Workshop brainstorming for better chip and dust containment
Posted By RichC on February 16, 2021
It is time for a little more research on better dust and chip control in my basement workshop. Brenda can deal with the noise and giving me a place to escape, but she is not fond of the dust that makes its way upstairs – those with 
basement woodworking workshops know what I mean. I’ve tried to control the bulk of the dust by setting up the planer in the detached poolhouse garage shop … or even use it half outside with the rear overhead door open when the weather permits it, but it is hard to control the basement sawdust from the tablesaw, router table, sanders, etc … 
without a better vacuum system and dust filtration set-up.
My current set up is better than just a shopvac, but the 2-1/2” low-ish airflow 35 year old Shopsmith DC3300 system isn’t as good as it could be (if I upgrade, I could use it stand-alone on the DeWalt planer instead of the chip separator)? The Jet AFS-1000B does a pretty good job with airborne dust, but in my opinion having less of wood dust in the air would be a lot better.
The best solution would be to have the dust collector “outside” (or at least in the garage) .. but that would prove to be challenging since it would require a 6” hole and equipment space in a different weather protected location. This is probably overkill for my needs, 
but I still like it. More realistic is an improved system in the shop. I’d love to have a full duct running the length of my workshop, but then there’s the falloff in CFM as the distance increases.
Years ago I put plastic pipe in my workshop walls to 4 locations, but have been sorely disappointed. The 2-1/2 pipes are too small and 90 degree elbows decreases the efficiency of an already weak system.
So, my current thinking is to utilize the open corner behind my tablesaw and outfeed table (currently occupied by my somewhat portable small Shopsmith bandsaw). I’ve already dropped the old electric cooktop’s 220V electric for my Delta cabinet saw 
and could piggyback a decent size Shop Fox W1666 2 HP dust collector. I could either then use the 6” main Inlet directly to the table saw or split the 1550 CFM system into 2-4” inlets .. one dedicated to the table saw and the other hosed to the sander, router table, bandsaw, 
etc as needed? As for footprint space, the 33-1/2” length and 21-1/2” would fit in the corner mentioned above. I’m not fond of the noise, but then it would only be running when a machine was on anyway.
Perhaps I can convince Brenda to get me this for my birthday this year … but will look just to see how expensive and large a two-stage or even canister kit collector is … or maybe just go with a more expensive Jet 710702K DC-1200VX-CK1 with the 2-Micron Canister Kit and Vortex Cone to keep most of the sawdust in the plastic bag (see below)?
Shop Fox W1666 2HP 1550 CFM specification sheet PDF and Owner’s Manual PDF
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