Lathe dust collection


SawDustB

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Hey guys,

I've only used the lathe a few times so far, mostly just for practice. My wife's looking for a couple more small presents for me, so I was looking at attachments for collecting dust off the lathe. This one from Penn State seemed like it might be a decent option: PSI Woodworking DLHOODC2 Clear Wood Lathe Dust Hood with Magnetic Mounting Clamp

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Do these actually work, or is it a waste of space? I had decent results during sanding just by using a Bungie cord to hold a little gulp dust hood to my tail stock, but it was a bit MacGyvered. The other option is that I quickly build something to hold the dust hose better.

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Short of turning in a wind tunnel there is no such thing as dust collection at the lathe, it's a unicorn. 

OK, now that I have your expectations adjusted:  

But you can collect some of the dust.  I have a hood like the one you have pictured.  They will help to direct some of the airflow and if they don't cost too much are worthwhile.  If nothing else they give you a convenient mount for the dust hose, and that's actually worth something. 

I should ask if you are using a dust collector or vacuum to move air?  A vacuum will give some result, but only for very small operations like pen turning.   

A dust collector and hood will collect about 5% of wood chips when turning,  but will do much better with dust from sanding, maybe half to three quarters collected.  That still leaves more than enough dust in the air to warrant an air filtration system (and PPE) and even then you will likely have a coating of dust on everything near the lathe. 

You can dramatically affect the efficiency of dust collection by directing the stream of sawdust coming off the piece directly at the dust collection hose/hood.  In other words, sand the bottom surface of a piece with the lathe in forward, and the top surface with the lathe in reverse.  But this will only get you so far.  

If you do mount a hood, or hose at your lathe see if you can make it adjustable so that you can move the hood to optimize dust collection for whatever you are sanding. 

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Thanks, @Mark J, I figured you might chime in. So far I've tried with the (1 HP) dust collector, although an advantage of the small shop is my shop vac is located well within reach as well. My thought was to try and get mostly the dust from sanding, and maybe a bit more from turning small items like pens. I had the dust collector hose about 3 inches from where I was sanding, and that seemed to be getting most of the dust. If the hood is no more effective, I might just make something.

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I thought about setting up a collector thing sorta like the one you posted, but the size of chips and where they all fly to, especially on a long piece, seemed impossible. So I collect lathe turnings (not really dust) with a broom and garbage can :) 

I know that doesn't answer your question but it appears you have an answer already. I'm just chiming in 'cause I saw your post. 

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