may go that route.. Not at a point where I can justify a Festool sander and vac just yet, LOL   

I suspect there is a clog somewhere in your sander. I used to have a Porter Cable 33 that worked great with the vac system, however that unit died after 15 years of great service. I currently have a Makita B5042 which has a pistol grip and variable speed. It works just a good as the old Porter Cable with the shop vac and Dust Deputy. All my other sanders are either hooked up to my dust collector or I hook them up to the shop vac and DD.

[OCtoolguy]

17 hours ago, Garyrenee said:

Not tried the vac table-box idea. Instead, I invested in a Mirka sander. Age and bad habits have changed my life in the last two years dramatically when it comes to my shop activities. Masking up is now second nature except when sanding with the Mirka system. The initial investment hurt,but the results are exactly what they advertise and more. Easy to move around if you want to. You don’t have to use their vac. Any good quality vac will work. I’m pretty new but thought I would chime in on what works for me. 
 

Great forum by the way, always informative and interesting. Pretty new to scrolling, learning as I go and having fun doing so.      Thanks to all.

Thanks Garyrenee, and welcome to The Village. Don't be a stranger. Post pics of your projects. We all love pics. I'll have to look into what you suggested. Not that I can afford one but I'm curious.

 

[Garyrenee]

Thanks for the welcome. 
Cost of the Mirka is high. The desire to continue woodworking was high. In order to continue , I wanted the best long term solution and the Mirka ticked all the appropriate boxes for my condition.  Turns out, the cost compared to my health doesn’t even factor into the end results.  No regrets.

My scrolling is pretty basic. Silouettes, trivets and the likes. Not full time yet. Still doing so many other things. I’m always looking at the pics of what you regulars are doing and I am in aw of the time effort and dedication. I have a lot to learn and in doing so, I would not post a pic unless I thought it was worthy. But “hey” thanks for the encouragement.

 

Gary

 

[kmmcrafts]

20 hours ago, Terry Jay said:

Go with the smallest active surface for your work, like 12" square, with additional inactive surface for piece support.  On my lathe a 10" square hood hooked to a 4" dust collector hose works OK at about  a 3" standoff.  A Shopfox downdraft table about 12"X20" was OK with a 2" hose to a shop vac using a  DeWalt RO sander with collection bag if I stayed over the inlet.  Then I found that Festool had an adapter from a 2" hose that fit snuggly over the outlet nozzle on the DeWalt.  

As an experiment, hook you hose up to something the size you are contemplating and see if it will pick up sawdust from the floor.  Good luck on your search.

I kind of figured those downdraft tables probably loose suction outside of the area where the hose is attached.. It'd be pretty tricky to get a solid even suction throughout the entire area..  Thanks for the thoughts and the experiment idea.. I've kinda figured that'd be how it would work out..  

[kmmcrafts]

20 hours ago, Garyrenee said:

Not tried the vac table-box idea. Instead, I invested in a Mirka sander. Age and bad habits have changed my life in the last two years dramatically when it comes to my shop activities. Masking up is now second nature except when sanding with the Mirka system. The initial investment hurt,but the results are exactly what they advertise and more. Easy to move around if you want to. You don’t have to use their vac. Any good quality vac will work. I’m pretty new but thought I would chime in on what works for me. 
 

Great forum by the way, always informative and interesting. Pretty new to scrolling, learning as I go and having fun doing so.      Thanks to all.

Welcome to the village, I'm glad you chimed in... I'll have to look at the Mirka sander.. never heard of that brand before.. 

As for masking up... I do not enter the shop without a mask.. wear one the entire time I'm in the shop even if I'm not really doing anything to create a dust cloud.. Just second nature to me... 

[kmmcrafts]

12 hours ago, Be_O_Be said:

 I just replaced the sanding pads on my ROS and found quite a bit of fine dust caked in around the dust ports. This was the first time I replaced pads and the sanders are about 8-10 years old.

I've found a lot of caked up dust as well in my old sander when I'd take it apart to replace the motor brushes.. Done that twice and the last time the motor arbor had some pretty good grooves in it.. I tried to clean it up good but the power was never the same after replacing them the last time so I bought a refurbished one just like it.. has worked well up until this bad dust leaking out the side of it that has gotten pretty bad the last couple weeks. Maybe I just need to blow it all out with the air hose..

[kmmcrafts]

10 hours ago, Bill WIlson said:

Same here.  The Dust Deputy works great.  

Although, a downdraft table may be a worthy addition, even with the ROS hooked to a shop vac.  It could help with dust from hand sanding or from sanders that don't have a shop vac connection.

I have 3 different vacuums and dust deputies.. mostly just hooked to scroll saws for collection at them.. Then have a HF dust collection system for the CNC/ Bandsaw/ and Planner.. It all has helped a ton.. Never had much dust from my Bosch RO sanders until just recently so I took the vac off one of the scroll saws and hooked it to my RO sander.. was still blowing some dust through the side of the sander instead of sucking up into the vac.. Thinking maybe I have a plugged up area inside the sander so the air flow is backing up and out the one side vent.. Gong to try blowing it out with the air hose tomorrow and see what that does.

[kmmcrafts]

9 hours ago, oldhudson said:

I made one about 5 years ago. It's pretty large, something like 24" x 36". It works okay, but not great. Some help is better than none. My ROS is a Porter Cable. Here's a couple of pics. Mine folds against a wall when not in use. Note the black strips running through the top. This is the material from a track saw base. It keeps smaller pieces from moving around so much while the sander spins. There was an interesting YouTube video I saw recently Stumpy Numbs Drool Tools

There's a sander near the end that looks pretty good, but $$$$

Neat set up... I've thought on and off for a few years now about building one of these.. I like how it folds up out of the way..

[kmmcrafts]

9 hours ago, OzarkSawdust said:

I use a DeWalt ROS and don't notice any great amount of dust. I do use my air gun and blow it out from top to bottom about every 2-3 sandpaper changes. Also I empty, and blow clean, the bag fairly often. 

Probably my problem is it may be plugged up... I've never had a issue with my old Bosch RO sander.. I almost when with the DeWalt when getting a new one.. but since they still made the exact same one I had and I used it a lot... held up well for what I throw at it from a commercial type use.. I ended up buying another just like it. Maybe I was lucky with the first one or this one is just a fluke.. Works good still.. just started spewing dust a couple weeks ago though.. I hate the fine sanding dust and the old one did real well with collecting the dust in the canister..

[kmmcrafts]

4 hours ago, dgman said:

I suspect there is a clog somewhere in your sander. I used to have a Porter Cable 33 that worked great with the vac system, however that unit died after 15 years of great service. I currently have a Makita B5042 which has a pistol grip and variable speed. It works just a good as the old Porter Cable with the shop vac and Dust Deputy. All my other sanders are either hooked up to my dust collector or I hook them up to the shop vac and DD.

I am also thinking that too.. I think tomorrow I'll take and blow it out good with the air hose and see if it helps.. Maybe even take it apart and see if I can break it worst.. then maybe a better excuse for a festool sander and vac,